Harmful Effects of Excess Body Fat!
Most people's primary
motivation for weight management is to improve
their appearance. Equally important, however, are the many other
benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
Weight management through reduction of excess body fat plays a vital
role in maintaining good health and fighting disease. In fact, medical
evidence shows that obesity poses a major threat to health and
longevity. (The most common definition of obesity is more than 25
percent body fat for men and more than 32 percent for women.) An
estimated one in three Americans has some excess body fat; an estimated
20 percent are obese. For more details visit to www.build-own-list.com
.Excess body fat is linked to major physical threats like heart
disease, cancer, and diabetes. (Three out of four Americans die of
either heart disease or cancer each year; according to the National
Health and Nutrition Examination survey, approximately 80 percent of
those deaths are associated with life-style factors, including
inactivity.)
For example, if you're obese, it takes more energy for you to breathe
because your heart has to work harder to pump blood to the lungs and to
the excess fat throughout the body. This increased work load can cause
your heart to become enlarged and can result in high blood pressure and
life-threatening erratic heartbeats.
Obese people also tend to have high cholesterol levels, making them
more prone to arteriosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries by deposits
of plaque. This becomes life-threatening when blood vessels become so
narrow or blocked that vital organs like the brain, heart or kidneys
are deprived of blood. Additionally, the narrowing of the blood vessels
forces the heart to pump harder, and blood pressure rises. High blood
pressure itself poses several health risks, including heart attack,
kidney failure, and stroke. About 25 percent of all heart and blood
vessel problems are associated with obesity.
Clinical studies have found a relationship between excess body fat and
the incidence of cancer. By itself, body fat is thought to be a storage
place for carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) in both men and women.
In women, excess body fat has been linked to a higher rate of breast
and uterine cancer; in men, the threat comes from colon and prostate
cancer.
There is also a delicate balance between blood sugar, body fat, and the
hormone insulin. Excess blood sugar is stored in the liver and other
vital organs; when the organs are "full," the excess blood sugar is
converted to fat. As fat cells themselves become full, they tend to
take in less blood sugar. In some obese people, the pancreas produces
more and more insulin, which the body can't use, to regulate blood
sugar levels, and the whole system becomes overwhelmed. This poor
regulation of blood sugar and insulin results in diabetes, a disease
with long-term consequences, including heart disease, kidney failure,
blindness, amputation, and death. Excess body fat is also linked to
gall bladder disease, gastro-intestinal disease, sexual dysfunction,
osteoarthritis, and stroke.
Reducing Body Fat Reduces Disease Risk
The good news is that reducing body fat reduces the risk of disease. At
the University of Pittsburgh, researchers studied 159 people as they
followed a weight management program. The subjects were under age 45
and 30-70 pounds overweight. Those subjects who were able to shed just
10-15 percent of their weight and keep it off during the 18-month study
showed significant improvement in HDL cholesterol and triglyceride
levels, waist-to-hip ratio, and blood pressure. In fact, according to
the New England Journal of Medicine, body fat reduction is a more
powerful modulator of cardiac structure than drug therapy.
For people with a family history of heart disease, an active lifestyle
can slow or stop the process for all but those with serious genetic
disorders. Studies by Dean Ornish, MD, have shown that a comprehensive
intervention program that includes regular physical activity, a low-fat
diet and a stress reduction program can even reverse the heart disease
process.
Evidence also shows that an active lifestyle and its help in reducing
body fat are associated with a reduced risk for some types of cancers:
prostate for men, breast and uterine cancers for women. (Frisch, et al
1985)
In addition, regular physical activity and a low-fat diet are
successful in treating non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM); for some
patients, it has reduced or eliminated the need for insulin
substitutes. In general, regularly active adults have 42 percent lower
risk of developing NIDDM.
Gaining Weight Happens to Most of Us
The average American gains at least one pound a year after age 25.
Think about it. If you're like most Americans, by the time you're 50,
you're likely to gain 25 pounds of fat, or more. In addition, your
metabolism is also slowing down, causing your body to work less
efficiently at burning the fat it has. At the same time, if you don't
exercise regularly, you lose a pound of muscle each year. For more
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.Consequently, people
are not only increasing their body fat stores, increasing their risk of
disease, but they're also losing muscle, increasing the risk of injury,
decreasing activity performance, and further slowing down metabolism.
Very few Americans exercise in any significant way. The President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports estimates that only one in five
Americans exercises for the healthy minimum of 20 minutes, three or
more days a week. In fact, the average American gets less than 50
minutes of exercise per week. Even worse, two out of five Americans are
completely sedentary.
The Answer: Healthy Eating and Physical Fitness
But there is hope. Moderate weight loss--of fat, not muscle--and a
healthy and active lifestyle--not dieting--have been found to lower
health risks and medical problems in 90 percent of overweight patients,
improving their heart function, blood pressure, glucose tolerance,
sleep disorders, and cholesterol levels, as well as lowering their
requirements for medication, lowering the incidence and duration of
hospitalization, and reducing post-operative complications eight times
less likely to die from cancer than the unfit, and 53 percent less
likely to die from other diseases. Fit people are also eight times less
likely to die from heart disease.
So, are you willing to be patient and make gradual changes in your life
that will lead to a healthier, happier you? Once you have made the
decision to go forward and accept change, the hard part is over. Sure,
there is plenty of work to be done, but it really doesn't matter how
long this new process takes. If you allow changes to take place over
several years, your body will adjust comfortably, and you will be more
likely to maintain the healthy lifestyle permanently.
When you begin achieving improvements in energy and physical and
psychological performance, the fun and excitement you experience will
make the change well worth the effort. Action creates motivation! Good
luck: I hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a safe and
effective weight management program.