In the world today, money is often a little tight, so it makes a lot of sense to periodically evaluate where your hard earned cash is going.

One big expense which traditional economists often gloss over – is the cost of those extra pounds you’re carrying around your middle.

The beach holiday in a bikini

Probably the first “cost” that comes to mind, is the aesthetic cost. It is pretty hard to look like a sexy bombshell in a bikini, when you’ve got a couple of extra kilograms hanging around.

It is impossible to put a monetary figure on the cost of feeling like a beached whale on a beach, because the price is paid in emotions. Emotional payments primarily centre around poor self esteem, which can manifest as psychological hang-ups including depression etc.

But fortunately today, if you’re going down to the beach, you will have a lot of company, so you can still have a pretty enjoyable beach holiday. The hard part is getting past the initial reservations of stripping down to the point where the wobbly layers, are in full view. Once you’ve plucked up the courage, the few moments of awkwardness pass, especially when you notice, you’re not the fattest person on the beach.

Wardrobe inflation

Another cost of being overweight, is the cost of keeping yourself adequately covered up, when you’re not at the beach.

It is not that clothes for fuller figures are inherently more expensive, the trouble is, you often end up having to purchase a whole new wardrobe, as your figure becomes a little fuller. Or less full (yippie !), if you’re on the downward trend of the yo-yo swing.

Real cost of obesity

But the real costs, are not on the costs of dealing with the outer problem, the cost is an internal one.

The fat cells are snotting and sniffing out toxic tears which are full of chemicals that cause inflammation.

Your house, is quite literally ON FIRE, because your body chemistry is out of a balance.

The price of bad body chemistry initially is feeling

• Flat
• Flabby & frumpy
• Fatigued
• Freaked out

Feeling flat in itself, does not cost money at the outset, but feeding a fire does eventually generate a hefty price tag.

The name on the bill is seldom obesity……….. the bills roll in as diagnosis of

• Diabetes
• Infertility
• Heart attack, stroke, thrombosis (cardiovascular disease)
• Depression

Paying these bills is very costly

Researchers from a health scheme analyzed the health care costs of 4 462 women aged 40-65 on their books.

In the analysis, the women were grouped according to how fat they were, the researchers used body mass index (BMI), to class them as …..

• < 25 – normal
• 25-30 – overweight
• >30 – obese

The fat cells are eating money……………

In this group of women, the medical bills were adversely effected by obesity, as the pounds went on, the medical bills also climbed up.

For women with a BMI above 30, the medical bill went up by 65 % , for even heavier women (BMI >35), the costs climbed to 157 % more than a normal weight person.

So what does this mean in terms of dollars and cents…..

For every dollar a normal person spends on health care, a fat person spends $ 1.65 – $2.57. Over time, this difference would pay for a pretty nice beach holiday or two.

NOTE :

The money calculations are not including the price that is being paid in terms of how the person feels i.e. the quality of life. You can expect to live longer but the going might not be so good.

Medical aids are cutting cover

Every year, the cost of health insurance increases, when you read the fine print, you frequently find coverage is actually decreasing.

Those fat cells are costing you a lot more than your figure. Even if you’re only carrying a few extra pounds, it is your lifetime level of fatness that ultimately counts.

Your fat cells are slowly draining your pocket and your well being.

Stop feeding those fat cells

As we begin a brand new year, resolve to shed those extra fat cells by getting your body chemistry balanced. It is not a difficult as you think – most dieting programmes fail because they never fix the body chemistry.

To put out a raging fire you make a small change to the chemistry, you take away the oxygen. Small changes can get your body chemistry balanced and put out the inflammatory fire fanning your flab.

Enrol for the 31 day free e-course and start the journey to “Better Body Chemistry”.

Further reading

Your genes want you to line up your plate using the rule of thirds	The side effects of obesity stopped by omega-3s	Tweedle dum and tweedle dee lacked fat cell membrane synergy

The 7 Big Spoons™…. are master switches that turn health on.

Balance Eicosanoids	Rein in insulin	Dial down stress	Sleep !	Increase Vit D	Culivate microflora	Think champion

Hire Dr Sandy from a Spoonful of Science to be the keynote speaker at your next event.

Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below