Obesity is an epidemic sweeping the world, with millions of people suffering from its consequences. Obesity shouldn’t be ignored because it can lead to several serious health consequences. Although you can treat and manage obesity, making small changes in your lifestyle is one of the best options. Let’s learn more about obesity and understand the disease better.
Obesity is a disease
Obesity is a disease. It’s not just about being overweight or looking like you might have a few pounds to lose. Obesity can seriously affect your health, causing or contributing to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
You may have heard this before but it bears repeating: Obesity has been classified by the American Medical Association as a chronic disease since 2013. While lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise habits contribute to the disease, it also has biological causes that make some people struggle with losing weight.
The good news is that just like other chronic diseases such as diabetes or hypertension, there are treatments available for individuals who suffer from obesity.
Causes of Obesity
Your genes play a role in whether or not you are likely to become obese. If your parents or other close family members are obese, then it’s more likely that you will gain weight as well. However, just because someone has an “obese” gene doesn’t mean they will automatically become overweight.
Behaviour is another factor that can contribute to obesity. People who eat unhealthy foods and don’t exercise frequently are more likely to be overweight than those who live healthy lifestyles.
Environment plays another important role in weight gain because certain environments encourage unhealthy habits, not getting enough sleep, work-related stress or any kind of stress.
Obesity Shouldn’t Be Ignored Because it Can Cause Serious Health Concerns
Obesity can lead to several serious health consequences. The following are just some of the health problems that you may experience if you’re obese:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes (type 2)
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Sleep apnea
- Joint problems
- Breast cancer in women
- Colon and rectal cancer in men and women.
- Endometrial cancer.
- Gallbladder disease
- Kidney stones.
- Liver disease pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).
- Gallstones or gallbladder disease
- GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)
Cure of Obesity
There are many ways to cure obesity. Some of the most common methods include:
Lifestyle changes such as eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can help you lose weight, but they won’t necessarily cure your obesity. These lifestyle changes may also help prevent obesity in the first place. But if you’re severely overweight, it’s not always easy to make these changes.
If you have severe obesity that hasn’t responded to other treatments, surgery might be an option for you. Doctors usually reserve surgery for people who are extremely obese and have other health problems caused by their weight, such as diabetes or sleep apnea.
Bariatric surgery may be an option. An important thing is to get from a reputed medical centre for example if you are from New Jersey, you can look up New Jersey’s bariatric center, NJ Advanced Surgical Solutions. Bariatric surgery includes procedures such as gastric bypass (whereby food passes directly into the small intestine), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (stomach is reduced in size), sleeve gastrectomy (stomach lining removed) or duodenal switch procedure (stomach narrowed).
Your doctor may prescribe medications that help you lose weight by decreasing your appetite. These include lorcaserin (Belviq), phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia) and naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved all three for long-term use after one year of treatment with diet and exercise alone failed to achieve meaningful weight loss in patients with obesity associated with at least one weight-related comorbidity. They aren’t for everyone because they have side effects such as the dry mouth.
Recap: Why Obesity Shouldn’t Be Ignored
Obesity is a serious condition that can lead to several health problems. It can also have an impact on your quality of life, so it’s you must do everything in your power to prevent or treat this disease. If you are concerned about your weight, speak to your doctor about how best to manage it. Obesity shouldn’t be ignored, and addressing it can change your life for the better.
