Obesity and Heart Disease

We only have to look at a Titian painting to recognize that at one point in the history of Western culture, fat was considered beautiful. Before the 20th Century, corpulence was touted as a sign of wealth and luxury, largely because most people were barely surviving on a meager existence.

Ironically, now in our era of affluence and plenty, we have to contend with the health and economic problems of obesity. We have a population in North America that is more than 55% overweight. More than 20% of those overweight are considered obese, a situation which proves to be an economic burden on our Health Care system because of the coronary risk factors associated with obesity. In 2004, total national health expenditure in the USA was $1.9 Trillion or $6,280 per person.

Why is obesity a risk factor for heart disease?

Among obese individuals, triglyceride levels are unusually high, while HDL levels tend to be low; both of these situations are risk factors for heart disease .A recent study involving tissues collected from autopsies of 3000 men (15-34 years old) who had died of external causes (not heart related) identified an association between obesity and coronary atherosclerosis.

Abdominal fat which characterizes obese individuals is also an area of concern. A study of 1300 Finnish men (42-60 years old) suggests that abdominal fat is an independent and major risk factor for coronary events. Several reasons have been suggested for this: a) stomach fat is continually released into the bloodstream in the form of artery-clogging fatty acids; b) abdominal fat also releases compounds that facilitate risk factors such as atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome and inflammation; c) abdominal fat initiates biochemical events that lead to insulin resistance, a precursor of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Obesity is often a precursor to metabolic syndrome, a dangerous health situation that is manifested through a cluster of symptoms—excess body fat, insulin resistance, low HDL cholesterol, high triglyceride levels and high blood pressure—all risk factors for coronary events. People with metabolic syndrome release immune system messengers called “cytokines” into their bloodstream. Cytokines lead to a communication breakdown between body cells and insulin which leads to excessive insulin production by the pancreas, creating a situation that is a literal “time bomb” for heart disease . In addition, this excessive insulin production can raise fibrinogen concentrations in the bloodstream, thus allowing blood to clot more easily, a situation that is a direct risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.

Because of their size, obese individuals are more often than not sedentary in lifestyle. Inactivity in and of itself is also a coronary risk factor. Data from more than 88,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study shows that a lean sedentary woman had 1.48 greater risks for coronary heart disease than a slightly heavier but physically active woman.

However, the same study also showed that obesity alone is a risk factor, in fact, an even greater risk factor than inactivity because coronary disease risk was highest for women who exercised the least and had the greatest waist-to–hip ratio. The conclusion that obesity itself is a risk factor is also supported by a study of 5881 overweight and obese individuals which showed that being overweight increased the risk of heart disease by 34%, while being obese increased the risk to 104%.

What can we do to help someone we know who is obese or dangerously overweight?

Acknowledgement of the problem is the first step. Very often, individuals are in a state of denial about the seriousness of their weight situation. A visit to the doctor or a healthcare professional who deals with the morbidly obese is essential. So are visits to a nutritionist, fitness consultant and body work therapist. Only then can the individual be presented with options viable and necessary for his or her situation.

In severe cases of obesity, surgery would be part of the solution. Lifestyle changes that include exercise and healthy eating are more than essential. Just as critical are bodywork therapies that can uncover some of the real issues behind addictive eating. Learning to read body cues of hunger, depression, stress is equally important for re-mapping a new life and a whole new cartography of food and consciousness, body and mind.

In Titian’s day, the corpulent body was an idealized figure on canvass, essentially exiled to the realm of the fantastic or the realm of the unjust in a society where hunger was the norm. In our days, the corpulent body has its own tale to tell: a Quasimodo that is both the scourge and product of a culture addicted to perfection.

Author by. Mary Desaulniers

How to Really Lose Weight

It's hard to lose weight today with all of the conveniences. We have fast food, cell phones, cars, and TV. All of these can make life easier but there is a cost.

We don't eat as healthy as we use to. There is not as much physical exercise, because we just don't have to anymore. This can be a health problem. You want to become aware of this and take measures to improve your health.

