Introduction: Obesity and Overweight are the terms that mean a person has weight much greater than what is considered a healthy weight according to his or her height. This condition is faced by a person when one eats more calories than. When there is an imbalance between calories in and calories out it leads to obesity. It increases risk for your health as it may invite Diabetes, some form of cancer, arthritis, heart diseases etc.
Rightly quoted “Few Die of Hunger, Many Die of Eating”
– Benjamin Franklin
What is Obesity?
Obesity is a health condition in which a person carries a much higher amount of body fat that could lead to many serious health problems and sometimes even death. This has become a major worry for people around the world. It does not happen in one day but develops slowly with poor diet and lifestyle.
Causes:
There have been various major factors for the obesity worldwide.Eating too much but having no physical activity and genetic structure are the most important causes which affect our body weight.
Following are some more risk factors leading to obesity:
| Family History | If anyone in the family is or was obese then children are likely to be obese. |
| Unhealthy lifestyle | When having poor diet and having physical activities one is likely to become obese. |
| Poor diet | Unhealthy eating like fried , processed food |
| Some medication | There are medicine also which can make you obese even if you not overeating. |
| Illness | Due to illness there is not much physical movement so one tends to become obese. |
| Smoking | As we all know that smoking is injurious to health and it also contribute to obesity. |
| Alcohol Consumption | Alcohol in much higher amount when consumed leads to obesity |
| Junk Food | Junk food is made up of white flour or refined flour which is hard to digest fully and gets deposit around the waist area. |
Symptoms :
There are many symptoms of obesity one may experience and some of them are as follows:
Higher BMI (Body Mass Index)
Broader waistline
Difficulty in breathing
Pain in back and joints
Snoring
Fatigue
Overweight
Excess sweating
High blood pressure
High level of cholesterol
Cardiovascular disease
Stroke etc
Diagnosis :
Obesity can be diagnosed & confirmed though various means such as:
BMI( Body Mass Index)
Weight to Height ratio
Waist size
Some tests of blood pressure , glucose and fat level
Visit a doctor etc
Prevention :
One can prevent obesity by adopting a healthy lifestyle and through various means like:
Exercise regularly
Eating healthy diet
WHO recommends to exercise at least 40 minutes daily i.e. walk ~8000 steps
Jogging
Swimming
Brisk walking etc
Treatments for obesity are:
Changes in lifestyle
Healthy diet
Medicines for weight loss
Bariatric surgery also known as weight loss surgery in which the length of stomach/ intestine is shortened.
Obesity is a condition which one has to control and thankfully it can be controlled by adopting some of the prevention methods and also through available treatment options, otherwise it may lead to type 2 diabetes, psychological problems, heart diseases, reduced sleep duration and many more harmful effects on the body. So to sum up imbibe habit of taking healthy meals on regular time, exercise daily and say goodbye to Obesity worries.
