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Weight loss comes with a price
Tony Gambrill
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A mawga gal seems to be at a disadvantage if you are in tune with the dancehall scene. And it's the lady barely squeezing into her seat next to you on Air Jamaica who reminds you that a lot of flesh goes a long way in our island.
A couple of years ago, a team of Japanese medical researchers surveyed our population and confirmed that many of our women were obese. Thirty-seven per cent, according to Dr R Wright-Pascoe, a consultant in the Department of Medicine at the University of the West Indies. Against that only 6.7 per cent of men are considered obese.
Both researchers suggested that being overweight amongst women is a desirable characteristic (in the competition to attract a man?). In fact, said the Japanese, obese women said their excessive weight was quite acceptable. Of course it's not quite as simple as that, and other factors contribute to this phenomenon.
The frequency of exercise - recreational or on-the-job - is lower for women than men and whilst we can speak about how we have reduced malnutrition in this country, our lifestyle today has led to us turning away from a healthy, balanced diet to a preference for fast food, which is usually fried, chock-full of fat and saturated with salt.
Incidentally, the Japanese found that there was a lower prevalence of obesity where those interviewed were cohabiting, and where women had a higher level of education.
Predictions are that within five years nearly four out of 10 Americans will be obese (30 pounds or more overweight) so Jamaica is going in the direction most Jamaicans want to go. to be like Americans. When we were an under-developed nation with a predominantly agriculture-based economy we were eating healthier. But now we are better off leading sedentary lives and mimicking the rest of the West. But at what price?
There are 280,000 adult deaths in the US every year related to obesity.
Serious medical conditions associated with obesity include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes as well as certain types of cancer. These are just a few ways of dying, but you may also be suffering from liver disease, osteoarthritis, gout, breathing problems and gall bladder disease, if you are seriously corpulent. Of course in American society fat people tend to be seen as gluttonous or lazy because slimness is equated with attractiveness and self-esteem. So, out there, if you live in Cleveland and you feel rejected, experience shame and suffer from depression because you are seriously fat, come down to Jamaica where your dreamboat awaits you.
There's quite a bit of concern in the States about obesity in cats. Because they're kept inside a lot they aren't getting enough exercise and overeat out of boredom. Spaying and neutering them further lowers their metabolic requirements. Fat on a cat reduces their lifespan. Don't let overeating curtail your enjoyment of your ********************.
So if you are overweight and worried, what do you do about it? Diet combined with exercise is the conventional solution. As long ago as l864 a Dr William Banting wrote a pamphlet entitled "A Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public" promoting a low-carbohydrate diet that enabled him to lose 46 pounds in a year. Today it seems there isn't a lot to choose from between low-carb, low-fat, balanced fat-carb diets and diets restricting your caloric intake. Basically, any diet that reduces your energy intake (calories) relative to your energy expenditure is expected to take off pounds.
Unfortunately, researchers have determined that although people who go on diets can lose several pounds in the first few months, most of them return to their original weight within five years and the rest wind up heavier. Their conclusion was that it is better not to diet and spare your body the damage caused by the physical ups and downs.
Science, pseudo-science and homeopathy are frequently coming up with weight-loss solutions such as bitter orange supplements, vitamin l2 shots, protein shakes and even hypnosis - safe, relatively inexpensive but have only modest expectations. Then there is liposuction where they literally drain the fat out of your body. And there is gastric bypass surgery.
The surgeon creates a small pouch the size of a walnut at the top of your stomach. He staples your stomach closed and attaches the one-ounce pouch to a part of your small intestine preventing you from eating anything but the smallest amount of food. You can lose 50 to 60 percent of your excess weight over three to six months and during this time you may have to endure possible side effects ranging from mood swings to loss of hair (?!). There has only been one death in every two to three hundred operations, you will be glad to hear. On the up-side it has been proven that another variation known as gastric banding can even accomplish complete remission in some obese type 2 diabetes patients.
The latest answer to weight loss is the first over-the-counter pill which is a reduced-strength version of the prescription drug Xenical. But here's the rub: it decreases the absorption of fat in the intestines thus reducing the number of calories you absorb. But if you eat more than l5 grams of fat with each meal it brings on hard-to-control bowel movements, diarrhoea and gas with oily spotting. In fact, it can be downright embarrassing, so when you have a jumbo bacon cheeseburger take along a change of pants. No, I'm afraid it's back to eating a balanced diet and taking sufficient exercise to keep fit and avoid fat, because all weight loss comes with a price.
