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OBESITY - OVERVIEW
OBESITY
A person is usually considered obese when his/her weight is 20% or more above normal weight, but being precise, obesity refers to excessive amount of body fat. A person may be considered overweight if his/ her BMI is between 25 and 29.9; & obese if his or her BMI is over 30. Excessive fat causes subtle long-term damage to your biochemistry and health which thus needs prompt and effective medical care. One should realize that obesity is first a medical disorder and then a cosmetic disorder.
CAUSES OF OBESITY
-People commonly refer the cause of obesity as excessive calorie intake than the calorie burnt, but this is not true. We all must have come across individuals who eat as much as they want but do not put on weight and also the other type who gain weight by eating the least amount of food. This illustrates that there is something else which causes weight gain and not how much food you eat. We need to understand the medical aspect of weight gain, the importance of various possible disorders like hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, depression, and certain neurological problems that can lead to obesity.
-Women tend to be more overweight than men. Further, when women reach menopausal period, their hormones change. That is partly why many women gain weight after menopause.
-It has been found that up to some extent obesity is genetic, but this does not imply that such form of obesity cannot be treated. It is your metabolism and the way your body processes food that alters your weight, so getting that right can surely make you lose your weight.
-Even drugs such as steroids & some antidepressants may cause weight gain.
-When attempting to reduce body weight, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and autonomic systems act in a co-ordinate manner to actually restore fat mass thus making it difficult to lose weight.
It has observed that in individuals who starve, receptors to hormones like Leptin become very sensitive and the body countercacts the persons efforts to maintain a steady state.
MEASURING OBESITY
The most accurate methods to measure a person’s body fat is to use a X-ray test called Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, also known as DEXA, or weighing a person underwater gives pretty accurate values. (This method is not practical and involves troublesome procedures). A chamber that uses air displacement can be used to measure body volume (but rarely required).
There are other methods to estimate body fat. One is to measure the thickness of the layer of fat just under the skin in several parts of the body. Another involves sending a harmless amount of electricity through a person's body. Results from these methods, however are always inaccurate and do not provide any reliable information which could be used for therapeutic purposes.
Weight-for-height charts vary as per individual organizations & institutions and are not capable of distinguishing between excess fat and muscle.
BMI (Body Mass Index) gives a rough estimation of what an individual’s weight should be for the existing height, but the problem of distinguishing between fat and muscle persists.
We make sure that we provide you the best of the diagnostic equipment, and have thus provided DEXA Scan equipment at our centers so there remains no ambiguity in measuring body fat and there is perfect evaluation as to whether you have excess fat or is it some other tissue (like muscle, water retention, other organs etc.) in your body that is making you overweight.
BODY FAT DISTRIBUTION
It has been observed that the distribution of fat is relatively more important than just being overweight. If you carry fat mainly around your waist, you are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems. Women with a waist measurement of more than 35 inches and men with a waist measurement of more than 40 inches may have more health risks than people with lower waist measurements because of their body fat distribution. A DEXA Scan gives a detailed illustration of body fat distribution wherein one can easily determine as to where does he/she have excessive fat in the body.
COMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY
Obesity increases the risk of many other diseases and health conditions which include
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
Type 2 diabetes
Coronary heart disease
Psychological effect due to being obese in the social circle
(this is what troubles most of the individuals).
Stroke
Gallbladder disease
Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
Rarely even some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon).
TREATMENTS AVAILABLE AROUND
-People are fantasized by the thought of losing all the excess fat within a single day and thus resort to various surgical procedures (like liposuction) which do not treat the cause but rather only alter the symptoms. These procedures and their side-effects should be understood before opting for them and ask yourself,’ would you be able to live with irreparable mistakes?’Now a days people also opt for bariatric surgeries like gastric bypass, gastric banding or stapling. One needs to ask ‘Is my stomach larger than others that I need to cut it short?’
-Resorting to starvation or monitoring the daily calorie intake is of no help, avoid them; they do more harm than good.
-Since ancient times it is believed that exercise or working out helps to reduce fat but this is a myth, exercising without starvation would rarely help you lose your fats.Once you stop exercising you gain more weight than you lost because your rate of absorption is the same but the expenditure comes to a grinding halt.
The body would again manage the situation but in the mean time you would have gained substantial amount of weight.
-Consuming pills which prevent the absorption of fat have lately been tried but are associated with consistent associated flatulence and other side-effects.
-Vibrations or Sauna belts do not mobilize your fat, they create local heat and cause sweating leading to a temporary water loss in the area and consequent shrinkage of the above skin and tissues which returns within a few hours.
OUR TREATMENTS
Our treatments are directed to remove the cause of your weight gain; they are individualized as per every case. We understand that every human works on the same guiding principles but processes food in a different manner than any other individual thus making him gain or lose weight. We don’t make you starve, nor give you vibrations or make you workout. We alter your metabolism with the help of Homoeopathic & Ayurvedic treatments alone and make sure no stones are left unturned. We analyze your body composition before and after treatment with the help of a DEXA Scan to identify what’s really going wrong within the body. You can lose up to 11 kg in around 3 weeks or even more. We do everything to make sure you lose weight and you can be assured of being absolutely safe from any side-effects.
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