Obesity is bad enough, but teenage obesity is worse. If kids and teenagers start getting overweight, it only goes on to show how bad our lifestyle habits have become and how little concern we have for our health. Today, almost fifteen per cent of teenagers are obese, that too just in America (I am not even counting the world figure, which would obviously be higher), and if we don’t take the right measures to curb it, it would only get worse with time.

Now why should we be so concerned about obesity? Obesity is a cause of concern because it not only makes a person look fat and ugly but also inflicts him with several killer diseases such as diabetes, sleep apnea, heart problems, kidney troubles, high blood pressure, etc.. Just imagine your teen as a diabetic. Obesity in itself is fatal as well; recent studies point out that people who suffer from teenage obesity are more likely to die prematurely than others.

Don’t believe me? Actually many people used to think that the concept of ‘obesity related death’ is a joke or rumor, that is, until in 1989 the National Institute for Health decided to sponsor a study designed to monitor the health of about one million women over an extended period of time.

During the study, the lifestyle habits of these women, including diet, level of activity, etc. were monitored. The study continued over a period of 12 years, and most of the women who volunteered to participate in it were nurses employed in state-run hospitals located in various parts in USA, including New York, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, etc. All of them were aged between 22-44 years.

The participants were asked to answer a series of questions pertaining to their health, including the lifestyle habits they followed during their adolescence, their entire medical history, etc. Midway during the study, as many as 710 participants died.

The researchers conducting the study found out that the reason behind their premature deaths was that almost all of them were obese in their teens. It is then that these researchers concluded that people, in this case women, who suffer from teenage obesity are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who are of normal weight.

As you can see, teenage obesity influences the future of your kid in a big way. If you don’t want your children to die prematurely like those nurses, it is time that you start monitoring the lifestyle habits of your teenage daughters and sons. There are too many fad diets and diet pills out there, all claiming to help you with weight loss but I would rather recommend healthy eating and an active lifestyle for your teenage kids. Keep in mind that if you wish your kids to live a long life, preventing teenage obesity is the only way to ensure that.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: America, diabetes, high blood pressure, Kentucky, Michigan, National Institute for Health, New York, obesity, sleep apnea, Texas, United States

There are many causes of overeating and a few reasons why people are overweight but one of the main reasons I believe is overeating. When I say overeating I mean that over the course of the day instead of eating 1500 to 2000 calories or so an average person will eat a lot more. There are eight causes that I can think of for overeating and if you look at this list, no matter whom you are, you will find some triggers to eating excess calories.

1. Skipping meals and snacking Our first cause of overeating is inconsistent eating. Your body seems to work like a pendulum where if you eat enough food in a meal it will hold you over until the next meal, but, if you skip a meal you body will overcompensate and you will end up eating far more the next time then you would have at the regular time. This is why skipping meals is so bad.

2. Lack of sleep If you are tired you lose self control and you will also eat things that you should not just fro a bit of a blood sugar jump. This is very evident I find on my Fridays when I will be a little sleep deprived and will eat too much sugar compared to Monday when I feel well rested.

3. Large Portions Portion control is the biggest change that most people can make in their diet. If you figure out how many calories that you need in a day and divide it by six to make three meals and three snacks you will find that your portions should probably not be as big as you are eating now. Try using a smaller plate and just eat until you are satisfied instead of how much is on your plate.

4. Heavy heavy foods Bagels, as a casue of overeating, are one example of a food that is very heavy. Low in water content and high in carbohydrates. You should look at your diet and see if there are any examples in it of these kinds of foods; some more examples would be greasy fried foods and even heavy pastries.

5. TV commercials or food smells This is a favorite one for me. I will be sitting at home watching evening TV and there will be a hamburger commercial on. Now I am a big eater of hamburgers but at 9:00 at night? That is crazy. The other one to me that is a tough one is Kentucky fried chicken. Interestingly enough the KFC smell makes me crazy when I am driving by in the car but not when I am riding by it on my bike. I once had a very bad reaction to the greasiness in a KFC drumstick and haven’t eaten any in at least 8 or 9 years now so I never succumb to the smell but it smells great anyway.

6. Not enough Fiber One way to stop overeating is Fiber and roughage is always good for filling you up. If you do not eat enough fiber in your diet you will take in extra calories just to help fill you up. A bowl of all bran to kick off your day would probably be enough.

7. Artificial Sweeteners Aspartame and Saccharin are examples of artificial sweeteners that will cause you to over indulge in a food because it is low calorie. But wait! What about the fat. Just because a food has not sugar does not mean that it is not low in calories. You can stop overeating by simply taking those diet drinks as causing fat problems.

8. Stress Our last cause of overeating is stress. Stress causes some people to overeat. When you are tense or anxious do you go for extra food or snacks? If so you should be the kind of person with a fridge full of crunchy veggies like carrots and celery so that you have a less high calorie snack to be eating in those tough times. Also getting to the root of the stress and dealing with it and throwing some exercise into your schedule to help keep your attitude on a more even keel will also help.

Tags: food, Kentucky

It is no big story that obesity rates are rising in the US but there are new numbers out, and reccomendations from The Trust for America’s Health.

The gravy train — make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train — just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity.

Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That is an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year’s report, which is compiled by Trust for America’s Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs.

Meanwhile, Colorado remains the leanest state. About 16.9 percent of its adults are considered obese. That mark was also up slightly from last year’s report, but not enough to be considered statistically significant.

The only state that experienced a decrease in the percentage of obese adults last year was Nevada.

“Quick fixes and limited government programs have failed to stem the tide,” said Dr. Jeff Levi, executive director of the trust, in explaining the rise.

Health officials warn that the incidence of obesity in a particular state doesn’t mean it treats the issue less seriously than others. States have different challenges to contend with when it comes to obesity, said Dr. Janet Collins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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