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Obesity and Eating Disorders
Obesity
If you have an excess of body fat, which frequently results in health problems, your condition is called obesity. Obesity occurs when the size or number of fat cells in your body increases. When you gain weight, at first your fat cells increase in size, and later, increase in number as well. When you lose weight, the fat cells get smaller but tend not to decrease in number. That’s why it is difficult to lose weight after putting on a lot of it. Some eating disorders are related to an obsessive fear of putting on weight.
How do you know if you are obese? The most common way of determining obesity is to compare height with weight. If your weight exceeds the limit for your height, you suffer from obesity.
What causes obesity? Obesity happens as a result of an imbalance between the energy you take in and the energy you use up. This means that you are consuming more calories than you are using during your daily routine. There are a few critical periods in life when weight that you put on leads to an increased number of fat cells. These periods are between 12 and 18 months, between 12 and 16 years, in adulthood if you put on more than 60 % of your ideal body weight and during pregnancy. There are certain factors that influence the way you use up your calories. These are age, gender, level of activity, body weight and hereditary factors.
Age. Usually, as you grow older, your metabolic rate slows down. This implies that you don’t need as many calories as you used to in order to maintain your existing weight. If you eat the same amount as you grow older, while your physical activity has decreased, you are likely to put on weight.
Gender. This is a very important factor. Women require fewer calories than men to maintain their body weight, because men have a higher resting metabolic rate. When women pass menopause, their metabolic rate slows down even further. This is one reason why women tend to put on weight after menopause.
Level of activity. If you an active person, you require more calories than if you are less active. Increasing your level of activity helps to burn up calories.
Body weight. If you are heavy, you need more calories to support your system than if you are light.
Hereditary factors. Both obesity and thinness are related to hereditary factors. The person from whom you are most likely to inherit your body build is your mother. This is because certain metabolic processes are inherited from mothers. However, hereditary obesity does not mean that you cannot lose weight. It only means that you have some hard work ahead.
Why is obesity a health hazard? Obesity is not a condition to be taken lightly. It can lead to some serious complications like high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, degenerative arthritis, high cholesterol, gallstones, heart attacks and strokes and sleep disorders.
High blood pressure. High blood pressure or hypertension is one of the most common complications of obesity. This association is likely to be related to certain substances produced by fat tissue and also to an increased production of insulin. Reducing weight often helps hypertensive people to get off their medication completely.
Diabetes. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes by over 50 times the normal! Typically, obese people develop diabetes in their middle age. This seems to be related to certain substances produced by fat tissue. Most obese diabetics can get off their medication or insulin injections by simply losing weight.
Cancer. Obesity is associated with an increased cancer risk. Obese women are three times more at risk than women of normal weight for breast cancer, uterine,cervical and ovarian cancer. They are also seven times more at risk for cancer of the endometrium.
Degenerative arthritis. Degenerative arthritis or osteoarthritis is a common result of obesity, as increased weight exerts more pressure on the joints. Certain substances produced by adipose tissue also destroy the normal cartilage in joints. Reducing weight helps to check the degeneration though it will not undo the degeneration that has happened over the years.
High cholesterol. High cholesterol or hypercholesterolemia often goes with obesity. Increased cholesterol in turn is linked with gallstones, increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Cholesterol can be reduced by decreasing intake of fatty food and by losing weight.
Gallstones. About a quarter of all obese people develop gallstones. Surgery is often required to remove these. Gallstones are related to the increased cholesterol that is a common complication of obesity.
Heart attacks and strokes. Obese people stand a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. This is not only because the person might also have high blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes. Life expectancy is reduced by obesity.
Sleep disorders. Very often obese people find it difficult to sleep normally. This may be the result of a serious condition called sleep apnea, which makes it more and more difficult for an obese person to breathe while asleep. Severe snoring and intervals of up to one minute where no breath is taken are the symptoms of this condition. It is very dangerous, as the heart rate can become irregular when the person is not breathing and this can lead to a fatal heart attack. Losing weight reduced this problem but there are other medical treatments to help you if you have sleep apnea.
How to lose weight. There are many ways of losing weight. Eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of regular exercise are the best ways to lose weight safely and to sustain a lesser weight. Once you have worked out a schedule for yourself, commit yourself to it completely. If you are not motivated, the programme will not last for a sustained period. Also, if there are other more stressful problems in your life such as personal or financial difficulties, it may be difficult for you to go through with your plans. Don’t look at this as failure, but wait for a better time to start. Target a realistic weight – it’s not going to happen overnight and you must lose weight slowly and steadily.
Eating disorders. The two most common forms of “eating disorders” are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Both these disorders have clearly recognisable symptoms, and should never be dismissed lightly, as they can result in a number of other complications and even death. A doctor’s help may be necessary to diagnose an eating disorder.
Anorexia Nervosa. This disorder is characterised by a person’s refusal to maintain normal minimum body weight for age and height. There is a great fear of gaining weight even though the person is underweight. She may not even accept that she is underweight, with a distorted perception of her own appearance. The failure to menstruate for 3 consecutive months is sometimes a warning signal of anorexia. There are two ways a person can be anorexic – either by simply refusing to eat enough, or by a cycle of binging (eating too much, frequently fatty food such as pastries) and purging (self-induced vomiting). The complications of anorexia can be very dangerous to health.
The majority of people with anorexia also suffer from clinical depression. Another psychological disorder which is often seen in anorexic people is obsessive-compulsive disorder, an illness with repetitive thoughts and behaviours. Anorexic people most often seem to have compliant personalities but go through periods of anger, hostility and social withdrawal.
Complications of anorexia. Anorexia can cause damage to vital organs like the heart and brain. It can cause a cessation of periods and impaired thyroid function. Nails and hair may become easily breakable. Dry skin and constipation are also the results of anorexia. Anorexics also frequently find it difficult to stand cold and are anaemic. Giddiness from not eating enough is common. Death due to anorexia results from sheer starvation, a heart attack, or even suicide if the person is seriously mentally disturbed.
Bulimia Nervosa. This eating disorder is characterised by repeated binge eating. This type of eating means consuming a very large and abnormal amount of food during a short period of time. The bulimic person is not able to exercise self-control during the binge. The binge is most often followed by some effort to compensate and to prevent weight gain. This could be self-induced vomiting, misusing laxatives or other medication, fasting or too much exercise.
Many bulimics also have other addictions like drug abuse, alcoholism and kleptomania. They could also suffer from clinical depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. They are high-risk for suicide.
Diagnosing an eating disorder. An eating disorder may call for a doctor’s help. You can tell if you have one by checking yourself for the following: a significant change in weight which has no other medical reason, severe dieting, secretive binging, a preoccupation with your weight and how you look, exercising too much, self-induced vomiting, fasting or laxative abuse, feelings of depression, loneliness or hostility.
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