Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese. 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese. Most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013.
9 out of 10 people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes are overweight. If you are overweight, losing some weight could help you better manage your diabetes.Obesity is preventable.
The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories spent.
Are we among the above or some of our near and dear ones among the above. If yes, then what are we doing about it. It is good to be busy, but it is a not a great idea to be busy now and regret later in life. The diseases that come with being overweight are irreversible. No amount of money can get us back to our old healthier self.
It is high time for us to become aware of if we are within the healthy weight zone or, overweight. Overweight and obesity are both extremely dangerous and lead to some serious health issues like
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· High blood pressure (Hypertension)
· High Cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides (Dyslipidemia)
· Type 2 diabetes
· Coronary heart disease
· Stroke
· Osteoarthritis (a breakdown of cartilage and bone within a joint)
· Sleep apnea and breathing problems
· Some cancers (endometrial, breast, colon, kidney, gallbladder, and liver)
· Low quality of life
· Mental illness such as clinical depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders.
· Body pain and difficulty with physical functioning.
We all have either made half- hearted attempts to bring our body weight within the healthy zone or a minimum risk zone, with various degree of success. It is not a great idea not to care about our body, as we risk taking body into a critical ailment zone. If we don’t take care of it or even start thinking of now, we may land up some of above ailments and then taking medical treatment or a starvation – diet treatment.
None of these 2 options are great for us, as we will be forced to accept change in our lifestyles.
Food and Wellness works with clients to be able to understand the root causes of excess weight and customizes diet plans providing the best achievable solution over a reasonable time span. Its time for specialised health care for your body as each of us are unique. What works for me may not work for others.
Gallstones are small stones, usually made of cholesterol, that form in the gallbladder. In most cases they don’t cause any symptoms and don’t need to be treated.
However, if a gallstone becomes trapped in a duct (opening) inside the gallbladder it can trigger a sudden intense abdominal pain that usually lasts between one and five hours. This type of abdominal pain is known as biliary colic.
Some people with gallstones can also develop complications, such as inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis), which can cause:
persistent pain
jaundice
a fever
When gallstones cause symptoms or complications, it is known as gallstone disease or cholelithiasis.
The gallbladder
The gallbladder is a small, pouch-like organ found underneath the liver. Its main purpose is to store and concentrate bile.
Bile is a liquid produced by the liver to help digest fats. It’s passed from the liver through a series of channels, known as bile ducts, into the gallbladder.
The bile is stored in the gallbladder and over time it becomes more concentrated, which makes it better at digesting fats. The gallbladder releases bile into the digestive system when it’s needed.
Causes of gallstones
Gallstones are thought to be caused by an imbalance in the chemical make-up of bile inside the gallbladder. Bile is a liquid produced by the liver to aid digestion.
It’s still unclear exactly what leads to this imbalance, but gallstones can form if:
there are unusually high levels of cholesterol inside the gallbladder (about four in every five gallstones are made up of cholesterol)
there are unusually high levels of a waste product called bilirubin inside the gallbladder (about one in every five gallstones is made up of bilirubin)
These chemical imbalances cause tiny crystals to develop in the bile. These can gradually grow (often over many years) into solid stones that can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a pebble.
Sometimes only one stone will form, but there are often several at the same time.
Gallstones are very common. You’re more at risk of developing gallstones if you’re:
overweight or obese
female, particularly if you’ve had children
40 or over (the risk increases as you get older)
Treating gallstones
Treatment is usually only necessary if gallstones are causing:
symptoms – such as abdominal pain
complications – such as jaundice or acute pancreatitis
In these cases, keyhole surgery to remove the gallbladder may be recommended. This procedure, known as a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, is relatively simple to perform and has a low risk of complications.
You can lead a perfectly normal life without a gallbladder. Your liver will still produce bile to digest food, but the bile will just drip continuously into the small intestine, rather than build up in the gallbladder.
Who’s at risk?
