Alarming Epidemic Of Obesity

The global number of people who is suffering from overweight in adult population is approximately 1.6 billion people (age more than 15 years) and at least 400 million of that are obese. Similarly, with respect to global childhood obesity, there are at least 20 million children under 5 that either have overweight or, that can turn into obesity if their parents don't take the necessary measures. The projection of the WHO by the year 2015 is that approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.

While globally, there have been significant increases in obesity prevalence rates over the last 20 years, the following statistics indicate the alarming threat of obesity with respect to specific North American & European countries.

Obesity in USA

Over two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, and over one-third are obese, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2006and 2007–2008. According to the same estimate:

• 68 percent of all adults in US are overweight
• 64.1 percent of all women in US are overweight
• 72.3 percent of all men in US are overweight
• Similarly, according to the same statistics, over one-third of U.S. adults are obese which means:
• 33.8 percent of all adults in US are obese
• 35.5 percent of all women in US are obese
• 32.2 percent of all men in US are obese

Obesity in UK

Within the UK, English obesity prevalence rates in adults have increased by three- to four-fold since the 1980s. The most recent available data from England and Scotland indicate obesity prevalence rates are similar in men and boys at 22 percent and 18 percent respectively. The obesity prevalence rate in Scottish women is 19 percent higher than in English women (26 percent compared to 21.9 percent). Among girls, the prevalence rate of obesity is 30 percent higher in England (18.1 percent) than in Scotland (13.8 percent).

Some of the biggest causes of the increasing obese population in high-income countries and nations include:

• The global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy-dense-foods
• The decreasing physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many types of work
• Changing ways of transportation and increasingly urbanization
• More dependency on fast food as daily meals

In addition, these days is also dramatically changing the situation in low and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings, lead to the tendency to consume more food rich in fat and sugar and to the insufficient access to sport and fitness facilities.

In short, it is clear from the above discussion that obesity is now growing almost as an epidemic with rapidly growing rates especially among developed nations. Unfortunately, medical drug treatment or surgery has been unable to address the underlying causes of obesity even among affordable population.

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The South Beach Diet Reviews

The South Beach Diet is one of the odd fishes swimming in the treacherous waters of the international weight loss industry. Many people love it and are perfectly willing to swear by the good name of M.D. Arthur Agatston, while others find it hard to stick to the obligatory induction phase. The South Beach Diet belongs to the low-carbohydrates group of diets and has been derided as a fad diet, although its fans claim that it is not a fad diet and that it is, in any case, much more responsible and healthy than Atkins. Then again, not many diets manage to be less healthy than Atkins.

Dieters who choose the South Beach Diet can expect to see their food intake restricted to lean meat, seafood, eggs, low fat dairy products, nuts, vegetables (most of them, anyway), artificial sweeteners and a couple of carbohydrates of the low glycemic variety. During the first phase of this diet, the shock phase, most fruit and vegetables are still on the banned list, just like the rest of carbohydrates. Unfortunately, some people find it hard to cope with the low energy level, the fatigue and sometimes nausea that accompany this phase. However, it should be noted that not all dieters experience these symptoms. It’s all in our genetic make-up.

The bets part of this diet is the focus on removing simple carbohydrates (sweets, pasta, bread) from the diet and replacing them with the healthier complex carbohydrates from wholegrains and vegetables. The worst part is the marketing jargon that makes it sound like a fad diet and the tough first phase of the diet, which sacrifices the long-term healthy eating approach for an instant gratification technique based on the catch-all slogan “lose weight fast”. Any such approach will have the dieter lose a lot of water and not that much fat.

On the other hand, the second phase of the diet is a bunch of quite sensible eating advice and the recipes provided by the author are very good. There are also pre-packaged South Beach foods for those who lack the time or the inclination to cook for themselves. All things considered, the South Beach Diet is not a bad idea if one could clear away the hype and marketing lingo and focus on the healthy eating part and the good food choices. This information is something that should stay with you through the years if you’re looking to keep that weight from returning.

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The Atkins Diet Reviews

Can you say hype? If you‚ living in any Western world country then you‚ probably heard of the famous Atkins diet. Whether this is the most successful diet ever or not it‚ still up for debate, but it certainly is the more advertised one. The Atkins diet has been for a while the most hyped eating plan around and millions of people have tried it at some point or another.

This is no exaggeration. It was estimated that more than 3 million people in the United Kingdom alone have tried the Atkins diet at the peak of the hype in 2003.

The basic idea behind this diet is that cutting down on the carbohydrates, while allowing people to eat high-fat food is going to work. One of the best things in favor of the Atkins diet was the fact that it allowed people to eat eggs and cheese and steaks. It sounds like a dream diet actually. Who‚ pass up the chance of losing weight while still enjoying a good eggs and ham breakfast? Well, the downside is that you get no bread or salad with that steak. None whatsoever. Which becomes a real problem after a week or so. How much meat can you eat without touching any vegetables at all?

