Recently, Peter Savodnik, a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, wrote an article titled “Obesity, the Other Gulf War.” He shed not just a little light but a giant beam on the war that continues in the oil-laden land of Kuwait, where they are fighting the battle of the bulge, otherwise known as obesity.
Savodnik creatively showed how fast-food giants such as Krispy Kreme, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Burger King, Taco Bell, Baskin-Robbins and a host of other fast-food establishments have invaded Kuwait with excess calories in the form of fast food, leading to obesity.
It was Dr. Abdulwahab Naser Al-Isa at the department of community medicine and behavioral sciences at Kuwait University who recognized that the Kuwaiti people had fallen in love with fast foods leading to obesity and poor health such as diabetes, hypertension and mood disorders.
The fast-food industry was really aimed at the U.S. troops who were left after the 1991 Gulf War. The troops needed fast comfort foods.
Data from the World Health Organization relate that Kuwait is the second most obese nation in the world, behind the United States.
To combat the obesity plague, surgeons conduct a procedure known as bariatric surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach using staples. It was reported that at least 5,000 people underwent this form of surgery last year and it continues to grow.
Unfortunately, we in the United States seem to leave footprints and belly prints wherever we go in peace and war.
Obesity is still a major problem in the United States. Even though the health folks are talking about eating smaller portions, the containers become giant-sized and continue to grow.
We as Americans continue to eat ourselves to death with fast foods and less exercise. We can only win the war of obesity by changing our lifestyles–it’s up to U.S.