Obesity
How To Determine Your Ideal Weight?
To quickly determine your ideal body weight, use the following formula: Height in centimeters -100 + 10% =kg.
Thus, a person who is 1.70 meters tall (170) should weigh 70 kg, with a margin of 10% up or down i.e.: from 63 to 77 kg depending on sex, age and physique.
• A person who weighs between 10% and 15% more than the ideal
is considered overweight.
• A person who weighs between 15% and 20% more than the ideal
is considered obese.
• When a person weighs between 20% and 30% more than the
ideal it is a matter for some concern.
• When a person weighs 30% or over more life expectancy is
considerably reduced.
Another Way to Determine Your Weight is: Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Circumference. BMI equals a person’s weight in pounds divided by their height in inches squared, multiplied by 703. Example: If you are 5 feet, 7 inches tall (67″) and weighs 220 pounds, the calculation would look like this: 220 divided by 4489 (67″ X 67″) multiplied by 703 = 34.45 BMI.
• A person with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered healthy.
• A person with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.
• A person with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.
Women risk factors are higher than men in being obese and developing type 11 Diabetes. As you get older the risks get higher. You can do something to change all that and take charge of your weight and manage your health.
What produces obesity?
There are many reasons why a person becomes obese.
• Genetic predisposition: Simply put is an inherited risk of
developing a disease or condition
• Hormonal disorders: which is a disorder of the Endocrine System
• Alterations to the regulation of the hydric balance (fluid
retention)
• Certain types of psychological disorders such as anxiety or
somatoform disorders.
However, obesity is most often due to;
• Overeating and drinking to excess due to ignorance or education
and social factors.
• Using up little energy as a result of a lack of physical activities or
exercise
Most people get fat by eating too many high carbohydrate foods, such as refined (processed) carbohydrates. These refined foods are the major cause of obesity. Your body takes in more carbohydrate than it needs. Consuming fewer of these and burning off more calories through exercise is the way to avoid weight gain, obesity, and other diet related diseases.
Risks Associated with obesity
Regardless of why a person becomes obese, it is necessary to correct the situation, as overeating will lead to fat deposits in the tissues and organs, which makes it more likely that the individual will develop any one of a series of diseases that depend on nutrition.
Thus, an obese person has a higher chance than the rest of the general population to suffer from:
• Diabetes
• Hypertension, arteriosclerosis, angina and heart attacks and
strokes
• Kidney disorders.
• Hepatobiliary affectations.
• Back and joint problems, and deformation of the feet.
Why is it important to maintain the ideal weight?
Only between 2% and 7% of the population claim to have no interest in being slim. The rest, which is to say the vast majority, do wish to be slim for two reasons:
• To save energy, as obese people consistently carry around
considerable extra weight, which affects their physical
performance and makes them more tired.
• For esthetic reasons regarding how other people see us and how
we see ourselves. Having a good self-image improves
self-confidence.
Medical treatment of obesity
Once aware of the health problems and the inappropriate way of life associated with a quantitative excess of weight, it is advisable to treat the problem comprehensively, as is our custom, and under medical supervision.
It is not a good idea to use drugs to lose weight and only vitamins should be taken to compensate for any deficiency in low-calorie diets (less than 1,600 kcal, 6,670 kj).
The medicines most commonly used to treat obesity are as follows:
• Appetite Suppressants (anoretics): these have side effects that
affect the heart and nervous system.
• Thyroid Hormones: these can cause a metabolic imbalance.
• Laxatives: Constant use will lead to chronic colitis.
All the above drugs can only be taken in very specific cases and under strict medical control
Source: Healthy By Nature – by Dr. Ernst Schneider. Volume 2. Page 233
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