Obesity
-the problem at hand
What is obesity?
Obesity is when there is too much fat on the body. Whether you are obese or not depends on your BMI or body mass index. You body mass index is how much you weigh in comparison to your height, age and build, if your BMI is between 25 and 30 you are considered overweight, between 30 and above you are considered obese. Obesity can affect people’s health and shorten their life expectancy; obesity also increases the likelihood of getting diseases such as type2 diabetes, some cancers and osteoarthritis.
What causes obesity?
Obesity is caused by a combination of over eating and lack of physical activity. When you eat more calories that you burn over a period on time you will start to see the build up of fat on your body. Obesity is a gradual change in the amount of fat on the body, as more fat builds up on your body you can easily see the change in the size of people.
How does nutrition impact on obesity?
If you are eating unhealthy foods full of sugars and fats you are likely to gain weight, but even so, eating too much of the right foods can also affect your weight. By over eating, good or bad foods, and not exercising enough you body will gain mass because you are eating more then you are working off. One person, that is fit and active, could eat the safe amount of food as a less active person, but the active person will be less likely to gain weight. Other reasons for weight gain include consumption of alcohol or sugary beverages, smoking and psychological reasons such as emotional concerns, low self esteem and influence from the people around us.
What foods can help prevent obesity?
By eating healthy foods you can’t necessarily prevent obesity. Obesity can be prevented though with a healthy life style, eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. By over eating healthy foods you can still put on weight, keeping a healthy weight requires you to exercise enough to use the energy you have eaten, if you don’t exercise your body stores the energy as fat. Eating sugary foods will make you gain weight faster so by eating healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables you are more likely to keep a healthy weight.