Gallstones are more common if you:
are female, particularly if you’ve had children, are taking the combined Pill, or are undergoing high-dose oestrogen therapy
are overweight or obese
are aged 40 years or older (the older you are, the more likely you are to develop gallstones)
have a condition that affects the flow of bile – such as cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), primary sclerosing cholangitis, or obstetric cholestasis
have Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome(IBS)
have a close family member who’s also had gallstones
have recently lost weight (from either dieting or weight-loss surgery)
Preventing gallstones
From the limited evidence available, changes to your diet and losing weight (if you’re overweight) may help prevent gallstones.
Diet
Because of the role cholesterol appears to play in the formation of gallstones, it is advisable to avoid eating too many fatty foods with high cholesterol content.
A healthy, balanced diet is recommended which includes plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
There’s also evidence that regularly eating nuts, such as peanuts or cashews, can help reduce your risk of developing gallstones.
Losing weight
Being overweight, particularly being obese, increases the amount of cholesterol in your bile, which increases your risk of developing gallstones. You should control your weight by eating a healthy diet and regular exercise.
The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and next to the small intestine. The pancreas has 2 main functions:
It makes enzymes, which help digest proteins, fats, and carbohydrates before they can be absorbed in the intestine.
It makes hormones (chemicals made from glands), the most important of which is insulin, which control how the body uses and stores sugar (glucose), its main source of energy.
Pancreatitis is a disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed. Pancreatic damage happens when the digestive enzymes are activated before they are released into the small intestine and begin attacking the pancreas.
There are two forms of pancreatitis – Acute and Chronic.
Chronic pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas that does not heal or improve – it gets worse over time and leads to permanent damage. Chronic pancreatitis eventually impairs a patient’s ability to digest food and make pancreatic hormones. Chronic pancreatitis often develops in patients between the ages of 30 and 40, and is more common in men than women.
Whereas there are causes of chronic pancreatitis that are unknown; several factors have been identified to cause chronic pancreatitis:
Heavy alcohol use
Autoimmune conditions (when the body’s immune system attacks its own body)
Genetic mutations due to cystic fibrosis
Blocked pancreatic duct or common bile duct
Familial pancreatitis (runs in the family—with 2 or more immediate family members with a history of pancreatitis)
Symptoms of Chronic Pancreatitis
Most individuals with chronic pancreatitis experience upper abdominal pain, although some have no pain at all. The pain may spread to the back, become worse with eating or drinking, and become constant and disabling. Other symptoms include the following:
Nausea
Vomiting
Losing weight without trying
Oily, smelly stools (steatorrhea)
Individuals with chronic pancreatitis frequently lose weight, even when their appetite and eating habits are normal. The weight loss occurs because the body does not secrete enough pancreatic enzymes to digest food, so nutrients are not absorbed normally, leading to malnutrition.
Acute Pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition of the pancreas that is painful and at times deadly. Diagnosis of pancreatic problems is often difficult and treatments are therefore delayed because the organ is relatively inaccessible.
Causes and Symptoms of Acute Pancreatitis
The most common cause of acute pancreatitis is stones in the gallbladder. Gallstones pass through the common bile duct to enter the small intestine. At the entry of the small intestine, the main pancreatic duct joins or lies immediately next to the common bile duct. It is believed that stones that get stuck in the common bile duct impinge on the main pancreatic duct, causing an obstruction of the normal flow of pancreatic fluid and leading to pancreatic injury. Another way that a stone can cause pancreatitis is by causing a backflow of bile into the pancreatic duct, resulting in pancreatic injury
Acute pancreatitis usually begins with gradual or sudden pain in the upper abdomen that sometimes extends to the back. The pain may be mild at first and become worse after eating. The pain is often severe, constant, and commonly lasts for several days in the absence of treatment. A person with acute pancreatitis usually looks and feels very ill and needs immediate medical attention. Other symptoms can include:
Swollen and tender abdomen
Nausea and vomiting
Fever
Rapid pulse
Nutrition plays a very important role for patients suffering from pancreatitis.
In a fast-moving world of today, the list of our health concerns keep growing by the day. Gone are the days when there was sufficient time in a day to dedicate towards eating right and living healthy. Our priorities now have changed and personal health has taken a backseat in that list.
It is therefore a serious issue that the major health concerns of today sprout not from monumental mistakes but from very tiny missteps that we take every day in an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle we lead today.
