The Health effects of being Over Weight – Diet
The Health effects of being Over Weight
Paul Marsland
Both men and women around the world are becoming fatter and its partly because of our modern lifestyle, too much fatty food and too little exercise. Some people say, Why should it matter if Im overweight as long as I feel okay But being overweight does matter because it increases the risk of health problems such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. Being at a healthy weight on the other hand, can help lower blood pressure, make you feel better and give you more energy. If you need to lose some weight, heres some good advice from the National Heart Foundation.
Change your eating habits gradually
Everyone knows that losing weight partly involves cutting down on foods which contain a lot of fat. But this doesnt mean you have to change your eating habits overnight. Youre more likely to make permanent changes to your diet if you make them gradually. Allow two weeks to stop eating biscuits with tea or coffee, for instance. When youre comfortable with this change, make another such as using less butter or margarine on bread, or switching to using low fat milk.
Remember you dont have to exercise strenuously
The secret of successful weight control is a combination of sensible eating and regular exercise. Aim for 30 minutes at least four times a week. You dont have to do 30 minutes all at once. Its okay to do ten minutes exercise three times a day. Walking, swimming and cycling are good.
Dont expect to lose weight quickly
Its quite common to lose weight one week and then lose none the next week. If you are exercising, you may find your weight doesnt drop at all. This is because your body is gaining more muscle which weighs more than fat. Youll still continue to lose fat and tone up, even if the scales dont show any weight loss. The way your clothes fit is a better guide to weight loss than weighing yourself all the time. As long as you are keeping to your plan of regular exercise and less fatty food, periods of no weight loss dont usually last more than two weeks.
Eating to lose weight
Fruit, vegetables, beans and lentils are the foods to eat most of every day. By filling up with these healthy, satisfying foods, youll be less likely to want fatty snacks. You need only moderate amounts of meat, poultry, fish, nuts, seeds, dairy products. A moderate serve of meat, poultry or fish takes up about one quarter of your plate. If you eat dairy foods, choose reduced or low fat varieties. Use only small amounts of margarine, fat reduced spreads, butter, lard and cooking oils. Drink only a little alcohol.
Reducing fat in your meals
Trim all fat from meat and remove fat and skin from poultry before cooking. Use low fat cooking methods such as grilling, steaming, baking, stir-frying in as little oil as possible, microwaving or using non-stick frying pans. Avoid fried or deep fried foods. Let soups, casseroles and curries cool - this makes the fat harden on top so you can remove it before reheating. Snack on fresh fruit but limit cakes, biscuits, pastries, chocolate and packet snack foods.
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About The Author
Paul Marsland and his wife Annette have been working as wellness coaches for the last 3 years. Using scientifically proven, balanced nutritious programmes they help people lose weight and improve their health, energy and vitality safely and effectively. For more information visit:
http://slim-n-trim.org/refid=artcit-30495
ezybucks4u@hotmail.com
Women, Weight & Size Acceptance: Accept Your Wonderful Self – Diet
Women, Weight & Size Acceptance: Accept Your Wonderful Self
Marsha J. Hudnall, MS, RD, CD
Size and Self-Acceptance for Achieving Healthy Weight
If we let ourselves, we may start to believe that magazine cover girls whose photos are air-brushed and trimmed in, mind you! are the norm and that the rest of us are somehow deeply flawed. What we get then is the soundtrack "I hate myself" or "I hate what I see in the mirror" playing over and over again in our heads, fueling our endless dieting cycles and painful frustration.
"If you are caught up in not liking yourself because of your size, it quickly starts whittling away at your motivation," says Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD, Green Mountains program director. "That inner voice makes you feel helpless and hopeless."
Self-Acceptance: The Key to Achieving a Healthy Weight
If we are to have any measure of success, it is crucial that we permanently press stop on that soundtrack and work to genuinely accept our sizes and, by extension, ourselves. Hudnall, who has more than 20 years experience in the weight management field, knows this can be a tough sell for women with lifetime struggles with weight. But shes not suggesting that size acceptance means denying the importance of healthy weights.
Denial is not acceptance. Rather, self-acceptance means adopting a non-judgmental attitude toward yourself. Its the ability to see things as they are in the moment without harmful, self-critical voices interrupting your view of yourself. Hudnall has seen it again and again in women who come to Green Mountain: Self-acceptance is instrumental to reaching your healthy, natural weight. "Size-acceptance means focusing on the things you like about yourself while working to modify what you dont like," she says.
