Fitness Trainer, author says nondiet approach needed to live fit, trim, healthy for life

"If diet plans, pills and programs worked well, then why the dismal health statistics?" asks Certified Fitness Trainer and author Dr. David Robinson. The author and freelance writer has regularly taken the position that this usual and customary approach, i.e., "weight loss" and "dieting" has not been beneficial for the public at large. His position is backed up by statistics from credible sources such as the CDC and WHO.

• The USSG reports that over 65% of Americans are severely overweight to obese.
• The Centers for Disease Control's report that over 15% of US children ages 8 - 16 are overweight to obese.
• Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control: "Obesity and diabetes are the only major health problem that are getting worse...and they're getting worse rapidly."
• The Centers for Disease Control report that more than 300,000 people die each year from illnesses caused by or made worse by obesity.
• According to the American Diabetes Association obesity and sedentary lifestyles are the primary cause of type II diabetes which now affects over 7% of the population.
• Federal projections estimate that by 2050 close to 1/3 of the population will have type II diabetes, with all its complications in tow, such as blindness, hearing loss, kidney disease, nervous system disorders and amputations of extremities.
• The UCLA RAND Center found that obesity raises a person's health care costs by 36% and medication costs by 77% and they have 30% - 50% more chronic health problems.
• The World Health Organization reports that over 72% of all deaths in U.S. are the result of lifestyle-related heart disease, lung disease, diabetes & degenerative diseases, citing that such chronic conditions are preventable for the most part and are primarily resulting from unhealthy practices, concluding that the very expensive U.S. drug-based system is not reducing the rate at which conditions become chronic and continue to plague the U.S.

Robinson says we need to start thinking in terms of "body composition", "proper nutrition" and visualization. His new book, Transforing Body, Mind and Spirit, The NonDiet Way to Live Fit, Trim, Healthy for Life, focuses on these approaches to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. "We need to get beyond this 'hot body' stuff and focus more on body/mind/spirit health", claims Robinson. With the continual dramatic escalation of obesity and chronic conditions in this country, this nonconformist fitness trainer just might be on to something. This change in thinking may be the key to the change we need in our lifestyles in order to begin to reverse these serious unhealthy trends.