| |
| |
| KeralaClick.com | Weight Loss Information | |
| Obesity in America -- The Growing Epidemic!
Obesity is a disease that affects approximately 60 million people in the United States, where women are especially affected. Over one-third of women between the ages of 20 and 74 are obese, the majority of them being African American or Mexican American. With more and more pre-packaged food and less and less activity, the number of obese people in America has steadily increased since the 1960's. But what is obesity? Many people think obesity means that a person is overweight, but that's not exactly true. An overweight person has a surplus amount of weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water. An obese person has a surplus of body fat. Most health professionals concur that a man is obese if he has over 25 percent body fat, and a woman is obese if she has over 30 percent. Women physiologically have more body fat than men, so that why there's a difference in percentage. It is difficult to determine the exact percentage of body fat a person has, but estimates can be made in a number of ways. First, using a tweezer-like tool called a caliper, you can measure the thickness of skin folds on different points of your body and compare the results with standardized numbers. You can also use a small device that sends a harmless electrical current through your body and measures your body fat percentage. The most commonly used method to determine if a person is obese is to look at his/her Body Mass Index (BMI). A person with a BMI over 30 is considered to be obese, and a BMI over 40 is considered to be severely obese. It's important to remember though that BMI could be misleading in pregnant or lactating women and in muscular individuals. There are some free tools to find your body fat percentage at http://www.abs-exercise-advice.com/body-fat-calculator.html. With obesity, comes the increased risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, Type II Diabetes, heart disease, and breast, colon, and prostate cancer. In addition, obesity has been linked to mental health conditions such as depression or feelings of shame and low self-esteem. Health experts say that even losing 10 to 15 percent of your body weight can dramatically decrease the risk of developing these serious conditions. In addition, many obese people are discriminated against and targets of insults and other verbal abuse. Find out if you are at risk for health disease using the health calculators at http://www.abs-exercise-advice.com/high-blood-pressure.html. A number of factors, such as poor diet, lack of physical activity, genetics, and certain medical disorders, cause obesity, but it can be conquered. One major obstacle to being more physically active is motivation and accountability. Find a friend with similar fitness goals and begin a simple exercise program together. It takes time to see the results, but your health is worth it! Written by Shelley Hitz, Licensed Physical Therapist and Certified NASM Personal Trainer.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
LapBand Surgery: The Rules of the Road, Part 2 The Constant Quest for Restriction; Not enough vs. too muchRestriction. Dont Blame Me If Im Fat! In a culture of blame-shifting we often look for someone to blame for our predicament. Being overweight is no different - who is to blame for obesity?"It's the fast food outlets - supplying us with fatty foods""Our thin-obsessed society is putting all sorts of pressure on even slightly overweight folks""The weight loss industry is to blame - after all if everyone was slim - they would go out of business"Some will simply blame the overweight person - making generalizations and attaching unhelpful labels to the person. Will I get faster results with a Personal Trainer? If you pick the right personal trainer?you'll most definitely see faster results. If the personal trainer is registered with a governing body, it's likely the personal trainer would have gone through the proper training and education process. A New Diet -- Bowel Cleansing for Weight Loss An ancient practice from Eastern Medicine, bowel cleansing is fast becoming the next new diet for the Western world. What is bowel cleansing and does it safely cause healthy weight loss? Bowel Cleansing 101 Keeping things simple, bowel cleansing is equal to Western Medicine's laxative. Atkins Diet Plan - What's it All About? A typical breakfast consists of 3 or 4 strips of bacon, two or more eggs and coffee. A snack would maybe be chunks of cheese and a cup of coffee with cream. How To Get Rid Of Your Belly Fat Or Pooch The best way you can get rid of your pop belly or pooch is not by doing a certain AB exercise or by using the latest AB gadget---its through Proper diet and exercise.Sit-ups, crunches, AB lounges, & other AB gadgets all play a very small part in getting rid of your pop belly or pooch. Why Weight Loss Products Dont Work Did you know that less than 2% of dieters lose weight and then manage to keep it off?YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME, if