America is growing — and not just due to the unstemmed flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border. Nor is it because members of Gen Z have finally woken up to the joys of having one’s own family and are therefore solving the birthrate crisis by bringing their own little ones into the world.

No.

Americans themselves are getting bigger. The percentage of obese adults and children has reached a disastrous level, with no sign of improving anytime soon.

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly one in three adults is overweight, and more than two in five are obese. Sadly, these numbers have been growing as quickly as people’s waistlines.

While many believe the issue is as simple as personal eating habits, it turns out there are far more complications to consider beyond diabetes and high cholesterol, which are just two of the common conditions associated with weight gain.

This is as much a public health and financial crisis as it is a personal one. A new report released by House Republicans says obesity will cost the nation up to $9.1 trillion in medical costs over the next decade. (Last year’s estimate by the same committee was a mere $4.1 trillion over 10 years.)

The economic projection includes more Medicare and Medicaid spending, as well as “private spending on obesity,” as unhealthy lifestyle choices come with an increased risk for things like cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, and asthma, which often require costly interventions.

The workforce has also taken a hit, as excess weight affects more people’s mobility, stamina, productivity, and attendance. This means fewer working-age adults can manage a full-time job, consistently show up for work, and perform the tasks needed to fulfill the demands of the position. The inability to work causes the overweight to seek government assistance in multiple areas, adding yet one more penalty to those who make better choices. As we show up to work and pay our taxes, we are covering the medical bills for those who choose to destroy their bodies with what the government deducts from our paychecks.

Furthermore, it is bewildering that we have the science, the tools, and the resources to fix this problem, yet there seems to be little motivation to do so.

Research continues to prove the benefits to both our mental and physical health that come with better eating and exercise habits. One such study points to the release of mytokines, or “hope molecules [that] cross the blood-brain barrier to positively affect mental health by reducing symptoms of depression or trauma and increasing resilience to stress.”

Among the many controversial procedures and recommendations that have come from the medical community in recent years under the mind-melting “education” of woke ideology, one thing has remained consistent: Healthy nutrition and consistent exercise are two standard and provable methods to lower the numbers on the scale.

Yet confusing and illogical ideas abound thanks to far-left professors, therapists, and even doctors who have seemingly rendered a large portion of the large population incapable of helping themselves. One such situation involved a TikTok video of an obese woman’s emotionally challenging visit to the doctor’s office.

The woman proposed a list of symptoms that she had gathered from a popular medical drama, “Grey’s Anatomy,” feeling confident that she likely had two of the conditions outlined by the TV doctors. Believing that she could have either postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) or Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), and sharing this with her personal physician, the woman was triggered when the doctor steered her instead toward bariatric surgery and her alarmingly high BMI.

The woman then asked her doctor not to discuss her BMI, noting its “history as a tool of eugenics and racism and colonialism.”

Instances of doctors being accused of discrimination and bullying have risen to the point where Democrat politicians (unsurprisingly) now want to add weight to the list of factors that cannot be discussed — alongside race, religion, and sexuality.

The favorite talking points amongst the body-positivity and fat-acceptance movement — about weight being rooted in anything other than one’s personal life choices — will only serve as a danger to their health. At the same time, this will hinder doctors from addressing very real and very serious health issues with their patients or making recommendations that might cure debilitating conditions and prolong their lives.

Though we can point to several factors that have contributed to the rising rates of obesity, the constant reinforcement by woke activists who tell their obese followers that being fat is fine also exacerbates this public health catastrophe.

Health has become an ideological problem as much as a mental and physical one — one that we are all being forced to pay for. And whether it is here to stay seems to be the most critical question of all. In 2024, we are less about pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and more about reining ourselves in by the drawstrings.