Why should you be concerned?

Because gaining excess weight can cut down on your lifespan, quality of life and your enjoyment. Overweight can cause the following:

- Hypertension

- Osteoarthritis

- Diabetes

- Heart Disease

- Stroke

- Sleep Apnea

- Cancer

Where do you start?

You can start by looking at the food you eat and your lifestyle.

- How large are your portions?

- How processed is your food?

- What type of food do you eat?

- How many calories do you consume?

- How much exercise do you get?

- Do you sleep enough?

- Do you handle stress well?

- How important is it to you to be healthier?

How can you make it enjoyable?

You could make wholesome home cooked meals that you enjoy. Take up a class like Yoga or Karate. Participate in a sport you enjoy, or go for walks.

You should try to find things that you enjoy and incorporate them into your daily life.

What can help you with your goals?

Start off by deciding what is really important to you and if it is worth your effort to achieve it.

Look forward to the new improved and healthier you that will be worth it.

Think about the benefits you and your family will receive from looking and feeling great.

Decide that you are important and are worth the effort to improve. You put effort into work and other things in life. Aren't you just as important or more?

Basically you need to decide if it's worth the effort to improve yourself and then take action.

Decide to eat healthier, exercise, and look into alternative ideas that can help you reach your goals.

There are foods that can satisfy you without excess calories; these include fresh vegetables like tomatoes.

You can look for quality herbs or supplements that may help, but be sure that they are safe. If in doubt, then consult with your doctor or nutritional advisor.

OK let's start right now, today! Don't say you will start tomorrow because tomorrow never comes.

Author by. Lambert Klein Author Ranking Silver

Knock Out Weight Loss Strategies: 7 Dynamic Ways To A New You

I got the phone call early on a Monday. It was from California and I had no idea what I was about to learn from the amazing Dr. Berneathy. Dr. B, as he is affectionately known, has created a dynamite weight loss formula for his patients in his Chiropractic clinic. I was about to embark on a real education.

If you want to lose the weight then you will have to lose any type of victim mentality and get positive. I learned from Dr. B that weight loss was not that hard to do. This guy had the secret that so many other programs out there seemed to miss.

I am going to tell you some of these strategies now.

Lesson 1: You Got To Detoxify – Now what does this exactly mean? You have to get rid of all the junk in your diet. If you are serious about weight loss then you must get rid of the excess garbage in your daily diet. There is a time period here that you will have to observe. This is a multi-step process that you must start on if you want to lose the unwanted pounds.

Lesson 2: Keeping A Positive Mindset – Getting powerful results starts with a healthy mindset. I suggest getting rid of all the substances in your daily pattern that lead to racing thoughts. In this category I include caffeinated drinks, alcohol, sugar and other stimulants. I recently switched to herbal teas from around the world and noticed a huge difference in every aspect of my life.

Lesson 3: Move – You got to get in motion if you want to lose weight. Life is about motion, it is about doing, it is about experiencing new things, you got to get out of your living environment and breathe fresh air. Even if you are not used to exercising you have to get up and out. Mobility is everything. This is going to help you build up your mindset to finally exercise.

Lesson 4: Water Based Foods – Just like Dr. B said do not eat junk foods. Artificial colors and flavors are ultimately bad for you and they must be avoided. Taking the bold step to water based foods will take some imagination There are a lots of great things to be said about what kind of vegetables you buy. You can either buy organic produce, eat vegan, or go totally vegetarian. Avoid taking too many radical steps to reach your goal. Your shifts in this area should be gradual.

Lesson 5: Love Yourself – I always found that I usually got the munchies around 10 PM every night. This became a problem but I found ways around it. I was never tempted by late night advertising by Taco Bell because I had problems with dairy and my sinuses. I was able to find some guilt free snacks to help tide me over. I found things like black bean dip and blue corn chips that were fat free. I also found this amazing Green Tea Non Dairy Ice Cream. If you are willing to stretch your imagination you will come across some incredible finds. This is totally up to you. The other thing I can tell you is to get plenty of rest and drink plenty of water.