Tony Gambrill
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A mawga gal seems to be at a disadvantage if you are in tune with the dancehall scene. And it's the lady barely squeezing into her seat next to you on Air Jamaica who reminds you that a lot of flesh goes a long way in our island.
A couple of years ago, a team of Japanese medical researchers surveyed our population and confirmed that many of our women were obese. Thirty-seven per cent, according to Dr R Wright-Pascoe, a consultant in the Department of Medicine at the University of the West Indies. Against that only 6.7 per cent of men are considered obese.
Both researchers suggested that being overweight amongst women is a desirable characteristic (in the competition to attract a man?). In fact, said the Japanese, obese women said their excessive weight was quite acceptable. Of course it's not quite as simple as that, and other factors contribute to this phenomenon.
The frequency of exercise - recreational or on-the-job - is lower for women than men and whilst we can speak about how we have reduced malnutrition in this country, our lifestyle today has led to us turning away from a healthy, balanced diet to a preference for fast food, which is usually fried, chock-full of fat and saturated with salt.
Incidentally, the Japanese found that there was a lower prevalence of obesity where those interviewed were cohabiting, and where women had a higher level of education.
Predictions are that within five years nearly four out of 10 Americans will be obese (30 pounds or more overweight) so Jamaica is going in the direction most Jamaicans want to go. to be like Americans. When we were an under-developed nation with a predominantly agriculture-based economy we were eating healthier. But now we are better off leading sedentary lives and mimicking the rest of the West. But at what price?
There are 280,000 adult deaths in the US every year related to obesity.
Serious medical conditions associated with obesity include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes as well as certain types of cancer. These are just a few ways of dying, but you may also be suffering from liver disease, osteoarthritis, gout, breathing problems and gall bladder disease, if you are seriously corpulent. Of course in American society fat people tend to be seen as gluttonous or lazy because slimness is equated with attractiveness and self-esteem. So, out there, if you live in Cleveland and you feel rejected, experience shame and suffer from depression because you are seriously fat, come down to Jamaica where your dreamboat awaits you.
There's quite a bit of concern in the States about obesity in cats. Because they're kept inside a lot they aren't getting enough exercise and overeat out of boredom. Spaying and neutering them further lowers their metabolic requirements. Fat on a cat reduces their lifespan. Don't let overeating curtail your enjoyment of your ********************.
So if you are overweight and worried, what do you do about it? Diet combined with exercise is the conventional solution. As long ago as l864 a Dr William Banting wrote a pamphlet entitled "A Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public" promoting a low-carbohydrate diet that enabled him to lose 46 pounds in a year. Today it seems there isn't a lot to choose from between low-carb, low-fat, balanced fat-carb diets and diets restricting your caloric intake. Basically, any diet that reduces your energy intake (calories) relative to your energy expenditure is expected to take off pounds.
Unfortunately, researchers have determined that although people who go on diets can lose several pounds in the first few months, most of them return to their original weight within five years and the rest wind up heavier. Their conclusion was that it is better not to diet and spare your body the damage caused by the physical ups and downs.
Science, pseudo-science and homeopathy are frequently coming up with weight-loss solutions such as bitter orange supplements, vitamin l2 shots, protein shakes and even hypnosis - safe, relatively inexpensive but have only modest expectations. Then there is liposuction where they literally drain the fat out of your body. And there is gastric bypass surgery.
The surgeon creates a small pouch the size of a walnut at the top of your stomach. He staples your stomach closed and attaches the one-ounce pouch to a part of your small intestine preventing you from eating anything but the smallest amount of food. You can lose 50 to 60 percent of your excess weight over three to six months and during this time you may have to endure possible side effects ranging from mood swings to loss of hair (?!). There has only been one death in every two to three hundred operations, you will be glad to hear. On the up-side it has been proven that another variation known as gastric banding can even accomplish complete remission in some obese type 2 diabetes patients.
The latest answer to weight loss is the first over-the-counter pill which is a reduced-strength version of the prescription drug Xenical. But here's the rub: it decreases the absorption of fat in the intestines thus reducing the number of calories you absorb. But if you eat more than l5 grams of fat with each meal it brings on hard-to-control bowel movements, diarrhoea and gas with oily spotting. In fact, it can be downright embarrassing, so when you have a jumbo bacon cheeseburger take along a change of pants. No, I'm afraid it's back to eating a balanced diet and taking sufficient exercise to keep fit and avoid fat, because all weight loss comes with a price.