While I’d love to write some useful articles on helping men and women lose weight, I keep coming across articles and information about the rotten status of the United States healthcare system. I saw this interesting article on LiveScience today, which basically states that in 2007, 41% of working-age Americans had trouble paying medical bills, up from 34% in 2005.

Now I don’t want to get into an argument of universal healthcare versus privatized healthcare, which country’s healthcare system is best, or what is really wrong with our current healthcare system today, although you can read about my gripes with the pharmaceutical industry here.

I will say that our current healthcare system is screwed, and there are a bunch of fundamental problems with it that make it far too expensive for most people. You can’t step foot in a hospital or doctor’s office without having to pay a bill. Unless you have fantastic coverage at your job, you’re more then likely going to pay a few hundred or few thousand dollars out of pocket with each hospital visit.

Too Many Problems Stem from Being Overweight or Obese

You are probably well aware that 2 out of 3 people in the United States are overweight or obese. No need to toss that number around. But do you realize how many problems actually stem from obesity? Let’s count them down: Hypertension, Osteoarthritis, Dyslipidemia (high cholesterol), Type 2 diabetes, coronary hearth disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and some cancers.

I’d also like to mention depression or anxiety. While it’s not listened on the CDC website’s list, poor self-image is a problem that affects many young adults in the US. With poor-self image you’re likely to feel more depressed then someone very confident about themselves, so you see a doctor and are now on a $50 a month prescription plan to make you feel better.

These are some serious illnesses that are not cheap to fix. Some of them will turn into lifelong problems that can lead to financial problems for the rest of your life. Do you want to be stuck with frequent hospital visits throughout the year when you don’t have to be going in the first place? Do you want to put that burden on your family members when you won’t be able to pay these bills yourself?

Our Healthcare System is designed to treat Consequences, Not Teach Prevention

Over and over again I hear stories of people who lose weight and completely change their lives around. When you’re fit, you suffer from far less illness then when you’re overweight. Being fit gives you confidence, especially if you’ve had a lifelong problem with self-image due to being overweight. There goes your depression. Being at a healthy weight can reduce all of the major problems associated with obesity that I’ve listed above. While I don’t have the numbers, I can guarantee you that fit people spend much less time in hospitals and doctor’s offices then obese people.

The healthcare system in America needs overweight and obese people to make its incredible profits. Without the problems that stem from obesity, our hard-earned money would stay in our pockets and out of the hands of pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. Don’t worry, they will still be making incredible amounts of money, but it will be for illnesses and problems that cannot be prevented. Out of our own pocket, and as taxpayers for Medicare and Medicaid, we’d be well over $100 billion wealthier as a country.

In general, a free radical is any molecule that has a single unpaired electron in its outer shell. To understand why that matters, you need to go back to Chemistry 101.

The atoms in your body contain protons and electrons, and these atoms make up molecules that are the building blocks of your living cells. On the outside of the atom are those little electrons floating around, looking to reach maximum stability of the atom by filling out their outer shell with its required number of electrons. Atoms with full outer shells will tend to not enter into chemical reactions. The laws of chemistry state that atoms will always try to reach maximum stability.

If the outermost shell of electrons is not full, the atom will try to fill the void, or empty out its electrons in that shell. It can fill the void by sharing electrons with another cell. The unstable atoms “steal” electrons from stable molecules, causing the molecule itself to become a free radical, leading to a chain reaction that can disrupt the life of a living cell.

Why do free radicals happen?

When the body metabolizes food, cells break down. Usually the breakdown results in stable atoms, but it’s not always the case. Sometimes the body’s immune system will create free radicals to neutralize viruses and bacteria. But this is natural and this level of free radical activity can be handled by our bodies.

Free radical damage was not a problem in early human history. But since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve been adding more and more pollution and other toxic particles into our environment. Toxic metals in your body can increase the free radical chain reaction by thousands to millions of times its normal rate.

Our environment is the cause of chemical destabilization of the molecules in the human body. Things like radiation, pollution, herbicides and pesticides, and smoking cause the free radical creation process to speed up in the body, thus causing damage to the body’s cells over time. Free radical damage within cells has been linked to many disorders that include cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.

Free radicals cause damage to our cell membranes, causing these cells to harden up or breakdown. If the cell wall (membrane) is hardened, it becomes nearly impossible for that cell to get nutrients or perform its natural cellular functions. Free radicals can also cause damage to our RNA and DNA.

How Can I fight Free Radicals?

Antioxidants are molecules that are capable of slowing or preventing free radical damage to healthy molecules. Vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E and so on can prevent free radicals from oxidizing your healthy molecules. There are numerous studies that show that antioxidants can slow the aging process and prevent diseases.

Be Aware of your environment

Keeping an eye on what you eat is the easiest way to reduce free radical damage. Are you eating meats that come from a toxic environment, or have a diet full of highly synthetic and processed foods? Is your diet lacking in antioxidant rich foods like fruits and vegetables? By sticking to an all-natural (or close enough) diet, you not only get your fill of antioxidant foods, but reduce the amount of processed and unhealthy foods that can cause free radical damage.

Antioxidant Supplements

Green tea has been incredibly effective for fighting free radical damage. Whether you take it as a drink, or in the form of a green tea weight loss product, green tea is proven to be an antioxidant rich source. Of course, remember what supplements are! They “supplement” a healthy diet so don’t expect them to work as effectively as they can if your diet is poor.

Calorie Restriction

Extreme calorie restriction has been shown to improve health and slow the aging process. Obviously, this is a pretty extreme measure for most people. Some people restrict calories every single day, while others fast for a few days every once in a while. You should never really “fast” for the sole purpose of losing weight. It takes a hard mind to stick a calorie restriction plan, but its purpose should be to improve your overall health.

For the sake of length of this article, you can read more about calorie restriction on wikipedia.