Category — obesity

Obesity in children is on the increase. This tragic state of affairs obtains because members of the public continue to be given the wrong information and advice about obesity, and in particular, about child obesity.

When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have – and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. – Babies can die if they are fed salty food. [Read more →]

One late night while working Boston’s needle exchange van I realized the early stages of drug addiction is no different than the sugar or coffee cycle many of us succumb to in our daily lives. This particular evening a young man walked into the van, and we talked about his drug use and life in the gay community. He had just come out about his sexual orientation without any support and used drugs to mask his fears.

As we spoke further, it surfaced that many of his fears were tied to him giving into his every temptation. He wanted to feel comfortable in his skin but had a certain pleasure tolerance that diminished any positive thoughts about himself. At this point, many of us look to the outside to heal and grow in life instead of looking and loving within ourselves. What happens at this point when we reach for a heroine needle or the cookie jar? We reach our pleasure tolerance, or our happiness quota and, the addiction cycle begins.

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There is no doubt that obesity results in higher medical costs for otherwise healthy people. From diabetes to heart disease, obesity increases a person’s risk factors for a multitude of disorders and diseases. Studies show that the annual healthcare cost of obesity in the United States has doubled in less than a decade and is quite possibly as high as 147 BILLION dollars per year. Recent research has found that:

1. In 1998, the medical costs of obesity in the US were approximately 78.5 billion dollars per year. Half of these costs were financed by Medicare and Medicaid, which are government health insurance programs for seniors and low-income families. [Read more →]

Obesity is a major health issue in the United States and Americans spend heavily battling excess weight. If left uncontrolled, the extra body weight begins to invite other health problems. Hence, people try all types of things to control their weights: some prefer a personal trainer, others choose from a variety of fat loss programs and dietary pills or supplements, and some go for surgical procedures.

Body mass index (BMI) is the standard parameter that describes a person in terms of his weight: people with their BMI in the range 25 – 30 are considered overweight and those above are obese. For highly overweight people (BMI above 40), their obesity is seen as a serious health hazard. They are likely to invite health problems such as diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, etc.

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How many times have you tried to diet/lose weight in the past?

How many times have you had some initial success only to fall
short of your goals?

How many times have you achieved your initial goals, only to see
them fly away faster than you were able to enjoy the fruits of
your labour?

Why does this happen?

In most cases, the answer is simple. You’ve failed one test…
This is a difficult test. This test I like to call consistent
persistence.

Sometimes, you will be missing other essential components. You
need to also include a variety of other things that will make
the consistent persistence useful. If you are consistently
persistent in doing the wrong things, you will still fail. So
before we get in to the final key, let’s review the other
essential components.

Successful dieting and or weight loss should always be geared
towards a total lifestyle change that you intend to be permanent.
If you cannot healthily sustain the changes for an indefinite
period, it probably isn’t the right diet for you. Reasonable
exceptions would include medically necessary emergency weight
loss, with a view to changing the program once the crisis
management was concluded.

[Read more →]