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You are here: Home / Archives for obesity

The Obesity Paradox

November 10, 2015 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

It takes all kinds.

People can (and will) believe just about anything they put their feelings to. From the criminally tragic, such as Holocaust Deniers, to the hopeful yet silly – that Elvis Presley is still alive and living in Ottawa running a nightclub, there is no shortage of conspiracy theories or reality-free propositions available for one to latch onto.

Consider the “obesity paradox.”

investigation-arrow

In a nutshell, the concept promotes the notion that being at one’s ideal weight is unnecessary. Actually, it goes beyond that and says that — based on studies — people who are classified as overweight (or even moderately obese) seem to have better health and mortality outcomes than “normal” or “thin” folks.

The concept is controversial (ya think?) but its foundation lies in the hypothesis that extra pounds might actually help defend one’s health, especially when it comes to certain chronic conditions like diabetes, kidney disease, and high blood pressure. The “paradox” was first floated in 2003, where researchers were puzzled by the fact that heavier patients suffering from heart failure seemed to do better than their thinner counterparts. So, two plus two became five and it was deduced that having extra weight might actually be good for you.

There’s an old adage about data: “Figures don’t lie; liars figure.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Diet, Health, Newspaper Column, Weight Loss Tagged With: current events, health risks of obesity, journal of medicine, nutrition science, obesity, risks of obesity, study

Video: Woman Hands out Notes to Obese Trick-or-Treaters

October 31, 2013 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

I have mixed feelings about this. A woman in ND is handing out notes to trick-or-treaters she considers to be obese. The notes are presumably taken home to the parents.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Health, Video Tagged With: childhood obesity, halloween, holidays, obesity

Growing Up in an Overweight Family

January 24, 2013 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by Tara Spener

My parents have always been overweight.

When I was very young, it wasn’t something that I really noticed. They were just my parents. I didn’t notice or didn’t understand that they were heavier than they should be.

However, as I got older, that changed. Over time, my parents’ weight was about much more than their health.

When I was a young child, my parents being overweight meant that they couldn’t play with me the way some of my friends’ parents could play with them. There were no games of chase, no family bouts of tug of war, no family football matches in the backyard. It also meant that they didn’t have the energy for me. They were often too tired from their day to do more than sit down on the couch at the end of the day.

In the beginning, I just thought that’s the way things were, but as time went on, it started to weigh on me that my parents couldn’t (or didn’t want to) do the things that other parents did. I felt like I was missing out in some small way.

Meal times were not the most healthy.

It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I started to think of dinner as something that didn’t come from a box. Once I started to become more interested in eating healthy foods, my parents couldn’t provide me the guidance I needed. They weren’t able to teach me how to make nutritious meals. It wasn’t until I was married that I knew how to make a roast chicken. It wasn’t until college that I knew how to do more than boil some spaghetti noodles.

The unhealthy foods and the unhealthy role models made it hard for me to know how to live a healthy lifestyle.

Once I got to high school, I became interested in track, and I started to lead a more active lifestyle myself. I struggled for many more years trying to learn how to eat a healthy and balanced diet, and I continue to struggle with body issues.

Because my parents didn’t teach me healthy habits, I never learned how to listen to my body and give it the healthy foods it needed. I didn’t learn to exercise because of what it could do for my body and how it could make it feel. As a result, I struggled for a long time with learning how to say no to foods and with learning to strike the right balance with exercise. I either worked out too much or not at all. I either ate too much or too little.

Continuing to run track in college helped me to find that balance.

I learned how to train to push my body to its highest performance. I learned how to eat a healthy diet that gave me energy and made me feel great. Most of all, I learned how to love my body and to treat it with the respect it deserved.

My parents still struggle with their weight.

However, now I am able to offer them the role model that I had hoped they would be for me. With time, I hope that they are able to learn how to adopt a healthier lifestyle so that they can live long and fulfilling lives. And maybe one day we’ll be able to enjoy that game of tag … with their grandchildren.

About the Author: Tara Spenser is currently the resident writer for workingcapital.org, where she researches the most affordable business capital available. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging, swimming and being a mom.