And one of the most significant of those concerns is obesity.
Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. The WHO defines it as:
A BMI greater than or equal to 25 is overweight
A BMI greater than or equal to 30 is obesity.
Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2).
Here are some statistics as revealed by WHO that sheds some light on the appalling nature of this condition:
Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980.
In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these, over 600 million were obese.
39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese. Overall, about 13% of the world’s adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese in 2014.
42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013.
Photo credit: Robin Stickel from Pexels
So what causes obesity?
Like mentioned earlier, the most threatening part of the problem is that it has its source embedded right into the most basic of activities that we do or fail to do in our daily lives. Technically, it can be said that the fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Globally the general trend in the present lifestyle has been:
An increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat; and
An increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.
Why obesity is different from ‘being fat’
While being of a slightly overweight body type isn’t a matter of concern, being obese goes way beyond just looking fat. It brings with it serious threats to health. Risk factors associated are cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders,some cancers(breast and colon).
Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. But in addition to increased future risks, obese children experience breathing difficulties, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, early markers of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects.
Cures and preventive measures
However, all is not lost and overweight and obesity are curable with diet and lifestyle changes. Here are some of the ways in which you can cure yourself out of overweight and obesity issues:
Limit energy intake from total fats and sugars;
Increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts;
Engage in regular physical activity (60 minutes a day for children and 150 minutes per week for adults).
Nevertheless, when obesity goes beyond the control of home remedies or serious health issues crop up as a result, it is always important to take expert help instead of experimenting with one’s health. Food n Wellness advises clients on how overweight and obesity can be controlled.
To end on a positive note, it is not humongous a task to prevent or cure obesity. A slight change in our daily activities and a disciplined commitment towards our health and wellbeing goes a very long way. And we believe that it is certainly more rewarding to be responsible in our choice of lifestyle than to fight endless battles with health issues all our life!
Glycemic Index is the numerical index given to a carbohydrate-rich food that is based on the average increase in blood glucose level occurring in blood after the food is eaten. The higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response.
The Glycemic Index tells us how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar.
Some factors that affect GI:
Processing (puffed cereals have a much higher GI than the grain they came from)
Ripeness of fruit (unripe bananas can have a GI of 43, where overripe ones have been clocked at 74)
Protein content (soybeans have a lower GI than other beans)
Fat content (peanuts have a very low GI)
Biber (orange juice has a higher GI than oranges)
And how small the particles are (whole grains have a relatively low GI, but grinding them into flour shoots up the GI)
Glycemic index is the scale that was created on a standard amount of carbohydrate per food (50 grams), it doesn’t give people information about the amount of food they are actually eating. This information too is important if we want to assess the true impact of carbohydrate consumption. For this reason, the concept of the glycemic load was created, which takes serving size into account.
The glycemic load of a food is the glycemic index divided by hundred and multiplied by its available carbohydrate content (i.e. carbohydrate minus fibre) in grams.
For example, if we consider watermelon. Water melon has a high glycemic Index (about 72). However, a serving of 120g of watermelon has only about 6g of available carbohydrate per serving. So its glycemic load is pretty low i.e. 72/100 x 6 = 4.32.
Following is the list of some common food with their glycemic index.
I have often heard, both my clients over a consultation, or friends over a casual talk about weight-loss techniques & complaining why losing weight is such a humongous effort, and wish there was a magic cure to weight loss.
I’ll have to say here, there is .
Now when I say “magic” I don’t mean it in an incredulous, overnight way. What I mean is that it works in the most simplified way, as opposed to intricately crafted complicated ways of losing weight. Plus, there are numerous advantages to it than just losing weight. I don’t think there is a better definition of magic than this in today’s time.
As the heading suggests, that genie in the bottle is indeed, water.
So how does water help
We all know water is important for survival, but here’s how water functions for our body:
Water Can Help Control Calories: For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. Water helps you feel full. It has zero calories, so substituting calorie-loaded drinks with water can easily cut several hundred empty calories from your diet each day. Water also helps regulate metabolism and increases energy levels.
