Obesity has been linked to a number of chronic diseases including heart disease, hypertension, stroke, high cholesterol, diabetes, certain cancers and even depression. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity rates among the adults, adolescents, and children in this country continue to rise, costing the nation more than $100 billion each year. There are steps that individuals can take to achieve healthier lifestyles.
Diet
If you and your family do not already eat nutritious, well-balanced meals, change your eating habits. Leave the snack foods high in saturated fats and sugar in the supermarket aisles. Keep plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand instead. Encourage family members to drink water and low-fat or non-fat milk instead of fruit juices, carbonated soft drinks or sports drinks, all of which are loaded with calories and sugar. Adults should eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day, while children should eat at least five servings.
A typical serving size measures about 1 cup of fresh, raw vegetables, 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables, and a small- to medium-size piece of fruit or 1/2 cup of canned fruit. One serving of meat is 3 oz. Select whole grain breads, pastas and cereals, and stay away from processed foods made with white flour, refined sugar, and saturated fats. Make it a habit to eat only when you are hungry, and eat slowly.
Food Diary
Keeping a food diary is a helpful way to track your eating habits. Nothing inspires change faster than seeing how much we eat in 1 day printed clearly on a page. Write down everything you eat throughout the day from the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed. Log any meals, snacks, drinks, trips to the vending machines at work, times you eat out, even any taste tests while you are packing lunches or preparing meals for your family. Record the date, the time, what you ate, how much you ate, and where you ate it. Note any regular meals that you skip as well.
After keeping the diary for a couple of weeks, sit down and study your eating patterns. Identify those things that you need to change. You may not be able to make all the changes you need at one time, but setting small goals should help keep the task manageable until you can eventually change your overall eating habits.
Exercise
Increase your activity level. Try to get in at least 30 minutes of moderate activity every day. If it seems impossible with your busy schedule, shoot for several days each week. Even if you try to do something that involves movement for just 10 or 15 minutes each day, every little bit helps. Climb several fights of stairs instead of taking the elevator, or walk around the block a couple of times before you pull the car into the garage when you return home from work. Despite feeling too fatigued at the end of the day to exercise, remind yourself that regular exercise actually increases energy level, and can make you feel less hungry. Just 30 minutes of light to moderate exercise 5 days each week boosts metabolism.
Education
Community health programs and health education programs in schools can help to make a difference in improving the health of the nation's children. Focus should be placed on promoting healthy eating habits and providing additional opportunities for participation in physical activities. School meal programs should be designed to offer students a variety of healthy choices in the foods and beverages available to them. Comprehensive programs should concentrate attention on getting both parents and teachers involved in establishing healthy living goals and evaluating programs with positive role modeling being a primary objective. Communities can take action to prevent childhood obesity through careful selection of health education curriculum for their school districts, in addition to providing quality physical education programs for students.
Support Groups
Join an obesity support group online or in your local area (see Resources). People frequently find encouragement connecting and sharing with others in similar situations. Obesity is not just about weight loss. It is often as much about self-esteem. Support groups give individuals the opportunity to offer advice and emotional support, as well as provide information about the potential risks and advantages associated with the different surgical procedures that now aid people with weight loss. Group members frequently help others to set positive and realistic goals.
Drug Therapy
In some cases, doctors recommend drug therapy to assist individuals in maintaining weight loss. As with any other medication regimen, patients must be closely monitored by their physicians so that they can assess the continued effectiveness and safety of any medications prescribed. The Food and Drug Administration has approved three weight loss drugs for treating obesity: Phentermine, an appetite suppressant; Orlistat, which blocks the absorption of some dietary fat; and Sibutramine, a drug that controls hunger by signaling the brain that the stomach is full. Drug therapy may be used in combination with behavior therapy to improve eating and exercise patterns.
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