you've tried many different diets and weight loss products and have still been unable to lose the weight. Your dieting efforts have been condemned to failure right from the start. Help! My Kids are Overweight! If you have recently found yourself fretting over your child's waistline, you are not alone. The youth of today are fatter than ever before, and parents are starting to panic. Hoodia Gordonii - The Hoodia Cactus - Whered My Appetite Go? My Experience with Pure Hoodia If you are into herbs and natural cures, you've undoubtedly heard of the Hoodia Gordonii cactus, the latest natural diet discovery for suppressing the appetite. Pure Hoodia (Hoodia Gordonii in it's purest form), acts as a natural appetite suppressant and has helped its devotees naturally curb their appetite and consequently take the lbs off. Get Back Weight Loss Motivation with NLP: Setting an Anchor NLP Setting an Anchor Process to Get Back Motivation for Losing WeightA client recently wrote saying, "When I was losing the weight I felt so good about my exercise and weight loss I actually considered going into the health field. I want to get that [feeling] back!"It can be easier than you think to "get that feeling back. How Does Phentermine Work? Learn How To Stop Neurotransmitter Depletion Why has Phentermine stopped helping me lose weight?Many people are experiencing the same problem you face right now. We're all in the same boat when it comes to being frustrated about Phentermine tolerance. Weight Loss Benefits of Massage There is no question that having a massage makes you feel great. Even having a deep-tissue, sports massage makes you feel wonderful afterwards. Fat Lady in a Thin Body: WLS Patients Feel Like Imposters Every weight loss surgery patient I've met said they at sometime during the weight loss experience felt like a fraud. A fraud is someone who pretends to be what they are not, an imposter. Dieting Mistakes - 5 Easy Tips to Avoid Disaster Looking to avoid the dieting mistakes many of our weight loss readers have made? Are you interested in steering away from the pitfalls many of us fall into while considering which diet plan makes sense? Perhaps you're just wanting to jump start your own path to nutrition and wellness -- whichever your goal you'll be better off learning from the mistakes of countless others.While the basics of weight loss include time honored classics like 'eat right and exercise' many of us get caught up in the hype and spin of today's weight loss services. Malnutrition Causes Obesity Axiom Number One - Nourish your body.Probably the most important and least understood axiom of successful weight loss is that you have to nourish your body. Diets May Have Long Term Side Effects...Do You Know What They Are? To see the "low carb" diets on the way out is a somewhat reflective process, not that I was an advocate of ketogenic diets at all unless you have Adolescent Epilepsy, but bringing the "low carb or ketogenic diet" into the forefront of our American Society meant that more people were being educated about obesity, food and eating. This acknowledgment about food was astounding and became overwhelming , causing restaurant chains and some farmers to really suffer from these trendy diets, people have lost farms that have been in their families for years , businesses that lend job and economic stability to an area, have gone out of business or lost business, all on a dietary whim, with no research done on the side-effects of "not eating" what these diets restrict. Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #9 WAHOO!!! for YOU!! You are the most AWESOME person alive!! Stand up and repeat after me. Come on, get up and feel the presence of God all around you. Stop Trusting the Scale--Its Probably Wrong Anyway Have you ever stepped on the scale after a week of "being really good" only to be rewarded with an eye popping four pound gain? Don't despair! Your scale isn't trying to ruin your efforts and it doesn't hate you. True health is measured in many ways, only one of which is your outward appearance, and what you weigh is the least reliable measure of all. The Ultimate Weight Loss Product Guide Are you one of the many who may be tempted by advertisements for diet pills and other weight loss products promising easy, quick ways to lose weight? Were you aware that a simple 30 minute infomercial can cost anywhere from $80,000 to 120,000 dollars to make. Pretty crazy don't you think? Yet time and time again you see countless weight loss infomercials selling product after product. Cafeteria At Fault for College Weight Gain College weight gain is at an all time high, and as students continue to pack on the pounds at an increasing rate, we naturally want to know where the blame lies for this growing epidemic. Since food consumption contributes significantly to weight gain, is it safe to assume that cafeterias are responsible for the expanding waistlines of our students? Read on for three reasons why the cafeteria food you eat is making you fat, and tips to help you stop the weight gain.
|
| © KeralaClick.com 2006 |
