The statistics are terrifying. Two hundred million Americans are overweight and 100 million are obese. More than 75 million Americans have high blood pressure. 24 million people are diabetic. Heart disease remains the No. 1 cause of death for men and women, followed by stroke and obesity-related cancers. Obesity is about to overtake tobacco as the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths in the United States.

60% of bankruptcies are caused by what has become known as “medical debt.” Fast food, fast medicine, fast news and fast lives have turned many Americans into a sick, uninformed, indebted, “processed” people.

Processed People features insightful interviews from nine preeminent health and environmental experts/advocates. They discuss how and why Americans got into this mess, and what we can do to break the “processed people” cycle.