Filed Under: Change, family, Guest Author, Health, Relationships Tagged With: bad habits, being overweight, better health, family time, healthy habits, how to live a healthy lifestyle, obesity, parents, quality of life, relationships, role models

How to Motivate Yourself to Do “Something”

July 27, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author Alesha Wilson

How many times have you promised yourself that you will do something but ended up postponing it and doing something less productive? How many times have you promised to go to the gym to lose some weight but have backed out of the plan when the day arrived? Having cold feet is normal, but sometimes you have to brave the waters and do what has to be done–in this case, exercising to avoid being obese is a priority.

The statistics are overwhelming.

Take a look around you and you will see that many people are turning obese. But you do not have to be one of them. As long as you set your mind to that necessary change, you can save yourself. So how do you motivate yourself to change your ways? Apart from exercising, you can also use the steps listed below in other tasks that you might be having problems doing.

  1. Find a partner. It’s easy to be discouraged when you are going to the gym alone. Instead of being intimidated by the stares given to you by other people at the gym, ask your best friend to go with you. It will be just like your bonding sessions, except this time you are not dining out but burning unwanted fats. Anyone will do–your sister, your officemate, your neighbor–as long as you have a good relationship with that person. It’s even better if you make new friends at the gym so that you will look forward to seeing them every time you visit.
  2. Set a goal each week. You don’t have to lose all those unnecessary pounds in a few days. Go for a slow, but sure process. Set your mind to target at least five pounds a week. If you see that you are losing bigger than this, you can set your target a little higher. This way, you won’t be pressured to lose an unachievable number.
  3. Give yourself a reward. Make yourself work for something. What’s the use of following your exercise routine religiously if you don’t have something to look forward to, right? Tell yourself that you will buy that dress in size 0 when you achieve that weight. Thinking about the reward you will get after losing weight will surely make you want to work even harder.
  4. Keep tabs of your progress. If you are already losing weight, you need to know when to stop. By listing down the number of pounds you lost in one week, you will have an idea of when you can graduate from the gym. After that, your next move is to make sure that you still have enough exercise to avoid all the fat from returning.
  5. Prepare nutritious foods that taste great. To make sure that fats are lost, you should avoid eating meals that are rich in them. But you also do not have to punish yourself by eating foods that do not taste great at all. Rather, find easy to follow recipes of great-tasting meals with reduced calories. These are all over the internet these days, and they do taste great!

After reading the tips listed above, you hopefully are more motivated in getting “something” done. Just make sure that you enjoy the process and the outcome will be worth it.

About The Author: Alesha Wilson writes for various online publications including RockwellNutrition.com – leading online supplier of Whey Cool.

Filed Under: Diet, Exercise, goals, Group Support, Guest Author, Overcoming Obstacles, planning, Procrastination, Productivity, willpower Tagged With: achieving your goals, exercise routine, goal accomplishment, goal setting, good relationship, guest author, obesity, time management

Forward or Backwards: A Conversation About Weight Loss

June 27, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

“Dang! I’ve been really careful on my diet and I haven’t lost a pound. I’m ready to give up the whole thing and toss the stupid scale through the window.”

“That’s kind of killing the messenger, isn’t it?”

“You miss the point. I’m eating healthy. I’m working out like a machine – and this is the result I get? Might as well just go back to how I was before.”

“I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“Why not?”

“You’re not losing now — and you’re being careful. If you just throw caution to the wind, won’t it get worse? I mean; I understand how frustrated you are, putting in all that work and having disappointing results; but it seems that’s better than gaining.”

“I’m not saying I’ll go put my weight back on. I’ll just — you know — cruise for a while. Stop trying so hard and stressing about the number, I’ll maintain. Then, when I’m ready, I’ll get back to losing.”

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure.”

“If you know how to maintain your weight, why do you need to lose 30 pounds?”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Diet, Newspaper Column, Self Talk, Weight Loss Tagged With: diet, frustration, habit change, healthier lifestyle, how to maintain your weight, lifestyle change, motivation, obesity, weight loss

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