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Changing Your Eating Habits
If you are clinically obese (a doctor made the diagnosis) and you wish to change your eating habits as one step towards conquering your obesity than read on as this article should give you some excellent guidelines for changing your eating habits.
You are ready to do something about being obese. You know that are at risk for health problems if you stay obese and you are willing to take the steps necessary to control your weight. Changing your eating habits is a good place to start. Just make sure that the habits you will be changing to our healthy ones.
Knowing you need to change your eating habits and actually doing it are two different things. We all know things that if we did them we would be healthier but how do we take the actions needed in order to successfully make those changes?
Here are a few action steps you can take in order to change your eating habits to healthier ones if your goal is to lose weight because you are obese:
1. Set realistic, short-term goals that will make healthier eating habits for you such as:
o Not skipping breakfast
o Make it a goal to lose weight slowly (no crash diets)
o Record your weight loss successes so you will be motivated to continue your healthy eating habits
2. Have menu plans that include healthy foods and correct portion sizes. Use the menu plans when you shop and only buy those foods that you need for your menu plan, no extra!
Stick with the menu for each meal and snack, no cheating! If you have frequent smaller meals eating every two hours you won’t be cheating and you won’t get hungry. Just make sure that you follow your doctor’s advise about what foods are healthy for you and which foods to avoid.
Healthy eating comes from knowledge about what foods your body needs and what foods to avoid when you are trying to lose weight.
* Stay away from empty calorie foods like those in snack bags
* Reduce your fat and sugar intake
* Eat more fiber-rich foods
* Eat lots of vegetables and fruits (raw is best)
* Eat whole grain products
* Avoid alcohol
* Avoid foods that contain creams, fats, or of high calorie content
* Choose foods instead that are low, light or reduced in calories and fat
* Chose dairy products that are skim, or 1% and chose reduced fat cheeses
* Instead of eating ice-cream choose fat-free frozen yogur
t
* Instead of using sour cream use fat-free or low-fat plain yogurt
* Choose lean meats (fish, and poultry)
* Stay away from red meat if possible
* When cooking choose to broil, roast or steam your foods
Did You Know This About Obesity?
Did you know that a certain amount of body fat is actually necessary for storing energy, for heat insulation, for shock absorption, and other functions of the body? We all need body fat, but too much body fat and it can be a bad thing in fact if you have enough body fat to be considered obese that could cause some serious health problems.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. and in Europe. Did you know that one in three Americans are obese? Even the rate of obesity in children and teens are increasing.
Obesity is a very serious health concern; in fact, obesity is directly related to 300,000 deaths each year. If a person’s BMI is over 40, their life expectance is reduced by as much as 20 years for males and 5 years for females.
Did you know that obesity increases your risk of developing other chronic diseases?
Chronic diseases such as insulin resistance which is a condition in which the effectiveness of insulin in transporting glucose into cells becomes diminished because fat cells are more insulin resistant than muscle cells, therefore, one important cause of insulin resistance is being obese.
The risk of developing type-2 diabetes increases both with the degree and the duration of obesity. When the individual has central obesity (obesity around the waist – apple shaped body) the person has an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Another disease that the obese person is at a higher risk for is high blood pressure (hypertension) because weight gain especially in women tends to increase the blood pressure. Individuals who are apple-shaped and obese are at an even higher risk for high blood pressure. Obese people are also at high risk for high cholesterol, stoke, heart attack, congestive heart failure and certain cancers, gallstones, gout, osteoarthritis, and also for sleep apnea.
There are many factors that can contribute to obesity including genetics, the habit of overeating, consuming a diet high in simple carbohydrates, and eating longer periods apart (going longer than 4 to 5 hours between meals), having slower than normal metabolism, being physically inactive, certain medications can also be a factor such as those meds for depression, seizures, and medications for high blood pressure and also antihistamines. Other contributing factors for obesity can be psychological factors such as high emotions that influence overeating, stress, boredom, sadness and psychological problems such as binge eating. Diseases can also be contributing factors such as hypothyroidism, being insulin resistant, polycystic ovary syndrome, and Cushing’s syndrome.
Still other factors that can be associated with obesity are ethnicity in that African American women and Hispanic women tend to experience weight gain earlier in life than Asians and Caucasians. Children and teens who are overweight or obese tend to be overweight or obese as adults. Hormones can also be a contributing factor for obesity such as when a woman experiences pregnancy, menopause, and when she uses oral contraceptives.
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