Health & Wellness
Need to Shed a Few Pounds?
Help is Available!
By Romeo "Bobby" Cruz Manager of Medical Services
This is the time of year when many people are trying to keep a New Year's resolution to lose weight. The following is some helpful information about weight and obesity that will help build a healthier you throughout 2012.
The Obesity Problem According to the American Obesity Association:
- Obesity is an issue for one in every three adult Americans
- Obesity causes at least 300,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
- The cost of obesity in the U.S. alone is more than $100 billion each year.
Obesity and being overweight are conditions that are linked to other health problems, including high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, and cancer.
Are you overweight/obese?
How do you know whether or not you're at a healthy weight, overweight, or obese? You can use a tool called the Body Mass Index (BMI) to nd out. This calculation takes both your weight and your height into account to determine whether or not you need to do something about your weight.
An easy way to determine your BMI is to use a BMI chart, which is shown above. Find your height and weight on this chart, and determine your BMI results and health status (healthy, overweight, or obese) in a matter of seconds.
Body Mass Index Table
People with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight while people with a BMI of 30 or above are considered obese. For example, as shown in this table, an adult who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weights 196 pounds will have a BMI of 31, meaning he/she is overweight and almost to the "obese" category.
There is also a website sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will automatically compute a BMI for you. Just go to http://www.cdc.gov/ nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/index.htm.
Help is Available
If you or a family member need to lose weight, your health bene ts with General Dynamics NASSCO may help. For more information, contact the Benefits Office at (619) 544-7538 or (619) 544-8866.
What Is Making Americans Fat?
If you're searching for a villain in America's obesity epidemic, most nutritionists will tell you to look at the nearest can of soda pop. According to government data, sweetened soft drinks contribute about 10 percent of the calories in the American diet, and are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain.
While nutritionists are united in their dislike for non-diet soda, the reasons why are controversial. Some point a finger at high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the sweetener used in most non-diet drinks. Recently, researchers at Rutgers University identified compounds in HFCS which may start a chemical chain reaction, leading to diabetes. Most scientists, though, say there's little difference between HFCS and simple sugar, either in chemistry or the way they're handled by the body.
A bigger problem, doctors say, is number of calories. You'll find about 400 calories in a 32-ounce "extra-large" Coke, a fast-food staple. That's nearly a quarter of what the average adult woman needs in a whole day.
Scientists also say the body doesn't respond to liquid calories in the same way it does to those from solid food. Appetite is controlled by a complex mix of hormones. Some signal the brain that your stomach is getting full. Others, including a hormone known as ghrelin, signal it's time to eat again.
If you eat a big burger, the level of ghrelin drops for a few hours. That drop doesn't happen if you drink a large soda, even if it has more calories than the burger. The sugar in soda not only provides a massive dose of calories, but triggers a vicious appetite cycle. It's rapidly absorbed, which raises blood sugar. The body releases insulin to break down the sugar, but overcompensates, and blood sugar drops below the fasting level, lower than it was in the first place.
While fighting obesity is complicated, the first step is clear: giving up sugary soda for diet drinks, or water, will cause you to lose weight.
