The Clash: Between Biology and Environment: Why It Is Difficult to Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight

Over 300,000 people will die this year from obesity-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. That's 822 people every day. It's like two large jets crashing each and every day for the whole year.

Clash reveals how myths about health continue, even among health professionals, and debunks those myths. It exposes the problems that ignorance has caused.And it will help you to ultimately make choices that will result in a healthy and happy life. The biology section examines the mechanics of weight gain. Mother Nature carefully designed our bodies to succeed and to pass along successful genes. In the Environment section, you will learn how our modern environment has derailed this carefully designed biology. Big companies have exploited aspects of our biology to drive profits. Now your biology is working against your health and survival.

But there is hope. The final section of this book shares several modalities for accommodating our biology and this environment, from a new way of shopping, dealing with your sugar addiction, and an eating you can keep for the rest of your life, to more involved accommodations such as bariatric surgery. This book will set you on a path toward successful weight management and health.

Once you understand why you struggle with your weight, you will have an understanding of how to improve your situation. Even more important, you will have compassion for those who biologically struggle to adapt to the current environment. It is time to bury the old myths and embrace those who struggle, including ourselves. The good news is there is hope. The Clash may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility to accommodate it.

Warren R. Peters, MD MPH is a clinician who specializes in Metabolic and Obesity medicine at Loma Linda University. He is a member of the department of Preventive Medicine, and his research interest centers on the biology of obesity. He is the bariatrician for the Loma Linda University Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery program. Dr. Peters took his post-graduate work in General and Peripheral Vascular Surgery at the Mason Clinic in Seattle and was boarded in General Surgery. He has lectured nationally and internationally on the topics of Chronic Degenerative Diseases and has published in a wide array of peer-reviewed medical journals. His patients are always met with a smile and an effort to make the complex things simple. Currently, Dr. Peters is a director with the Obesity Treatment Foundation and a highly involved member of the Obesity Medical Association.