Tag Archives: obesity

Extreme weight loss diets may not be as safe as you think

  By admin | February 9, 2012 - 12:31 AM | obesity
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You may be thinking of losing weight fast. Apart from reading about effective exercises that help you lose weight fast, you may have come across many weight loss diets that claim to save your time by helping you lose weight rapidly. Some of the normal weight loss diets seem beneficial but are very hard to follow. This is one of the major reasons why you choose to follow an extreme weight loss diet.

What is an extreme weight loss diet?
An extreme weight loss diet is basically a solution that many people come up with to lose weight. Some people are unhappy with the way they look and they wish to have a toned and agile body. They think that starving themselves will help them lose extra pounds and look good.

These diets look like a quick solution to your problem but they are only short term and their side effects stay for a long time. Diets that help you lose weight within a week or two are not designed to make major changes in your lifestyle and so you come back to your normal shape and size once the diet it over. You have to avoid certain foods if you follow these diets and that may not be very healthy and safe in the long run.

Loss of muscle tissue
You cannot lose weight too fast, because your body is not designed for that. If you take the risk of losing weight rapidly, you may not only lose weight but also decrease your muscle tissues ,which is not good for the body. If you wish to lose fat, you have to make gradual changes in your diet and lifestyle.

Imbalance of metabolism
When you follow a rapid weight loss diet, your body slows down its metabolism to save energy. When you skip meals, your caloric intake reduces and the body will tap in the fat reserves for more energy. This slows down the metabolism and weight loss becomes very difficult because of this.

Other health risks
Crash diets and yo-yo dieting can cause a lot of health problems which may even prove to be life threatening. Cases of cardiac arrest and death have been reported because of extreme dieting.

Extreme weight loss diets are not as safe as you think. It is highly recommended that you make lifestyle alterations to change the way you look.

Michelle Obama calls for nutrition bill

  By admin | August 5, 2010 - 9:13 AM | About weight loss, obesity
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First Lady Michelle Obama has called for congress to pass a legislation that could help combat the increasingly worrying issue of childhood obesity in America. The child nutrition bill would mean that $4.5 billion would be invested in tackling childhood obesity issues over the next decade in the states.

Mrs Obama stated her case in a public essay published in the Washington Post on Monday. In the essay she asks congress to pass the legislation that will guarantee an improvement in nutrition at school. The law will do this by regulating food standards in schools such as increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables that are made readily available to children, and regulating vending machines.

Issues

Childhood obesity in America has been labelled as an epidemic. Around 9 million children in the States are affected by weight issues. Earlier this year, research conducted by care organization Kaiser Permanente found that 37% of children are overweight, and over 19% of all kids in America are obese. Though other organizations, such as The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes that the figure is closer to 15%.

Mrs. Obama has been a leading advocate against childhood obesity. Earlier this year, she attended the launch of the President’s council on Fitness Sports and Nutrition and has also done fantastic work for child healthcare through her ‘let’s move’ campaign.

Prosperity

“We owe it to the children who aren’t reaching their potential because they’re not getting the nutrition they need during the day”, Mrs. Obama wrote. She also believes that the government owes it to parents as well as “to the schools that are trying to make progress but don’t have the resources they need”.

Obesity issues reportedly cost the American government around $150 billion each year in medical costs. The First Lady concluded that our “prosperity depends on the health and vitality of the next generation”.

Links Between Obesity and Asthma

  By admin | June 25, 2010 - 8:02 AM | About weight loss, Weight Loss Treatment
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Obesity is a serious condition that is typically characterized by a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above. BMI is a measurement chart that provides a comparison of height weight in order to determine whether you are obese, overweight or have normal weight. Obesity can have extremely negative repercussions on your overall health, affect your quality of life and is one of the biggest causes of preventable death worldwide. Asthma is a chronic disease that narrows and inflames the airways in the lungs. An asthmatic individual often experiences recurrent wheezing, tightness in the chest, coughing and shortness of breath.

Link between obesity and asthma
Now, new research has confirmed what doctors have long suspected – there are strong links between these two conditions. It has been discovered that higher the BMI, greater your risk of having asthma. In fact, your risk of suffering from asthma will be more than tripled if you also suffer from obesity. But the reasons for this have not yet been identified. Some researchers suggest that obesity causes a low grade system wide inflammation which might be a major factor in causing asthma. But others argue that obesity leads to insulin resistance and is therefore responsible for causing and aggravating asthma.

Control your obesity
Obesity also enhances the risk of a number of health conditions such as type-2 diabetes, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis as well as some kinds of cancer. That is why it is essential to control obesity with the help of weight loss treatments that include essential lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet and regular physical activity. These can be incorporated as a part of a holistic fitness program. Some cases of obesity need to be treated with prescription weight loss medications. This will help you keep obesity linked health conditions under control and reduce the severity of their symptoms.

What is Visceral Fat?

  By admin | April 26, 2010 - 1:05 PM | About weight loss, General
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Visceral fat is the abdominal fat surrounding the most vital internal organs of your body. It is sometimes mistaken as “beer belly”.

Visceral fat is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat as it can lead to some life threatening health issues like heart strokes, other heart diseases, diabetes etc. As visceral fat is deep embedded within body, so it can only be detected with help of imaging techniques like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to see how much of visceral fat is present.

Men are more likely to accumulate visceral fat whereas women have a tendency to store fat subcutaneously. Lowering the levels of visceral fat in your body can substantially decrease the chances of diabetes and related health problems.

In order to get rid of harmful visceral fats, specific diet pattern (reducing saturated fats can reduce visceral fats) and regular exercise regimen is a must. Waist slimming exercises with fat burner foods would be good choice to pave way to longer, slimmer and healthier life! Also, Orlistat is one of the very few medications which actually work to result in significant loss of visceral fats from your body. So if you are one of the motivated patients, Orlistat is safe and effective treatment for you.

Junk Food and Obesity – Two Friends That You can do Without

  By admin | April 10, 2010 - 12:13 PM | About weight loss, General
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If you love junk food, you are the ideal candidate for obesity. Studies continue to prove that those who have no control over the amount of junk food they consume are prone to obesity.

Junk food and obesity
Junk food and obesity are partners in crime. Typically, junk food is the kind of food that has high amount of calories, salt, fat and sugar. It’s termed junk, because it does not have any nutritional value. The reason why it’s popular is that it’s tasty and can become very addictive. People can be as addicted to junk food as they can to cigarettes or alcohol.

The junk food addiction
When you eat food with high fat content and sugar, it works on your brain like a painkiller. The more you eat, the more you want it. The fact that it offers an ‘empty calorie’ effect is another reason behind its addiction. The immediate effect of eating junk food is one of fullness and satisfaction, but after some time you begin to feel hungry again and want another helping of junk food. As a result, you are taking in more calories than your body can actually metabolize, which leads to the accumulation of fat deposits in your body.

The subtle effect
Unlike other addictions, junk food has a subtle effect on your body. As soon as you eat junk food, you don’t feel your arteries clogging up. Or you don’t get up the next day with excessive fat deposits in the body. As you continue eating junk food, your internal organs become fat and weak. This is the reason why you feel tired, depressed and sick all the time. But, you don’t realize this fact until it’s too late and you have become obese.

So, it’s important that you avoid junk food like the plague and if you actually can’t do without it, make sure that you restrict its intake.