Obesity is the second leading cause of death after smoking. It is associated with an increased mortality rate of all ages including children. Losing weight though commercialized is still to your benefit if you carry more weight than you should.
Obesity and overweight are terms often used interchangeably. However, technically they refer to two different states.
Being overweight technically means excess body mass. This includes all the body tissues. Obesity, on the other hand, refers explicitly to excess body fat e.g. a professional heavyweight bodybuilder is overweight because of excess muscles but is not obese.
Obesity is what should concern you. Losing weight is no longer an issue you can afford to procrastinate, and probably a good health scare is in order. If you are carrying around extra pounds and have been unsuccessful at weight loss in the past, here are additional reasons that getting your weight under control must be a priortiy.
Reason #1: Diabetes
It is well known that 80 -90% of type-two-diabetes patients are overweight. Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of adult blindness in the world. One of the direct causes of obesity is eating the wrong foods. Some of these wrong foods include high glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are energy dense foods that quickly increase the level of blood glucose in your body after been eaten. This results to the body reserving the unnecessarily high glucose/energy into fat. This makes losing weight very difficult.
Releasing a hormone called insulin does this. Type-Two-diabetes occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to remove the excess blood glucose and store it as body fat. This will occur after straining insulin production for some time. And thatís how you end up being fat and diabetic.
Reason #2: Stroke
Obesity is associated with arteriosclerosis, the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries throughout your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increases the risk of the blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to the narrowed artery, it blocks blood supply to an area of the brain resulting in a stroke. Losing weight reduces this risk.
Reason #3: Cancer
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 25% - 33% of cancer worldwide are overweight and physical inactivity related. Body fat evidently promotes higher levels of insulin production and excess estrogen, a hormone. Both insulin and estrogen accelerate cell division.
As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase chances of a cancerous cell developing. The situation is further complicated as the rapid cell division caused by the excess hormones lead also to rapid cell reproduction of the one cancerous cell, hence cancer starts to develop actively. In addition fat cells tend to keep carcinogenic i.e. cancer-causing agents, trapped in the body which increases the chances of developing cancer.
Types of cancers you will be at high risk to get include:
Breast cancer- affecting the breast possibly in both men and women.
Colorectal cancer- affecting colon and rectum.
Prostrate cancer- affecting the prostate gland in men.
Endometrial cancer- affecting the uterus.
Esophageal cancer- affecting the esophagus.
Renal cell cancer, the cancer of the kidney, etc.
Reason #4: Respiratory problems
Obesity causes lungs to become smaller in size and chest walls to become heavier to lift in the process of breathing in. The most common respiratory problem is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition whereby an individual stops breathing for some time while asleep. A soft tissue in the throat collapses around the airway probably due to weight, blocking it. For the severely obese sleep apnea may get more complicated with hypoventilation. Hypoventilation is the accumulation of toxic levels of carbon dioxide (the gas we breathe out) in the blood, due to inadequate breathing. Losing weight would be the only permanent safe and healthy solution to sleep apnea.
Reason #5: Urinary Incontinence
This is the involuntary release of urine. Being overweight can contribute to urinary incontinence. A heavy abdomen due to body fat deposit may cause valve of the urinary bladder to be weakened. The weight also exerts pressure on the urinary bladder, trying to push urine out. This results to leakage of urine when coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is because of a slight relaxation of the bladder valve that normally will not result in leakage. It can even result to bed wetting at night. This particular problem can be a very effective motivator to lose weight.
Reason #6: Varicose veins or Venous Stratis Disease.
The leg and thigh muscles assist the heart in blood circulation just like most large muscles in the body. They are involved in pumping blood against gravity back to the heart with the help of valves that close to avoid a backward flow. Pressure as a result of a large abdomen may increase the workload on the valves eventually causing damage. Damaged valves then allow for blood to back up, due to gravity, causing high pressure in these veins leading to swelling, thickening of skin and skin ulcers.
Reason #7: High Blood Pressure
The BMI (Body Mass Index) and age together are the strongest indicator of risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. At least a third of hypertension is related to obesity.
Reason #8: Other Diseases
Other diseases which MAY occur as a result of being overweight include;
Gout
Coronary heart disease
Lower back pains
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Gall stones
Pregnancy disorders such as
Neural tube defect,
Prenatal mortality,
Maternal hypertension,
Gestational diabetes etc.
Impaired immune response
Liver disease
Pancreatitis
Bad body smell
Depression
Research shows that even modest weight loss of even 10 pounds for the overweight significantly reduces the risk of developing these diseases. Weight loss is, in fact, a challenge, Healthy Solutions MD can help you finally break the cycle. CALL for a free consultation today at 440-255-5900.