Lesson 6: Take Control – Avoid being a victim whenever possible. Avoid living in a constant state of “reaction”, (ex: you’ll never believe what this guy said to me, you’ll never believe what happened to me today, I could only get that promotion if so and so was out of the way etc.). These types of inner conflicts are not healthy for the mind. You are controlling the situations around you. It is for this reason you must have self mastery.

Lesson 7: Eat Often – You can achieve great things with smaller meals. You can eat multiple times a day and not have to worry about going hungry. If you are eating the right things in the right combination then hunger pangs are a thing of the past. You are going to be well settled and will not have to worry about calorie counting. The body will start to adjust to your eating habits and you won’t have to worry about how much you need to eat. Your portions will be smaller.

Dr. Berneathy is well schooled in all of these areas. He is an abundant wealth of knowledge and I decided to take him on as a client. These areas of weight loss intrigued me and yet I wondered how I could apply these rules to my life.

We talked about fundamentals and what it would take to get fantastic results. Weight loss is a complicated game if you don’t approach it the right way. That is why there are so many diets that fail and fall off the market place. But talking to Dr. B made things really simple. We need to stop stuffing ourselves with fake food. But more importantly we had to follow a process that would help eliminate waste before the pounds would fall off.

The importance of this subject matter cannot be underplayed. Disease can settle in if the body is not where it should be. Losing weight is a very serious subject matter and you should take proper steps to take care of your body.

As Dr. Berneathy says, “You only got one you!”. And I couldn’t agree more.

Author by. Ted Cantu http://www.LifeForceHealthandInformationCenter.com

How to Choose a Weight Loss Plan

In the developed countries the weight loss industry is booming as obesity soars. As such there are many weight loss plans that are entering the market with the aim of providing us a weight loss solution. Unfortunately there have been many diets and weight loss plans that have entered the market that promise fast weight loss, however are not offering long term weight loss solutions. The fact is the weight loss needs to be long term and based on fundamental weight loss principles. The points below will have you choose a weight loss plan that best suits your weight loss goals.

Firstly a weight loss plan should meet the following needs for you:

- Match your lifestyle and food choices

- Promote healthy living habits including exercise and a balanced diet

- Meet your nutritional needs.

- Be a long term weight loss solution

Things to avoid when choosing a weight loss plan

- Avoid fad diets

- Avoid promises of excessive weight loss without exercise

- Plans that cut of out major food groups entirely (i.e. no carb diets)

- Promote fast weight loss with a wonder drug or pill

Set your weight loss goals

Before you can chose a weight loss plan that matches your weight loss goals and lifestyle you need to be clear about what you want to achieve. Do you want to lose 5-10kgs? What’s your weight loss goal? What time frame? Is that realistic. I would suggest taking a free diet profile http://www.alfitness.com.au to help you with your goal setting

Establish a support network

The success of a weight loss plan is accelerated when you have support from family and friends who are encouraging you to reach your weight loss goals. Perhaps look at starting a weight loss plan with a friend or family member.

Keep a food diary

Tracking what you eat is essential. Try this for a week and analyse your eating habits. There are some great online food journals and food calorie counters to help you with this. http://www.alfitness.com.au will help you with this.

Monitor your health

This is especially the case when following a restrictive weight loss plan like no carb plans for instance. Its important to monitor lipid profiles (blood fats including cholesterol and triglycerides). Very high protein plans can also effect kidney performance. If you haven’t been following a very healthy diet i would be careful about shifting to a diet that suggested cutting all carbs and only eating lean protein foods. I would check in with a doctor before starting any weight loss plan.

The fundamental basis of any weight loss plan that promotes long term weight loss is by providing you a healthy eating plan and fitness plan. Essentially the weight loss plan you chose should teach you skills that enable you to live a healthier lifestyle when you are no longer using the weight loss plan.. This is the basis of successful weight loss.

Good luck and i hope the weight loss plan you chose enables you to achieve your goals.

