Weight Loss & Obesity Affects Life Expectancy

We hear it all the time…lose weight for your health. Few people however, realize the extent to which this is critical to their physical well-being and ultimately their life expectancy.
In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured a study finding that obesity appears to lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults. The study showed an obese 20-year-old white male, (5'10")178cm and weighing (288 pounds) 130kg was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity.
It is now well research that a Western diet that leads to obesity may actually act to stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It is never too late to improve your health through healthful eating and adopting a more health-giving lifestyle. Here are simple steps to follow which can make an immediate improvement to your health and vitality.
1. Check to see if you are overweight or obese.
To find out your BMI you need to divide your weight (measured in kilos) by your height (measured in metres) squared. If the result is greater than 25, your health may be improved by losing weight.
2. Match your diet to your body’s requirements.
If you eat and drink more calories than your body requires you will put on weight. Learn to control calories and portion sizes, make recipes leaner, and eat infrequently from fast food restaurants. Also learn how to snack with healthful choices.
3. Colour your diet with a large variety of colorful, cancer-fighting fruit and vegetables.
There are seven different color ranges of both fruit and vegetables and by choosing between 5 to 9 daily serves from a wide range of fruit and vegetables, we are extending our consumption of cancer (and other disease) fighting nutrients.

Solution to Obesity

First of all we need to find out a reason for this growing mountain of fat that is killing us.
We know now that the traditional explanation - that of overeating - is wrong. People eat when they’re hungry, and they stop when they’re full. The problem lies in hormonal imbalance inside our bodies, an imbalance that deprives us of the energy to live life to the full, and instead stores the energy as fat.
What influences human hormonal balance? The three biggest factors are: genetics, diet, and stress.
There are no prizes for guessing which one of those three is the easiest to control.
The number one nutrient that negatively affects human hormonal balance is well known - it's sugar. The health and beauty of nations is directly related to its consumption. The per capita consumption of sugar has increased fifteenfold over the last 100 years.
Ever wondered why the French remain slim despite eating far more calories than we do, with their rich, fatty cuisine? That's right, it's because they drink wine instead of soft drinks!
It's very sad that this information - backed by genuine science - cannot realistically compete with advertising budgets of big sugar and soft drink producers

Say No To Obesity

Obesity still remains one of the commonest avoidable causes of several disease conditions. Most often than not, it is a result of the wrong habits or lifestyles.
Obesity is a case that cut across race, colour and gender. Obesity has several facets, it is closely associated with several ailments, the most alarming being hypertension, diabetes and most fatal is the psychological effects it could have on its victims. Teenagers commit suicide today because of obesity.
DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION
A close relationship exists between hypertension and obesity. In fact it is believed that most hypertensives are more than 10% overweight. Fat accumulation in the trunk or abdomen is not only related to hypertension but also to diabetes and hyperlipideamia (excess fat in the body). Obesity can contribute to hypertension in several ways. For one thing, obesity leads to a greater output of blood, because the heart has to pump more blood to supply the excess tissues. The increased cardiac output then can raise the blood pressure. For another thing, obese hypertensive individuals have a greater stiffness (resistance) in the peripheral arteries throughout the body. Finally, obesity may be associated with a tendency for the kidneys to retain salt in the body. Weight loss may help reverse problems related to obesity while also lowering blood pressure. It has been estimated that the blood pressure can be decreased 0.32mmHg for every 1kg (2.2pounds) of weight loss.

Fighting Obesity - My Pyramid Dietary Guidelines

If you are fighting the battle of the bulge (overweight and obesity) unsuccessfully, here is good help at hand. You no longer have to depend on unsubstantiated claims and vested commercial weight loss sites for your fight against obesity.
United States Agricultural Department has released dietary guidelines for all Americans to choose a nutrition program based on age, physical activity etc. My Pyramid is an attempt at providing a nutrition and physical activity plan to suit different individual requirements that would help fight overweight and obesity challenge faced by U.S.
My Pyramid is also recognition of the fact that ‘eat less’ suggestions do not have an impact on the weight management. The food pyramid suggested by the agricultural departments is all about moderation and balancing the diets while taking personal responsibility for ones own health.
The dietary guidelines are available to the public athttp://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html. It has detailed guidelines on benefits of physical activities, calories burned with different types of physical activities, tips for increasing physical activities and more interestingly an interactive My Pyramid Tracker for an in-depth assessment of your diet quality and physical activity status.
The tool calculates the food calories/energy balance through inputting your age, sex and physical activities. The tracker is available athttp://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

What Obesity Debate?

This is a perfect example of how on-line weight loss "experts" can confuse and harm the American consumer...The Obesity Debate?

During a dinner conversation with a friend, the topic of laziness was brought up. From there, we some how got around to the topic of obesity. He said to me, "A great example of how bad laziness can be is obesity."

"Excuse me," I coughed out (almost chocking on the last bite).

"You know, obese people don't do anything. They are fat because they are lazy," my friend said as if from a position of authority. This was going to be a long dinner I could tell.

It turns out, my friend read an article posted on the net that started with a statement similar to my friend's words that almost made me choke. Unfortunately, he didn't remember the author's name but the title was Fitness and Exercise -- I haven't found it...yet.

What blows my mind is how easily people believe what is written on a website by someone calling himself an expert! The real experts need to start making noise!

Laziness does not cause obesity. If that were so, obesity would be the norm and not considered a problem. I recently found a wonderful definition of obesity...it covers all the possibilities in one clear sentence:

The etiology of obesity is complex, determined by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors -Andrea Baessler, from her recent article in Diabetes, Jan, 2005.

There has never been a debate about what causes obesity. We have always known that obesity is multifactorial in etiology. The "real" debate topics are which environmental factors and which genes increase the risk or incidence of obesity. The rest of the article reviews recent work around two genetic links to obesity.