For women who have been listening to the self-disgust soundtrack forever, size acceptance is also pretty scary. Does accepting yourself the way you are imply that change may be impossible Mimi Francis, the behavioral health therapist at Green Mountain, has a simple response to those doubts. It should resonate even with the most diet-savvy cynics. "How well has not liking yourself worked so far" she asks. The truth is, it hasnt. In fact, if you dislike your body, its that much easier to abuse it.
So the aim then is to get your attitude to work for you, not against you. Self-acceptance means acknowledging where you are now, and not repeating the mantra "Ill like my body when
The Solution to Healthy Weight Loss – Diet
The Solution to Healthy Weight Loss
Marilyn Pokorney
The overweight and obesity epidemic is a worldwide problem. There are no official statistics for spending on diet products, but estimates vary from $40 to $100 billion in the US alone, much of that on scams and fad diets that promise the impossible.
Research shows that 95% of people who have lost weight find that they regain it back when they return to their normal eating habits.
According to the Center for Disease Controls Chronic Disease Center, in 1991 in the United States, only four states had an obesity prevalence of 15 percent to 19 percent. In 2003, 15 states had an obesity prevalence of 15 to 19 percent, 31 states had an obesity prevalence of 20 to 24 percent, and four states had a prevalence of 25 percent or more.
Major medical problems associated with obesity include gallbladder disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.
If that isnt incentive enough to lose that excess weight statistics show that overweight people are usually given lower paying jobs, get lower salaries, receive little in raises, and are, as a whole, looked down upon by 40 percent of fellow employees and employers.
In 2002 The American Heart Association reported that more than 10 percent of US children ages 2 to 5 are overweight. That is up from 7 percent in 1994. The situation is probably even worse now, said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, president-elect of the heart association and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado.
The obesity problem among children has increased with school-age children as well. Four million children ages 6 to 11 and 5.3 million in age group 12 to 19 have increased by 75 percent from 1991.
Food habits adopted in childhood can be hard to change. As a result hypertension and high cholesterol leading to heart disease, strokes, and diabetes are going to become the nations top health problem with people of all ages within 10 to 30 years. These are ailments that usually afflict the middle age to elderly population. More than a million new cases of diabetes are already being diagnosed each year, says the American Diabetic Association.
Nearly 30 percent of American adults are overweight and another 30 percent are obese, according to University of Minnesota researchers. Obesity is usually described as a weight 20 percent greater than the persons desirable weight.
A study by the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle revealed that 60% of overweight women, and 70% of obese women, are likely to become pregnant while taking the pill. The researchers suggest that a higher metabolism is the reason, causing the medication to be effective for a shorter length of time. Or, that the drug interacts with the bodys hormones in a way that the drug becomes trapped in the body fat instead of circulating in the bloodstream.
Studies with obese pregnant women show they are 50% more likely to die during pregnancy than those of normal weight. Complications such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-eclampsia, pre-term labor, and stillbirth are also more common. Preliminary evidence shows that babies are also adversely affected, and are more likely to be obese themselves in later life.
Fast foods: Studies show that people who frequent fast food outlets twice a week or more gained 36 pounds over the course of 15 years compared to 26 pounds for those that frequented them once a week or less.
A major factor for the obesity crisis is a sedentary lifestyle, not enough exercise, and the eating of high calorie fast foods in place of nutritious natural food products.
Fast food is designed to promote consumption of the maximum number of calories in the minimum amount of time. This upsets the bodys normal metabolism. One solution is to eat smaller, more nutritious, meals more frequently throughout the day.
Physical activity reduces the effects of being overweight, but healthy eating habits have to be followed to prevent disease associated with poor nutrition according to an expert of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The new diet guidelines set by the Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is basically a balanced diet and good old fashioned exercise. They stress more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and limit fats, sugar, alcohol, and salt.
Many supermarkets are open 24 hours a day making a choice of healthy food available at all times.
For more tips on how to lose weight safely see The Secret to Weight Loss at: http://www.apluswriting.net/diettips/diettips.htm
Copyright: 2005 Marilyn Pokorney
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About The Author
Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the environment. Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
marilynp@nctc.net