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Facing Facts Fifty-eight percent of all children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are obese. (Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

encourage. The twins’ BMIs ran routinely in the low 20s, and they never worried about health. Now Lyle and Leslie are twenty-one-year-olds. The sedentary life of writing term papers and studying, combined with cafeteria food and midnight vending-machine raids, caused Leslie to gain the tradi- tional “freshman twenty” during her first year away at college. She never did anything about it. Three years later, at five-feet tall and 155 pounds, her BMI soared to 30. Lyle didn’t gain any weight during his college years. In fact, he chose to live more healthfully while on campus, swimming laps three times a week at the pool and running on the university’s track. He was also careful about what and how much he ate and drank. His BMI remained a normal 22. In her early twenties, Leslie starts to notice that she’s always thirsty, plus she has to urinate often. Additionally, she feels fatigued more than she ever has, even during the day. She knows she doesn’t get much exercise and that she’s gained weight, so she writes off her fatigue to being out of shape. Then her vision starts to blur. Too much time on the computer, she thinks.

32 / Health Issues Caused by Obesity