Over the years, overweight and obesity have become a major health problem worldwide. These are diseases defined as the excessive accumulation of fat that is detrimental to health.
These problems arise because of an imbalance between the calories that are ingested and those that are spent. These diseases are a clear risk factor for numerous diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular problems, infertility or cancer, among others.
Causes of obesity
There are different factors that can contribute to the appearance of obesity, and that must be known in order to be able to adopt preventive measures to avoid it:
- Genetics. The genetic factor influences when it comes to being able to suffer from obesity, being one of the components that cannot be controlled.
- Lack of physical activity: The lack of physical exercise favors that a person can get to suffer from an obesity problem. That is why it is so important to do activities that make a person move and burn fat.
- Inadequate diet: Excess consumption of foods with large amounts of fat or processed, as well as the intake of alcohol or soft drinks, among others, is one of the main causes of obesity.
- Sedentary lifestyle: The sedentary lifestyle that some people practice and that makes them hardly do activities that involve exercise for the body, is another reason that leads to this excess weight.
- Medications and diseases: In some cases the suffering of certain diseases and the consumption of certain medications can contribute to their appearance.
Consequences of obesity
Obesity has several consequences for people who suffer from it, the vast majority of them of great importance and seriousness.
The main symptom that is easily noticeable is the change in the physical appearance of the person, but at the same time there are risks of suffering from other health disorders. This is because due to obesity the person has changes in their metabolism, in the heart, in breathing, in the bone system, in the muscular system and even in their rest.
All this causes the origin of consequences such as:
- Low self-esteem of those who suffer from obesity.
- Muscular-bone disorders.
- Appearance of sleep apnea.
- Cardiovascular diseases.
- Type 2 diabetes.
How to know if you are obese
The World Health Organization (WHO) offers us an indicative and simple way to find out if you are overweight or obese. It is known through the so-called Body Mass Index (BMI), a way of measuring excess fat.
The BMI is calculated taking into account the person’s weight divided by their height (KG/m2).
According to the classification table provided by the WHO, if the BMI is equal to or greater than 25, it is considered to be overweight and if it exceeds 30, obesity. This index is used for all adults, regardless of whether they are men or women.
Likewise, within obesity, different types can be distinguished, which depends on the Body Mass Index, being considered between 30 and 35 of type I obesity; between 35 and 40 type II; and from 40, type III.
To determine if a person suffers from obesity, the BMI must be taken into account but it must also be accompanied by a clinical review, a blood test and a waist measurement, data from which the doctor can make his diagnosis.
How to avoid and prevent obesity
Although excess weight can be highly detrimental to health, it should be borne in mind that this type of disease can be solved (and prevented) by maintaining healthy lifestyle habits, being important for this both a good diet and the performance physical exercise on a regular basis.
Instructions to avoid obesity
- The first thing you should do if you want to avoid an obesity problem is to limit the consumption of foods rich in sugar and fat, this being essential to be able to maintain a good diet. To check if a food is healthy, you can look at its nutritional information label and thus know first-hand if it is advisable to take it or not.
- Eat fruit and vegetables daily, as well as whole grains, nuts, and legumes. All of them are the basis of a good diet, essential to achieve good results and avoid suffering from a problem of excess weight.
- Stop smoking. Tobacco can be associated with a large number of diseases, but it can also be linked to weight gain. Quitting smoking will help you reduce the chances that you will suffer from an obesity problem
- Avoid soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. As with tobacco, the intake of alcoholic beverages and sugary soft drinks (despite the fact that they may have few calories or be light or zero ) impair maintaining a good diet and, therefore, can favor suffering from an overweight condition.
- Get regular physical activity. If diet is of great importance to avoid obesity, it is no less important to carry out regular physical activity. For young people it may be necessary around 60 minutes a day, while for adults it may be enough with about 150 minutes per week. If you suffer from obesity, it is advisable to start physical activity for 30 minutes walking at a brisk pace and gradually increase the time.
What do you need to avoid obesity?
- Give up smoking
- Do not drink alcoholic beverages or soft drinks
- Maintain a balanced diet
- Get regular physical activity
- Avoid a sedentary lifestyle
Tips to avoid obesity
- Avoid starving: It is important that four or five meals a day are made, always with satiating and healthy foods, in order to try to avoid meals between meals.
- Eat vegetables and fruits: Vegetables and fruits are essential in the diet to avoid obesity problems, so it is important that they are part of your diet.
- Don’t obsess over weight. Although weighing yourself regularly is positive to keep track, it does enough that you weigh yourself once a week, without the weight have to be an obsession or a reason to feel overwhelmed.
- Avoid a sedentary lifestyle: You must include activity in your daily life, which does not necessarily imply that you have to go for a run or spend hours in the gym. It may be enough that you avoid taking the car to go shopping and walk or bike those journeys whenever possible, or take the stairs instead of the elevator. All this will help you avoid obesity.
- Read the nutritional labels: Before buying and consuming any food that you can find in the supermarket, it is important that you read the nutritional labels, which will allow you to know if it is a healthy product. Do not pay excessive attention to the data regarding calories, grams of fat, etc., if you do not focus on the ingredients that it includes, since that way you will be able to know much more information.
- Cook in a healthy way: Choose cooking that is healthy and that allows you to get rich dishes without exposing yourself to a lot of fats. To help avoid obesity, it is advisable to opt for cooking such as grilled, steamed, wok, oven or boiled, leaving aside fried and battered ones.