In absence of sufficient water, you also tend to eat more and gain weight. A 2010 research by the Institute for Public Health and Water Research found that those who drank almost “2 eight ounce glasses of water before each meal consumed 75 to 90 fewer calories while eating.” When you are drinking enough water, you are also feeding the cells and tissues in your body that gets the enzymatic system moving, which actually releases fat toxins out of the body.
Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function: You must have heard parents and grandparents stressing on the importance of a healthy stomach as a means to keep most ailments at bay. By not eliminating food that we digest we not only gain weight, but also gain toxins. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation.
Keeps our kidneys working: Kidneys remove waste from our bodies, help control our blood pressure, and balance fluids, so they’re crucial to keeping our systems running smoothly. Harvard Medical School notes an effective way to prevent kidney stones is to stay hydrated. Water can dilute the chemicals which can turn into crystals, so drinking enough water is very important. Harvard recommends at least two liters – eight glasses – a day to keep your body healthy.
Aids in preventing heart diseases: Keeping the body hydrated helps the heart easily pump blood through the blood vessels to the muscles. And, it helps the muscles work efficiently. If you’re well hydrated, your heart doesn’t have to work as hard and hence reduce heart attacks.
Slows down process of skin ageing and wrinkling: Many studies have proven that water makes skin firm, fills in fine lines and wrinkles and brightens an uneven complexion.
Kaiser Permanent nephrologist Steven Guest, MD, agrees: “Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health.”
Prevent headaches, naturally. Going without water for too long causes headaches for some people, and has been identified as a migraine trigger. The good news is that in a study on the effects of water on headaches, participants experienced “total relief” from their headaches within 30 minutes of drinking water (two cups, on average)
Help keep us alert. If you’re going to need to concentrate for long periods of time, keep water handy to help you stay refreshed, hydrated, and focused. Dehydration can impair your attention span, memory, and motor skills
Protects our joints and cartilage. Water keeps the cartilage around our joints hydrated and supple, ensuring that our joints stay lubricated. It also protects our spinal cord and tissues, keeping us healthy inside out.
Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
It might protect against some types of cancer: Research has found that the greater the fluid intake, the lower the incidence of bladder cancer, with more significant results when the fluid is water. One possiblereason could be that urinating more frequently prevents the buildup of bladder carcinogens. Staying hydrated may also reduce the risk of colon cancer and breast cancer.
Fight dehydration: The how-to guide
The first sign of dehydration is fatigue. When your water intake does not equal your output, you can become dehydrated. When the body begins to dehydrate, it normally means the tissues are not getting enough water to make a person feel energetic. Dehydration has also been looked upon as a migraine-trigger. Fluid losses are accentuated in warmer climates, during strenuous exercise, in high altitudes, and in older adults, whose sense of thirst may not be as sharp.
European Food Safety Authority recommends that women should drink about 1.6 litres of fluid and men should drink about 2.0 litres of fluid per day. That’s about eight glasses of 200ml each for a woman, and 10 glasses of 200ml each for a man.
However, your size, the temperature and how active you are can all make a difference (so if you’re exercising a lot on a hot day, you’ll need to drink more).
The American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for fluid intake before and during physical activity recommend that people drink about 17 ounces of fluid about two hours before exercise. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.
5 Tips to Help You Drink More:
Photo credit : Breakingpic from pexels
Keep a bottle of water handy at all times in your car, at your desk, or in your bag.
Have a beverage with every snack and meal. You’re likely to drink more liquids if you like the way they taste, although try and avoid aerated drinks or beverages loaded with too much sugar or artificial flavorings.
You can add natural flavorings like mint, lemon or cucumber to your water if you’re not fond of drinking plain water.
Eat more fruits and vegetables. Their high water content will add to your hydration. About 20% of our fluid intake comes from foods.
Choose beverages that meet your individual needs. If you’re watching calories, go for non-caloric beverages or water. Beverages like green tea, all-natural juices and smoothies are a reliable way to increase water intake without any harm.
Finally More water please
These recommendations are for healthy adult men and women, not children. If you suffer from diseases like heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes or other nutritional disorders, please consult with your primary care provider before making changes to your lifestyle.
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