Author by. Michael Jenkins

Quick and Healthy?

How to Lose 5 Pounds in 1 Week

Are you, just like I was, misled by the eye-catching headlines about diets that says – Lose X pounds in little or no time? Of course you are, but why? Does it make any sense to believe that you could lose 10 pounds of fat in a week when you know that it can’t be done, at least not in a healthy way?

In this article I will show you that there actually are ways to lose weight fast but that it is not healthy for you. We could make a deal, well, it is you that have to make a deal with yourself. I will show you a method that guarantees a weight loss of at least 5 pounds per week in the healthiest way (not meaning that it is healthy but better than lots of other diets) and you will also learn why a superfast weight loss is dangerous to your health and the do’s and don’ts in fast weight loss.

First, as promised, the fast weight loss diet: This diet is composed to speed up your metabolism and it must be followed exactly. You may not use any spices except salt and peppers. It is important to remember to drink a lot of water, preferably water that is isotonic, meaning that it has added minerals that make it chemically look like you body fluids. To give this diet a boost be sure to do some cardio exercising to speed up the fat burning process.

Here is the menu:

Day 1:
Breakfast: ½ grapefruit, 1 toast (no butter), 2 teaspoons of peanut-butter
Lunch: 5 fl oz of tuna-fish, 1 toast.
Dinner: 3 oz beef (lean), 10 fl oz green beans, 10 fl oz beetroot, 1 small apple, 10 fl oz vanilla ice-cream

Day 2:
Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1 toast, ½ banana
Lunch: 10 fl oz cottage cheese, 5 salty crackers
Dinner: 2 hot dogs, 10 fl oz broccoli, 5 fl oz carrots, 5 fl oz banana, 5 fl oz vanilla ice-cream

Day 3:
Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1 toast
Lunch: 5 slices of cheddar-cheese, 5 salty crackers, 1 small apple
Dinner: 10 fl oz tuna-fish(conserved in water), 10 fl oz beetroot, 10 fl oz cauliflower, 5 fl oz honey melon, 5 fl oz vanilla ice-cream.

Like mentioned before it is very important to follow this diet like it is written above, if it is altered in any way it may not work for you.

Now you will learn why this diet is not healthy. First of all it makes you lose weight faster than the body can burn fat. Even if you drink a lot, the weight loss will consist of 20% fat, 40% water and 40% lean muscle. So let’s say that you lost 5 pounds, according to the percentage above you lost 1 pound of fat, 2 pounds of water weight and 2 pounds of lean muscle. Did you want to lose that much muscle? Probably not. All of the diets making you lose more than 1-2 pounds per week will burn your muscle mass for energy.

Now, why is that? The body saves the fat stored in your body for a rainy day (starvation period) and if you are on a diet and don’t exercise and use your muscle to the fullest extent your body figures that the muscle is not necessary to save and it will start using it for energy.

The diet above could be executed once a week but it will not give you a long-lasting weight loss. To lose weight for good you have to compose your menu to have the right amount of protein, the right kinds of fat and some great carbs. Those three nutrients cover our total calorie intake. To be a successful dieter(meaning that the fat is burnt and not the muscle) you should reduce your calorie intake by 10-20% and increase your calorie consumption, and how do you do that? Well, you have to start exercising and do some weight-lifting.

Now you know how to lose weight fast (I guarantee that the menu above works) so stop looking for any more fast weight loss diets. You also know why a fast weight loss is only a temporary weight loss and most important, you know that there are no shortcuts to get rid of those extra pounds. It is really a really easy equation: (Calorie intake) – (Calorie burnt) = weight loss/gain. Simple? Yes! But it is not that easy to achieve because it requires some fundamental change of attitude to foods, exercise and body.

If you decides to go on the diet explained, do so as a life-saver for now, but stop procrastinating and start to lose weight the right way after this panic-fast weight loss.

This article is merely an introduction, but if you are still reading you have taken the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

Congratulations!

writer by. Jennifer Olsson