Anyway, the theory is that cutting out the carbohydrates will force your body to use the stored fat in order to obtain the energy needed through the day. This means that you get to eat no bread and pastries, potatoes, pasta, milk, rice, fruit, vegetables (well, there are a couple you can still eat) and, obviously, no junk food or soft drinks. On the other hand, you are allowed to eat red meat, fish, chicken, cheese, mayonnaise, cream, butter and eggs.

This is going to be your only food for the first two weeks, which are called the Induction Phase.

The second phase of the diet is called Ongoing Weight Loss and it lets you increase the intake of carbohydrates by 5 grams per day, starting from the basic 20 grams per day stipulated by the Induction Phase. The user must find how far the amount of carbohydrates can be increased before the body is unable to lose between 1 and 3 pounds per week. This is called the Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight and this is where the amount of carbs stops growing. This phase is supposed to last until you almost reach the desired weight.

With 5 to 10 pounds left to shed it‚ time to enter the third stage of the diet. This one is called Pre-Maintenance and it‚ supposed to increase the carbs intake by 10 grams a day in order to slow down the weight loss process. Welcome to the world of 30 grams of pasta per day. The final phase is called Lifetime Maintenance and a lifetime of eating around 90 grams of carbs per day for the rest of your life. Moving from 250 grams or more to less than 100 grams and for the rest of your life could be quite a challenge for many people.

The side effects of the Atkins diet depend on the user. Some people did fine on this diet, some got infections of the kidneys from the high-protein content or heart problems from all the fat food they ate. Dizziness and general weakness are also to be expected as the body goes into starvation mode when denied carbohydrates. With high-fiber fruit and vegetables out of the way you can also expect constipation to become a problem. Also, the lack of many dairy products leads to a significant drop in the amount of calcium absorbed by the body and may cause osteoporosis or other bone conditions later on.

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Control Weight Loss Solution

Is weight loss the same as weight control? When you are not in control of something, you find it difficult to maintain it where it is. When you are not in control of your weight, you tend to lose weight or gain weight. So when you are in control of your weight, you would be able to maintain your weight more or less steady or gain or lose it as you will.

Unfortunately with over sixty-five percent of U.S adults being either overweight or obese, majority of the people confuse weight control with weight loss. The confusion is worse confounded because the considerations by which you achieve weight control are the same as those by which you achieve weight loss.

A healthy American woman of medium build and a height of 5’ 4” would weigh about 125 lbs. If she is doing a little or no exercise, she needs 1500 calories per day to maintain that weight. If she were to follow some dietary restriction and reduce her calorie intake by 500 calories per day, she will lose weight at the rate of about 1 lb per week.

If the woman in our example above were to start exercising for 3 days per week, she will be burning off about 200 calories per day more and to maintain the weight i.e. to control the weight in spite of starting on the exercise regimen she needs to eat 200 calories more per day.

So as you see from the above, it is not difficult to choose your lifestyle and maintain a healthy weight gain or healthy weight loss. You choose the weight you want to scale at; that tells you how long you need to adjust your lifestyle to reach the target at the safe rate of 1-2 lbs. per week (of course, keeping in mind general health considerations). Next determine what is your present calorie intake (there are so many websites that can help you find your actual intake if you feed in the details of your diet). Knowing that one pound of body weight is equivalent to about 3500 calories, you can decide how much change you need to make in your calorie intake. Choose any of the safe natural diet plans to implement the changes in diet required. Just remember less fat, less calories, lose weight; more fat, more calories, gain weight!

How many calories a day to lose weight?

If you are eager to lose weight, a good rule of thumb is that a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories leads to a weight loss of approximately one pound. Therefore, you could begin by taking five hundred less calories day, providing you are taking a healthy, well-balanced diet and performing your physical activity / exercises regularly. Simply saying, to get rid of one pound per week, you need to reduce your calories by 500 per day. There are two simple ways of doing this; eat / drink 250 lesser calories daily and burn additional 250 calories by performing physical exercise (e.g. walking or jogging for 2 to 3 miles daily).

Another way to cut back on calories is to watch your portion sizes. Go for relatively smaller, leaner, pieces of meats, perhaps. Eat as much vegetables as possible as they are low in calories but contain higher quantities of vitamins and nutrients) and avoid deep fried food (cheese burgers, fried chicken, French fries etc.). Doing these easy things will have a dynamic impact on your weight.

If you are at a healthy comfortable weight you can easily maintain the same weight even in face of changes in your activity levels, etc. by keeping in mind underlying concept. If you are increasing your activities (including exercise you may be doing) increase your calorie intake correspondingly or vice versa. Remember the effects of calorie intake or burn out are on a cumulative basis; for effective weight control you don’t have to strictly maintaining a daily balance sheet.

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