Australians are becoming larger and increasingly unhealthy, with the country’s obesity-related deaths also rising.

In Queensland there has been a 17 per cent increase in obesity-related deaths over the last 10 years and a 7 per cent increase over the last 5 years.

Health and nutrition expert and founder of Fuelling Success Bonnie Killip said creating a more accepting environment and offering engaging school nutrition and cooking classes would help make a healthier society.

“[We need] long-term health care not just acute medical patch ups and medications that send people back into the dysfunctional life which created the [weight] problem and we should ditch diet culture in place of actually supporting human beings,” she said.

“Possibly the best thing we can do is listen to people and after they are heard with compassion, guide and empower them to take responsibility for their health and life outcomes.”

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2017-18 two thirds of Australians over 18 were overweight or obese.

These rates of weight gain also seem to increase with age, with only 46 per cent of 18-24 year-olds being classed as outside of the healthy weight range compared to 68.7 per cent of 35-44 year-olds.

Activity levels can significantly affect the speed of an individual’s metabolism and older adults are typically less active.

Ms Killip said people were becoming increasingly disconnected from themselves at a young age and food was a distraction.

“We grow up in families where parents are busy, stressed and distracted and can’t give us the attention we need,” she said.

“Our relationship with food for many can end up unconsciously filling one or many of our emotional needs which aren’t being met.”

Senator Richard Di Natale said in Parliament in 2018 that Australia was facing a crisis.

“In Australia, rates of overweight and obesity have risen dramatically in recent decades in all age groups,” he said.

“We may be the first generation that hands over a lower life expectancy to our kids than the one that we enjoyed.”

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2017-18 25 per cent of children aged 2-17 were overweight or obese.

Obesity rates increasing after coronavirus lockdowns are a cause for concern due to more people comfort eating and participating in less physical activity.

Accredited dietitian Rebekka Frazer said obesity was a multi-factorial condition and is something that develops over time.

“Increased amounts of heavily processed energy dense foods… low levels of nutrition literacy among the average Australian and increased reliance on food to soothe emotions and stress are all factors contributing to more Australians suffering from obesity,” she said.

She said there were so many things Australia could implement to halt this progression, such as charging a tax on processed foods and sugar and using the funds as a rebate against healthier foods.

“Increasing nutrition education in schools including parental involvement and increasing support to facilitate behavioural change towards a healthier lifestyle such as greater rebates on sessions with dietitians, exercise physiologists and psychologists,” she said.

Being over a healthy weight range can cause a magnitude of diseases that can be fatal.

According to the World Health Organisation, Australia is not alone.

Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.

In 2016 more than 1.9 billion adults, aged 18 years and over, were overweight, and 650 million of these were obese.

Thirty-eight million children under the age of five were over the healthy weight range in 2019.

Ms Killip said despite obesity being a problem, no one’s natural state was unhealthy, and people need to be re-educated to trust their body.

“[We all need to] accept and acknowledge that human beings are vast and varied in size and the actual behaviours people are doing are far more indicative of health versus their relationship with gravity,” she said.