Words of Wellness with Shelly

Shelly's Shares: Quality Over Calories: Rethinking America's Obesity Epidemic

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 119

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Have you ever wondered why so many weight loss attempts fail despite our best efforts? The answer might surprise you. 

Welcome to the third part of my special series on the TDoS syndrome—four critical factors undermining America's health. Today's focus: the obesity epidemic that's reshaping our nation's health landscape. With over 40% of adults and 20% of children now classified as overweight, we're facing a crisis that traditional approaches have failed to solve.

For years, we've been told weight management is simply about "calories in versus calories out." As a health professional, I once taught this myself. But science has revealed a much more complex reality. What matters most isn't how much we eat but what we eat—the nutritional quality of our food. Most surprising? Many overweight Americans are actually malnourished, lacking essential nutrients their bodies desperately need.

This deficiency creates a vicious cycle: our nutrient-starved bodies trigger cravings and hunger signals, leading us to eat more without addressing the underlying need. Meanwhile, environmental toxins become stored in our fat cells as "obesogens," making weight loss even more challenging. When I introduced proper nutritional products into my own routine, the difference was astounding—no more cravings, afternoon energy slumps, or that "starving" feeling between meals.

The forecast is sobering: Johns Hopkins University research suggests 100% of American adults could be overweight by 2048 without intervention. But there's hope if we address the multifaceted nature of this crisis—tackling toxicity, nutritional deficiency, and stress alongside diet and exercise. The time for meaningful action is now, for ourselves and future generations.

Ready to transform your approach to weight management? Subscribe to Words of Wellness for more insights on creating sustainable health and share this episode with someone who might benefit from a fresh perspective on this critical issue.

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,

Shelly

Speaker 1:

And I was guilty of this years ago I would share with my students calories in versus calories out. We know now science has proven it that it's so much more than that. It's not the calories, it's the quality. It's the quality of what we are putting in our bodies. Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today. Hi, my friends, and welcome to Words of Wellness.

Speaker 1:

This is our Shelly's Shares episode, and this is the third part of a four-part series that I am sharing here with all of you. I have been talking about the T-D-O-S syndrome, four areas that are affecting the health of our country in a very negative and dangerous way, and I am just bringing light to these different areas. Some of you are familiar with them, and I've already spoken about stress. I've spoken about toxins, and today I wanna talk about the O, which stands for overweight and obesity, and I'm going to start with this quote from a gentleman by the name of Dr Nicholas Messina the rising trend of seeing people excessively overweight is an epidemic. It has risen steadily in the United States over the past 150 years and has accelerated dramatically in the past few decades. In the United States today, more than 35% which now it's more like 40, I think 50% of adults and nearly 17% of children which now I think it's more like 20 years are overweight. Obesity is rising worldwide, including an alarming increase among developing countries. Clearly, the current strategies to stem this tide for the medical and scientific communities have been ineffective. We are losing the battle against people becoming disproportionately overweight and we must rethink our approach before we lose the war Now.

Speaker 1:

This is going to be brief today, my friends, but I do want to talk about this and give a few highlights so that we can understand what is happening in our country with this epidemic. And there are a lot of different factors, but I would say one of the biggest factors is the food we're eating, the lack of nutrients we're consuming and the toxins that we are being exposed to and the toxins that are entering our bodies. And, as I mentioned in the last episode when I was talking about toxins, many of these toxins get stored in our fat cells and it makes it very, very challenging to release them and therefore release weight. So when we talk about them getting stored in our fat cells, they're getting stored in our abdominal fat cells, our visceral fat, which can be very dangerous if that level of visceral fat gets to be too high. And so I wanted to just really bring this to our attention. And it's it's alarming, it's very alarming. We have even preschool children now who are overweight.

Speaker 1:

Now I know I'm going to date myself by saying this, but back in the day when I was in elementary school, honestly I don't remember I can't remember any kids being overweight. I can't remember any kids having diabetes. Now, maybe, maybe there was, but I really don't think so. Now we're talking this was a really long time ago and I really don't even know if I want to share how long ago, but the point of the matter is this has gotten much, much worse. It's become, like I said, an epidemic, and I'm speaking to the choir. I know you all know that it's a serious, serious issue, serious, serious issue and, like I mentioned in my last episode, much of what is attributing to this rise is not getting the proper nutrients in our bodies and being exposed to so many different toxins and the really hard part to know. It's also encouraging, but it's also really heartbreaking.

Speaker 1:

It's one of the leading preventable causes of death. It's causing death worldwide, but it's one of the most preventable causes. There are things we can do to prevent it. We're just not doing it to prevent it. We're just not doing it. And it's more than getting exercise. Exercise is important, for sure, but it's so much more than that. It's again getting the proper nutrition. It's also what we have been doing has not been working.

Speaker 1:

So when we think about these last 10, 20, 30 years, what have people done, when the first thing you think of when someone wants to lose weight, they go on a diet? We know that diets do not work. It's a temporary fix. Sometimes it can be detrimental to one's health, depending on their approach. But the first thing we think about and I was guilty of this years ago, I would share with my students calories in versus calories out. We know now science has proven it that it's so much more than that. It's not the calories, it's the quality. It's the quality of what we are putting in our bodies. The quality, it's the quality of what we are putting in our bodies. It's the nutritional value of what we're putting in our bodies.

