{"id":3471,"date":"2016-03-09T13:04:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T18:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tambulimedia.com\/?p=3471"},"modified":"2023-07-24T15:02:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T19:02:19","slug":"portion-control-leading-cause-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tambulimedia.com\/portion-control-leading-cause-obesity\/","title":{"rendered":"Portion Control Leading Cause of Obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many problems with the standard American diet: poor quality products, hydrogenated oils and trans fats, too much sugar and caffeine, toxic chemicals and pesticides.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to obesity, as a stand-alone health epidemic, portion control is the culprit. According to new research, it\u2019s not how much sugar and fat you consume that makes you obese, but the sheer amount of food consumed daily, regardless of quality.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s still not the whole story\u2026<\/p>\n

Obesity and how it affects you<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Obesity is no joke. Neither is being overweight. I\u2019m not here to judge you; I struggle with weight, too. I just want to be clear on the fact that there is no such thing as being \u201cobese and healthy,\u201d or \u201cobese but fit,\u201d as I\u2019ve previously discussed in more detail. The truth is obesity sets you on the fast track to life-threatening diseases and early death.<\/p>\n

The definition of obesity means that a person is well overweight to a level past what is healthy or even easy on your body. That much weight is difficult to carry \u2014 stressing your joints with every step and adding stress on your heart and lungs with every movement. Obesity raises your blood pressure, increases your blood sugar, causes chronic inflammation, and is a primary contributor to diabetes, heart disease, stroke and metabolic disorder.<\/p>\n

But weight alone is no clear sign that you are obese. Let\u2019s take a look at why.<\/p>\n

Different weight measures mean different things<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"obesity<\/a>There are different ways to see if you are clinically obese and at risk of early death from weight. Below are overviews of three common scales and what they mean. While none tell the whole story, they each relate to a different side, be it emotion or clinical. Use them all, take them all into consideration, and adjust your lifestyle and daily activities accordingly.<\/p>\n

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  1. Weight Scale \u2013<\/strong> Everyone I know, including myself, has a weight scale in their bathroom. They stand on it frequently to see what they weigh. And that number seems to mark their place in the weight continuum and guides their eating habits. Well, at least for a few days anyway. But the thing is\u2013the numbers on these scales don\u2019t tell the whole picture.I may want to be 145 lbs. because the BMI (Body Mass Index) tells me this is my ideal weight for my height. However, I have strong legs and arms with dense musculature, and since muscle weighs more than fat, my weight is much higher. So in cases like this, and also for many people, we use scales subjectively to see where we stand on our own weight wish list. If I roll in at 175 lbs., I feel on target, and my pants and shirts fit well. This is all very subjective and emotionally I feel good at that weight in terms of self-esteem. However, aside from vanity, that number really means nothing in terms of an overall state of health.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. Body Mass Index (BMI) \u2013<\/strong>The BMI is the long-standing yardstick by which many doctors and organizations (including health and life insurance underwriters), base a person\u2019s \u201chealthy weight\u201d limits. BMI is a ratio of one\u2019s height to weight and sets numerical limits on what is deemed healthy. An online calculator<\/a> can be used to type in your height and weight to calculate your BMI. And if it is below 18.5, you are deemed underweight<\/em>; between 18.5-24.9, you are deemed normal <\/em>weight; between 25-29.9, you are deemed overweight<\/em>; and if your BMI is over 30, you are deemed obese<\/em>.As mentioned above, muscle weighs more than fat and so the BMI scale is intrinsically flawed. What\u2019s more, weight and BMI alone does not tell the whole health story. Medically, holding your weight around the midsection is worse than holding it in other places.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. Hip to Waist Ratio \u2013<\/strong> For measuring obesity and overall health risk, the ratio of your hips to your waist size may be the best marker of deterring overall health risk, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/a>. The study, in which researchers looked at data of 15,000 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey<\/a>, found that the waist-to-hip ratio was a far better predictor of mortality and heart disease than BMI. This is because it measures \u201ccentral-obesity,\u201d or belly fat, which is dangerous. Here are some scary statistics from the study:\n