FAT OR (PHAT) AMERICA

JASON FUGATE creative director jason@akersmediagroup.com

VOLKAN ULGEN art director volkan@akersmediagroup.com

JOSH CLARK senior designer josh@akersmediagroup.com

MICHAEL GAULIN production director michael@akersmediagroup.com

FRED LOPEZ chief photographer // fred@akersmediagroup.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

FRED HILTON, RICHARD T. BOSSHARDT M.D., JAIME ALONSO, JOY STEPHENSON-LAWS J.D., FRANZ GLIEDERER M.D. M.P.H., B.E. CONRAD, EVAN CROSBY, SERGE MAZERAND, WARREN DAVIES, NEWS AND EXPERTS

SALES // MARKETING

TIM MCRAE / vice president of sales tim@akersmediagroup.com

MIKE STEGALL advertising executive mike@akersmediagroup.com

TATIANNA GELIGA advertising executive tatianna@akersmediagroup.com

My son Matthew recently returned home after a yearlong tour in Australia. It was interesting to talk to him about the differences between our country and theirs. As we were talking while driving in the car, we noticed an overweight woman walking down the street. Matthew says out loud, “Welcome back to fat America.” Of course, that piqued my interest, so I asked him what he meant by that.

Matthew proceeded to explain to me that America is considered by other countries to be a “fat” country. I was astonished. Sure, I know that obesity has become an issue over the years, but I did not realize that it was isolated to America.

That made me start to wonder how Lake County stacks up among other areas, so I did a little research—which also led to us producing this month’s issue. It turns out that the number of obese Americans began rising steadily in the 1980s and ’90s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one-third of all adults in the U.S. are overweight. That is a pretty scary statistic.

This month in Healthy Living, you will learn how to measure obesity, the health risks, and how to lose weight and maintain a healthy BMI, or body mass index. Also, you will see how this “fat” trend has contributed to the ever-increasing costs of medical care. The numbers are astonishing, and again, very scary.

It’s time for us to start paying attention to what we consume and when we consume it, and to find ways to get back to living healthy. With all the other scary diseases threatening us, we don’t need to add to the list, and we certainly don’t need to inflict these diseases on ourselves.

We need to be viewed by our neighbors as “phat” America (which means awesome) and not as “fat” America.

JACQUELYN SINGER advertising executive jacquelyn@akersmediagroup.com

CREE HOWARD sales executive assistant cree@akersmediagroup.com

ADMINISTRATION

DEB MATLOCK / office manager deb@akersmediagroup.com

AUBREY AKERS / advertising coordinator aubrey@akersmediagroup.com

DISTRIBUTION

SCOTT HEGG / distribution manager scott.hegg@akersmediagroup.com

DIGITAL SOCIAL MEDIA

GARRETT REARDON / digital specialist garrett@akersmediagroup.com

Until next month, Kendra Akers

34749 akersmediagroup.com