Statistics on Chronic Disease

I'm sure that many of you have already heard many of the statistics concerning what we call chronic diseases. For those of you who don't know chronic disease is defined as a "incurable illness or health condition that persists for a year or more, resulting in functional limitations and the need for ongoing medical care". This definition goes so far as to include cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and even allergies and asthma. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006 chronic diseases were five of the top six causes of death in the United States, of these nearly 80% of those caused by cardiovascular disease and cancer (over 50%) could have been prevented by a healthier lifestyle (1). We hear all the time about how our schools are getting less and less healthy and the obesity rate in children is increasing. Over nine million of today's young people are obese or over weight, and it has been predicted that this nearly 1/4 of all American children will be overweight by 2015. The issue with this shows itself in the health of the nation. It has been proven that excessive body weight has a very high probability of leading to chronic diseases later on in life as well as a general decrease in the quality of a person's life.
Now what I'm doing here is not saying that we should all be super skinny, that's not the point here at all! However, if anything other than numbers can be taken away from this then I hope that people understand that it is very important to monitor your health, a healthy lifestyle is something that we can all live with and is something that is, thankfully, becoming more and more popular throughout the nation. Hopefully, we can decrease these percentages of overweight and obese children, and a great example that is set for them by their parents. I also understand that a healthy lifestyle isn't always possible or easy. But I will tell you that if you are willing to put just a little more effort into making homemade meals and eating closer to the correct portion size can make a big difference. At my house we have meatless mondays (well, I'm vegetarian so I'm always meatless, but none the less) and even just trying new foods and replacing some of the unhealthy snacks with healthier ones or even no snacks when we realize we are bored and not hungry. Why not give it a try? It will not hurt if it is done right! Keep that in mind!
Good luck and good health to you all! :)