Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts

Dec 7, 2009

Overweight and Obesity

Obesity definition is very straightforward. Obesity is simply defined as being overweight. It signifies that excessive amounts of fat are collected in your body, which leads to the overmuch body weight. An individual’s weight must be in balance with his or her height, which entails within the body mass index (BMI). The ideal BMI goes between 18.5 to 24.9. So, in clinical terms Body mass index of 30 and above is defined as obesity.Obesity has bad effects on the general health and lifestyle of a person. People who are obese become very inactive as they realize it hard to take part in great number of everyday activities. They cannot move easily, they are all the time exhausted and they are put in risk of becoming sick with diverse kinds of illnesses ranging from cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, and lots of others.

What are the causes of obesity. As already stated that most common reasons for obesity can be inactive lifestyle, high intake of calories and even scientific reasons (like psychiatric, medical and genetic causes). As mentioned above, a inert and unmoving lifestyle is the first on the list of causes of obesity. An individual finds it troublesome to exercise or go in for some sport, which step by step has negative influence on his weight making him obese.Genetics or heredity is another cause of obesity. It has been found out that the gene for Obesity has been circulated from generation to generation. Thus, the children whose parents are obese show a tendency to be obese.

People who are afflicted with genetic factors for obesity have many problems with losing weight in the long term. What is more, obesity may appear because of some psychological problems. It signifies that people show a tendency of overeating themselves when they are hopeless, upset, enraged, even weary with something that, consequently, leads to obesity. As well, several diseases and conditions like Cushing’s syndrome, Hypothyroidism, Depression, and certain neurological problems cause gluttony which successively causes storing of too much fat in the body.
But, the most general reason why people overeat is that they lack time to eat healthy food as they are overcharged with many responsibilities. Wild schedules have given to the use of fast and processed food, which, on one hand, don’t have enough vitamins and minerals and, on the other, has a high amount of calories.

So, how may a person eliminate obesity? Obese people think that they will be fat till the end of their life and that they will never slim down. Of course this is nonsense, and there is a solution. You may easily cure obesity on condition that provided that you are well organized, have a strong will, and on condition that you comply with the regulations that you must follow before you decide to begin with a diet. It is most important to recognize the problem and then go to your doctor who will will best advise what to do considering your obesity issue.

Fortunately, there are great numbers of weight loss plans today, which show outstanding results. Or you may even select some other methods that fit your needs, among which some may be very extreme like obesity surgical process or ingestion of anti-obesity drugs. Very recently, genetic analysis is proving to have some very good efefcts on weight loss plans. For more information www.genebright.com

Aug 3, 2009

Overweight Parents, Overweight Children

Seems like I’m stating the obvious, doesn’t it? Of course parents have a huge impact on whether their children become overweight. They buy whatever food is in the home and model eating habits. These preferences, however, are most likely partly genetic and partly behavioral.In David Kessler’s new book, The End of Overeating, he discusses how serotonin and dopamine work to increase our cravings and appetite. Both genes and conditioning contribute to the levels of these neurotransmitters in our brain.The interaction between genes and behavior is difficult to tease apart. A recent study has found that the behaviors of obese parents may be more to blame than the genes they’ve passed on to their children.The EarlyBird Diabetes Study looked at 226 British families and found that :Obese mothers are 10 times more likely to have obese daughtersObese fathers are 6 times more likely to have obese sonsThere is no association between obese mothers and obese sons, obese fathers and obese daughtersThe Study’s Director, Professor Terry Wilkin said:Any genetic link between obese parents and their children would be indiscriminate of gender. The clearly defined gender-assortative pattern which our research has uncovered is an exciting one because it points towards behavioural factors at work in childhood obesity.But don’t count out genetics! What about imprinting? Genomic imprinting results in exactly this sort of pattern in which genes are expressed differently depending on the parent of origin, mother or father.Regardless, there is no question that obesity rates in developed countries have increased tremendously. In The End of of Overeating, Dr. Kessler makes the case that it’s because the food industry knows exactly how to alter food chemistry and layer fat, sugar, and salt to make food super-palatable. So even though our genes may not have changed that much in the last half century, the foods that we have ready access to certainly have. Just think what life must have been like before McDonald’s was founded in 1940!In our family the pattern observed in the study seems to be holding true. My son takes after his svelte father while my daughter tends towards the chubbier side. Considering I am feeding them all, I suggest that genes and how they influence what and how much we eat are still important. That doesn’t excuse my tendency to indulge, though. As with everything to do with parenting, time to reconsider what kind of example I’m setting for my kids.News.com.au, ScienceDaily