Obesity the new 4 letter word

I have written several articles on Belly Fat. I think that people see belly fat in the mirror but do not see obesity as such. According to surveys we just don't accept that we are obese. We are overweight or fat or need to lose a few pounds. But that belly fat seems to be an acceptable thing to determine to lose. That is fine with me. If you can get yourself to lose the belly fat then the obesity will just disappear as well. I picked out these three articles from today's newspapers.

From the Orlando Sentinel

First we said they were ruining their health with their bad habit, and they should just quit.

Then we said they were repulsive and we didn't want to be around them. Then we said they were costing us loads of money -- maybe they should pay extra taxes. Other Americans, after all, do not share their dissolute ways.

Cigarette smokers? No, the obese.

Last week the list of ills attributable to obesity grew: Fat people cause global warming.

This latest contribution to the obesity debate comes in an article in The Engineering Economist that calculates how much extra gasoline is used to transport Americans now that they have grown fatter. The answer, it said, is 1 billion gallons a year.

And from another newspaper today

Obesity linked to lack of sleep, says study Monday October 30, 2006 LONDON - A trend for children and adolescents to stay up later and sleep less may be linked to rising levels of obesity, a review says.

Bristol University researcher Shahad Taheri said televisions, computers, mobile phones and other gadgets should be banned from children's bedrooms to enable them to get a good night's sleep.Archives of Disease in Childhood, Mr Taheri said there was increasing evidence that shortened sleeping times result in metabolic changes that may contribute to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and heart disease.

And from the LA Times

Quick fixes feed obesity rate Misinformed consumers rely on unproven weight-loss products, a new survey says.
The nation's soaring obesity rates won't fall until Americans stop placing their faith in unproven and possibly fraudulent weight-loss products and treatments. That's the message from some of the nation's top obesity experts, commenting on new data about Americans' continued, naïve hope for the quick fix.....But the 1994 passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act amended laws so that dietary supplements are no longer subject to pre-market safety evaluations.

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I found these articles interesting to say the least. Lack of Sleep contributes to overweight----you bet. Not just in children and teenagers but in adults as well. And not just because staying up later leads to midnight snacks. Just as your body needs dream time it needs repair time.

If it was easy to quit smoking or eating junky food we would all be slender and smoke free. Both the smoking and the junk foods are addictions.

Our bodies crave that junk because the brain has learned to release chemical substances to try and protect the body from all that stuff and that has conditioned the body to want more. Most people have heard of a runner's high caused by endorphins released when the body is exhausted.

Odd as it may seem, people generally crave a food that they are allergic to, just to get this reaction. It is not on a conscious level. On the conscious level they may talk all day about the vile doughnut but on the subconscious level they truly crave that doughnut.

Bottom line.....It is not easy to get healthy but it is possible. The longer you wait to turn things around and start a healthy life style, the harder it is and the more damage has been done.

Tomorrow is Monday and Monday is the most popular day for everyone to start a new project. Don't wait for another Monday. Take positive steps (literally) everyday to improve your health and watch that belly fat and the obesity fade away.

until next time ... smile

Sharon

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