Health
3 Practical Approaches to Tackle Obesity
The obesity epidemic causes suffering and kills millions of people, but it is preventable and treatable by taking personal responsibility and seeking timely professional support.
Obesity is preventable and treatable.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Almost 2 billion people are overweight. Unfortunately, over 340 million children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2016.
WHO coined the term “globesity” for the obesity epidemic.
“At the other end of the malnutrition scale, obesity is one of today’s most blatantly visible — yet most neglected — public health problems. Paradoxically coexisting with undernutrition, an escalating global epidemic of overweight and obesity is taking over many parts of the world. If immediate action is not taken, millions will suffer from an array of serious health disorders.”
As documented in the body of knowledge, such as in this paper, “increase in the prevalence of obesity has become a worldwide major health problem in adults, as well as among children and adolescents.”
World Health Organization and many scientific papers point out that obesity is preventable and treatable. This post provides a high-level view of key factors in prevention and treatment plans based on my research and experience. As obesity relates to many topics and disciplines, it is impossible to cover details in a single post. I plan a subsequent post to highlight the importance of obesity in physical and mental health.
In the meantime, as obesity is related to metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, I link to several articles to not repeat them. So here are the links for those who want to explore these critical factors.
Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline
Here are the three tips, including descriptive subcategories under each heading in the summary.
1 — Effective Lifestyle Changes
Lifestyle changes can be very effective in preventing and treating obesity. They boil down into three categories, diet, exercise, and sleep.
Customized Diet
There is not a single diet that works for everyone.
Customizing a nutritious diet with the help of qualified dieticians can be invaluable.
In addition, considering time-restricted eating, proven to produce better results than calorie-cutting, can be an alternative, as healthcare professionals advise.
Regular Exercise
Similar to diet, exercise is also an individual matter.
Therefore, we need a customized workout regime based on age, fitness profile, genetics, lifestyle goals, and several other factors.
My experience included various exercise types such as cardio, weightlifting, calisthenics, asymmetrical workouts, and isometric exercises such as planks, which produced good results for me.
High-Quality Sleep and Rest
Sleep is a non-negotiable human need. We all sleep, but not all of us have restorative sleep.
Restorative sleep positively affects many bodily functions, including hormonal balance, which significantly impacts the prevention of obesity, as I touch on in the subsequent heading.
In addition, slowing down and resting is critical to preventing chronic stress and inflammation.
2 — Hormonal Balance and Optimization
Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance poses significant risks for obesity and several other metabolic conditions. It is such a big issue that we characterize it as the elephant in the room.
Insulin resistance is a direct or indirect cause of metabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers.
Insulin sensitivity is an essential goal in preventing and treating obesity.
Leptin Resistance
Leptin is our satiety hormone. It signals the body when we don’t need to eat food anymore as we supply enough.
Understanding this critical signal is vital because we keep eating more than we need when it does not happen.
Therefore, fixing leptin resistance is crucial, as mentioned in an article titled Why Fat Loss Has Nothing to Do With Calories: Introducing essential hormones that play critical roles in burning fat in simple terms.
Elevated Cortisol
Cortisol is our stress hormone and essential for survival. However, elevated cortisol hormone prevents fat-burning and causes many other health conditions.
Cortisol also plays a critical role in the quality of sleep.
I shared my experience in this article titled Fat Loss Remains a Dream Unless We Manage Cortisol: How elevated cortisol relating to insulin resistance prevents fat loss and how we can address elevated cortisol issues.
Optimizing Other Hormones
Many more hormones are affecting our metabolism. By optimizing by balancing our hormones, we can reduce the risk of obesity.
Therefore, it can be valuable to ask referral to an endocrinologist who can investigate and guide people who face obesity risks.
For example, hormone replacement therapy for older adults produces good results, as I shared an example in this story: Impact of Testosterone Replacement Therapy on Mature Men.
I also posted an article about the importance of growth hormone in our metabolism: Three Tips to Boost Growth Hormone Naturally.
3 — Emotional Regulation
Emotions are critical as they inform us of important messages from the inner world caused by biochemical and electrical signals.
However, if we cannot regulate our emotions, they can cause chronic stress manifesting as physical and mental health conditions putting us in a vulnerable situation.
Based on my experience, I identified three essential tools to regulate emotions, as listed below.
Mindfulness Practices
We can address emotional impulses and regulate them by observing and understanding our thoughts and emotions.
Furthermore, mindfulness practices can help us manage amygdala hijacks for urgent emotional eruptions.
When our prefrontal cortex stops functioning, a viable solution is to make physiological shifts such as breathing exercises, short breaks, music, laughter and smiles to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Emotional Intelligence and Maturity
Emotional intelligence is about understanding our own emotions and recognizing people’s emotions around us.
Emotional intelligence can lead to emotional maturity, improving our mental health and relationships.
In addition to empathy and compassion for others, self-love and self-compassion are critical for regulating emotions. Furthermore, creating an emotional self-defense plan can be invaluable for physical and mental health.
Rewiring the Brain for Helpful Habits
Our regular thoughts and emotions turn into habits. Since the brain loves patterns, our routines run the show for survival.
Changing bad habits to good habits is a prevention and intervention mechanism for obesity. We can rewire the brain using various lifestyle habits via the natural capability of neuroplasticity.
The key mechanism is initiating neurogenesis by creating more Brain-Derived Neurotrophic factors with intense exercise and time-restricted eating. Here are the ten practical tips to keep the brain young and healthy.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Even though obesity is an epidemic affecting the lives of millions of people, as the World Health Organization pointed out, it is preventable.
Obesity is also treatable by simple lifestyle changes such as good nutrition, regular exercise, and high-quality sleep.
For complex hormonal and genetic issues, healthcare professionals have viable treatment solutions.
Even though prevention is the best approach, some patients may need a treatment plan by medical specialists.
Therefore, it is wise to accept our situation and ask for help from qualified professionals.
Our health is the most crucial asset in life.
Let’s keep in mind that “Too Much or Too Little of Anything Can Be Harmful”. Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
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