5 Added sugars and saturated fats should each contribute less than 10% of the daily caloric intake.

4 This plan encourages a diet rich in nutrients while limiting calories from added sugars, saturated and trans fats, and sodium.

Departments of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Agriculture (USDA) have released the Dietary Guidelines for 2015 to 2020. Healthy weight loss can be achieved with a daily caloric intake of 1,200–1,500 for women and 1,500–1,800 for men. 3 Weight gain occurs when more calories are consumed than expended. The recommended daily caloric intake depends on an individual’s age, gender, and level of physical activity. The management of obesity is therefore an important discussion with many now acknowledging that diet modification would have the greatest impact on this growing epidemic. Although current lifestyle trends emphasize the importance of eating healthy, we continue to see foods high in fat and sugar as major components of the Western diet which has corresponded to the steady rise in obesity. Several factors have been attributed to this epidemic with the western diet considered to be a major contributor to the growing rate of obesity in the United States. This was $1,429 higher than the cost for non-obese patients. 3 In 2008, the medical cost for obesity was $147 billion. 2 In conjunction with this, chronic illnesses associated with obesity such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are now among the top causes of death in the United States. 1 According to the Center for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity in the United States was 30.5% in 1999. The World Health Organization reports 1.9 billion adults were overweight in 2016 and 650 million were considered obese. Through the course of the last several decades, the rate of obesity has progressively increased and is now one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

North america is an obese dragon