Speaker 1:

And one thing that's very concerning is that most Americans, believe it or not, even if they're overweight, are malnutritioned, they're not getting the proper nutrients their bodies need. So, if you take a person who is already deficient and we're going to talk more about this in next episode but if they're already deficient in nutrients and minerals and they're going, okay, I want to lose weight, I'm going to cut back on what I'm eating, so now they're cutting back even further, so they're getting even more deficient. Okay, my friends, this is not working. It's not working. It's causing more problems than it's helping people, and we know that this has been kind of the cycle for decades and we know for a fact it's not working. More aware of yes, we need to get, you know, let's go back to the kids for a minute Get outside more, play outdoors more. Yeah, there's the factor of screen time. Right, we have screen time now that causes us to sit more. I totally get that. And, yes, that is a factor, but more of a factor than anything is our nutrition and what we're putting in our bodies and what we're not putting in our bodies. Right, we're missing out on a lot of different nutrients and minerals that our bodies need. So, again, this is connected when we talk about the TDoS syndrome. This is all. It's all connected.

Speaker 1:

Another quote I want to share with you, from Dr Messina again. For years, I focused on calorie reduction and exercise to help my patients who were overweight and, according to the government, obese. The results were disappointing. I am now convinced that becoming overweight and obesity is a multifactorial condition, and that toxicity is a multifactorial condition, and that toxicity, nutritional deficiency and stress must be addressed together with diet and exercise for a meaningful and lasting outcome. That is so true. We know that what's been done one it's not working and it's not sustainable.

Speaker 1:

And another thing that happens when I talk about the toxins getting stored in our fat cells, there's what we call toxic obesogens, and these obesogens become stored in our body, causing malnutrition and causing children and adults to be overweight. Malnutrition and causing children and adults to be overweight. So you wouldn't think that someone who is overweight is malnutrition, malnourished, but it's true, it's true. And if a body is lacking any nutrient or mineral, it throws off again, again it throws off the chemistry of the body, and so that also affects the hunger. And this is another part of this. If we are malnutritious sorry, now I get excited about this malnourished, get excited about this malnourished. We're not getting enough nutrients into our bodies, so our bodies are not being satisfied. So what happens? We get hungry hungry or more frequently, and we also have cravings because our bodies are not being satisfied with the proper nutrition. So that's where cravings come in, and then we end up overeating as well because we're not getting the proper nutrients, Our bodies are not being fed at a level that our bodies need to be satisfied to be able to function at the optimal level.

Speaker 1:

I will share with you. When I made a change, I introduced some nutritional products into my body years ago and I was floored about the difference that I felt Like. I was shocked and I share this with you all because that's coming from someone like myself, working in wellness and nutrition and fitness for decades and thinking I was pretty energetic and thinking I was pretty healthy, which I probably was compared to the average person. But for me, I noticed a difference and it was a huge light bulb moment for me and I can tell you I don't. I rarely had cravings before, but I don't have any cravings. I don't have an afternoon slump where I'm like sleepy and tired. I rarely feel like that moment.

Speaker 1:

You know, where you feel like, oh my gosh, I'm starving. I don't have that anymore. I used to have some of those moments. I don't have that anymore because my body is being fed nutritionally. I'm not saying I don't get hungry. Of course I'm eating. But the point of the matter is, once your body gets fed nutritionally what it needs, our bodies are miracles and they respond in that way, as we're meant to.

Speaker 1:

But if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, my goodness, yes, I have cravings, yes, I feel like I eat, and then, just a little while later, I feel hungry again, how many of you have felt that I actually this is going to sound really funny, but I remember experiencing that I actually this is going to sound really funny, but I remember experiencing that and I don't know why, to be honest with you but I remember years ago experiencing that after having Chinese food, I feel like I don't know why like I would feel like not that long after I'm like, oh, I kind of feel like I could eat again. I don't know what that was about, but I will share with you that now, once I have put the proper nutrition in my body, I mean, it's a game changer. It truly, truly is, and so it's so important to be able to be getting and fueling our bodies with what our bodies need. And again, this goes back to a lot of what we are consuming nowadays processed foods, artificial ingredients. The nutritional levels are very low and again, I'm going to get into that more with the next episode. But if you think about it, the more we have cravings, the more we eat, and I don't know about you, but when I used to have cravings like it would be going for a snack right, I'd be going into the pantry.

Speaker 1:

So really, I want this to be educational for all of you and I want it to be something that you can think about and apply to your own lives and your family's lives to help you maybe make some choices to help you in this area. Now, you might not be overweight, but you probably know someone who is, and it's something that's important, I think, to share. Now, it's a very, very sensitive topic. I totally understand it's very, very sensitive, but we're talking about wanting to help our family members, our friends, people who we come in contact with. Children my God, children should not be struggling with this. That just breaks my heart. So I'm hoping, by sharing this information with all of you, that you can share it with someone that you love and help make a difference in this area of children and adults being overweight and obese.

Speaker 1:

And there's a quote that is really shocking when you think about the future forecast. There was a research study that was conducted by Johns Hopkins University, and it stated that it's possible that 100% of American adults could find themselves in one of the overweight categories by the year 2048. Now we're looking at, you know, 20, over 20 years from now, but that's quite alarming. That would be an estimated 400 million plus people dealing with some type of weight problem, and I've shared before that it's time. It's time for us to make a difference, my friends.

Speaker 1:

We need to take action. It's very, very serious. We are becoming more educated, we are becoming more aware of what's going on, we're becoming more aware of what's affecting our health, more aware of what's going on with our food supply, what's going on with toxins. We need to band together and fight back in all of these areas and also, at the same time, take steps, be proactive, as I always say, for ourselves, for our health, for our family's health and for future generations, Because the time is now. The time is now. So, with that being said, take some time for yourself and your wellness on this day.

Speaker 1:

Share this episode with someone you feel who could benefit Again, with someone you feel who could benefit Again.

Speaker 1:

This is just the tip of the iceberg, just sharing a few statistics and sharing some areas that we can change and start to make some adjustments in so that we can be healthier as a nation.

Speaker 1:

So until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week, everyone, and I'll see you next time on Words of Wellness. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review words of wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week. Thank you.