Obesity is ranked as the number one
health risk facing America by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). There are a number of common causes for obesity that can be addressed by
simple lifestyle changes. For the causes
that are genetic or hormonal that cannot be completely solved by behavioral
changes, can be addressed through current medical interventions.
Obesity
leads to a number of diseases including, cardiovascular, endocrine,
gastrointestinal, renal and genitourinary, integument, and musculoskeletal,
neurological, respiratory, and psychological diseases. The most common causes
for obesity are poor nutrition, lack of exercise (or a sedentary lifestyle) and
low health literacy. Other causes that are not so simple can be physiological,
such as genetic and hormonal problems.
As
for poor nutrition, America is a fast food nation, focused on convenience more
than health, or quality of food. Many people include food from McDonald’s or
Dunkin Donuts in their daily routines, not realizing that the time they are
saving by the convenience of eating fast foods may be reducing the amount of
time that they will have to live a quality life. Addressing poor nutrition begins with simple
practices, such as eating 6 small meals a day, with fixed proportion sizes, and
healthy homemade, quality foods. Taking control of what you are eating by being
aware of the quality and quantity of food you are taking in daily. Eating foods that are closer to their natural
state will automatically keep overly processed foods, like anything from
McDonalds or pre-made treats, off limits. Eating several servings of fresh
produce a day, along with fresh meat and dairy products will help to find a
healthy balance.
A
sedentary lifestyle has, in recent years especially, become a huge factor in
obesity rates. As children, for stimulation, you were told to go outside and
play or go for a walk, or go skip rope. Now, children are confined to their
homes, staring at a variety of screens, compute, phone, TV. Adults no longer
work jobs that require physical movement, they park as close to the building as
possible, take the elevator instead of the stairs, sit at their desk all day
and generally order take-out which they have delivered and eat at their desk.
The numbers of people who believe that cleaning their house is the extent of
exercise they need is outrageous, other haven’t thought about exercise since
their high school gym class. It is extremely important to get exercise, not
only does it assists in keeping the weight off, but it also is a direct weapon
against obesity related diseases. Create an exercise program that includes 30
minutes of moderate to intense exercise 6 days a week. Mix it up with a variety
of cardio and weights, as well as a day of just walking. If you can’t find the
money and time to join a gym, there are simple at home exercise routines you
can do with little or no equipment.
Health
literacy is an important factor in the fight against obesity. The information
era is upon us and yet it seems difficult to get the important information
across in a clear, easy to understand format. A great and inexpensive way to
increase your nutritional knowledge is to subscribe to health based nutritional
magazines and or sites. Clean Eating
is a magazine that focuses on healthy food options, appropriate proportion
sizes, and healthy options for less money. Fit
Pregnancy is a magazine filled with healthy options for food and exercise
during pregnancy as well as education on how to raise your children to prevent
childhood obesity. SELF magazine has a website called NutritionData that allows you to
look up any type of food and will give you all of the nutritional information
on that food, break down how to read and use each nutritional label. Many of the healthy magazines have free online
newsletters or blogs that you can follow, phone apps, and Facebook pages that
you can follow and keep up with if you can’t or won’t pay for a magazine
subscription.
For
those obesity problems that cannot be solved by incorporating a healthy lifestyle
based on good nutrition and quality exercise, there are other options. There
are FDA approved medications for treating obesity that must be prescribed by a
doctor. Some of these medications are short term solutions for obesity while
others are long term. Long term medications include appetite suppressants and
lipase inhibitors. Short term medications are generally used as a supplement
for diet and exercise; they generally contain amphetamines and work by
stimulating the central nervous system to increase heart rate and blood
pressure, while decreasing appetite. Short term medications have numerous side
effects and should be used with caution. Surgical options are available to
individuals that have tried all other weight loss options without success and have
a BMI over 40% or a BMI between 35-39.9% with other life threatening obesity
related diseases involved. There are two different kinds of weight loss
surgeries; restrictive and malabsorptive/restrictive. Restrictive surgeries
work by physically restricting the size of the stomach and slowing down
digestion. Malabsorptive/restrictive surgeries are more invasive that not only
restrict the size of the stomach but also remove or bypass parts of the
digestive system to prevent a body from absorbing calories.
Overall,
exercise and diet modifications are considered the best way to prevent and
combat obesity. Medications and weight loss surgeries are only recommended as a
last option for those that are facing life threatening diseases caused by
obesity.
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