About one third of the US adults are obese. That’s at least 78.6 million people. Being obese does not only affect a person’s self-esteem. It can also lead to numerous illnesses like cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. The saddest part is obesity is a lifestyle-related disease. Many health care professionals blame the sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity of obese people. But a new study has proven otherwise. It’s not our physical inactivity, but the modern-man diet that causes obesity.

The Root Cause of Obesity

British Journal of Sports Medicine has recently published an editorial about the excessive intake of sugar and carbohydrates, and how it is related to obesity. They said that our high-calorie diet today has caused more illnesses than smoking, alcohol, and physical inactivity combined.

How’s that possible? It’s all in the type of calorie that we take. The calories from sugar and carbohydrates are 11 times more harmful than fat of the same calorie-value. This is the reason why more people develop diabetes. What’s more? Sugary foods and beverages with high-sugar content have the same effect on the brain as heroin. They have addictive characteristics.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, according to experts, cutting down sugar and carbohydrates by half is the best way to get into the healthier diet routine. Otherwise, 40% of the normal-weight human population will soon develop harmful metabolic abnormalities that were associated only to overweight people.

Unexposed Truth

There has also been a controversial report in Medical News Today about a whole generation of researchers who never exposed the link between sugar and prevailing deadly illnesses because they were funded by companies with vested interest in the sweet industry.

In fact, the earliest known study regarding sugar’s damaging dental effects were first known in 1960s, but the study was never published. Today, researchers are going through 319 documents that exposed the truth. It’s known as the Roger Adams papers.

These documents suggest the sugar industry’s deviating tactics by funding researches on dental plaque and vaccination against tooth decay. Some researchers compare this chilling revelation to that of tobacco industry some decades ago, where cigarette companies deny the link of smoking to lung cancer and other diseases. Many experts fear that this incident is happening again, but now in the form of sweet desserts.

Exercise is not Enough

Experts said that in the past 30 years, there is only very little difference in our level of physical activity. How come obesity is rising if the sedentary lifestyle is to blame?

The controversial editorial in BJSM has pointed out that even athletes can never escape the usual obesity-related diseases unless a cut-down on sugar and carbohydrates is done. The researchers added that doing physical exercise regularly has a lot of benefits, but losing weight and combating obesity is not one of them.

What’s more disappointing is that Coca-Cola and similar big brands of sugary drinks are marketing towards sports fans, subliminally saying that it’s okay to drink colas as long as you exercise. Even gyms and health clubs are selling these high-sugar drinks and foods, unknowingly working against their for-health business model.

Although exercise is not as helpful as dieting when it comes to combating obesity, it doesn’t mean that being active is futile. Experts suggest prioritizing healthy diet, most specifically cutting down on sugar and carbohydrates, rather than focusing on gym exercise.

Combating Obesity with the Right Approach

If you want to avoid obesity, adopt a healthy diet plan, engage in physical activities, and take supplements like Phentermine. This combination will surely help in reducing your weight to normal level.