Why do people inflict misery upon themselves?
By gaining too much weight, people are decreasing their quality of life and dying prematurely.
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to find the clues leading to tragic or mysterious deaths. The evidence is in plain sight.
We are a society in which obese people are becoming the majority.
Obesity involves excessive fat accumulation – to the point of becoming a risk to health.
An effort to fight obesity should have nothing to do with shaming and blaming. That’s the wrong approach, the wrong interpretation of objectives, and a distraction from what needs to be done. Instead, we must identify the steps to fight the scourge – and get on with it immediately.
A recent study published by The Lancet, a distinguished medical journal, notes that in the U.S., 213 million adults and more than 43 million children and adolescents will be overweight or obesity by 2050. That would amount to 77 per cent of the population. In Canada, nearly two in three adults and one in three children and youth are either overweight or living with obesity. These are grim statistics, and the outlook for the kids is not good.
History tells us that obese children become obese adults.
If you hear that heart attack is the number one killer, it’s a misleading claim. Obesity, and a companion medical problem, diabetes, do the most killing.
Dr. Marie Ng, Associate Professor at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, is co-author of the study. She says the problem is “much more complex than just a matter of excessive energy intake and physical inactivity.
She’s right to a point.
There are “structural drivers of population obesity” and she urges organizations to address them. There are also people with genetic conditions that predispose them to weight gain.
But don’t lose sight of simple facts. Most people eat too much – and bad food to boot. It’s costing them, and all of us, dearly.
That’s saying it politely.
Obesity leads to type 2 diabetes, the complications of which include blindness, kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and possible amputation of legs.
The World Obesity Federation says that by 2035 the global economic impact of obesity will exceed $4 trillion annually, nearly three percent of global GDP.
But there are three easy steps to mitigate the pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Governments, food corporations, and health authorities are not doing enough to promote them. And you neglect them at your peril.
Number One, buy a bathroom scale and step on it every morning. It never lies. Pick a weight you will never exceed and adjust your food choices and exercise level as required to remain steady at your target.
Number Two, use a calorie counter to help manage a healthy daily diet and a pedometer to count your daily steps. You may be surprised what you learn.
An orange is 60-70 calories and high in fiber. A glass of orange juice has double the calories and almost no fiber. A typical muffin contains 400-500 calories and often 35-45 grams of saturated fat. You can eat a banana and a homemade granola bar for half the calories, healthier fats from seeds, and again more fiber. Use smaller plates to help manage portion sizes.
Number Three, eat slowly.
The arrival of food in the stomach triggers immediate chemical feedback that stimulates the urge to eat more. But after 15-20 minutes, the small intestines start working and that leads to the sensation of feeling full.
Try it. Take three easy steps to better health.
Sign-up at http://www.docgiff.com to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com.
