The Dangers of Excess Body Fat
Obesity is a major threat to one’s health. Many people go on a weight loss plan to look trim. But reducing weight with a balanced and nutritious diet and consistent exercises, keeps you healthy and disease free.
Obesity can be defined as 25 percent excess fat for men, and 32 percent excess fat for women. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases. Obesity is on the increase in America, because of the American’s lifestyle and lack of exercise.
Obesity and blood pressure:
If you are overweight, you will find it difficult to breathe. The heart will find it very strenuous to pump blood to the lungs. Because of this the heart will enlarge and the volume of blood will increase, resulting in high blood pressure.
Obesity and heart diseases:
The excess fat in your body is stored in your body cells, making you overweight. The fat content also enters the blood stream. This increases the bad cholesterol in your body. Excess fat get stored in the arteries, narrowing the arteries. As the result of this, the important organs of your body like the heart, lungs etc are deprived of sufficient supply of blood. This again forces your heart to pump harder, increasing the risk of heart diseases.
Obesity and cancer:
Fats are considered the storage area of a cancer causing chemical called carcinogens. This occurs in men and women, increasing the risk of breast cancer and uterine cancer in women, and colon cancer and prostate cancer in men.
Obesity and diabetes:
The excess fat also messes up the insulin level in your body. The excess sugar is converted into fat and stored in your body. The uncontrollable level of sugar leads to diabetes which can affect your sight, cause heart disease, kidney failure and even early deaths.
So reducing your body weight reduces the risks of diseases like heart diseases, cancer, cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure and also other diseases like stroke, osteoarthritis, disease in the gall bladder, gastro-intestinal disease, kidney failure, blindness, sexual dysfunction and also early death.
It is said that people tend to increase 1 pound a year after 25 years. So you gain 50 pounds when you reach the age of 50. At this age your metabolism is slow, so excess fat cannot be burnt easily. The best thing to do is change your lifestyle. Eat a fat free nutritious diet and include exercising in your daily routine to increase your muscle strength and increase your metabolism. 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day and about 15 minutes of strength training exercises helps in weight loss. Aerobic exercise improves the function of your heart.
Strength training increase muscle mass and helps your body burn more calories. Include physical activities in your day to day activity. Walking helps a lot. There are so many simple changes you can make in your lifestyle. For instance, avoid elevators and climb the stairs, or avoid driving and walk up if your office is close by or if you are going to the store close by.
Remember every step you take in your life is a step closer to losing weight.
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