Posts Tagged ‘weight’

New research shows that obesity is redefining our lives. Fat cells are being found to be extraordinarily dynamic and complex. They are influential and affect an array of important body functions.                                     

Fat cells are sending out potent chemical signals to the brain, liver, muscles, reproductive organs, and immune system. Scientists have discovered 20 new hormones and other previously unknown substances secreted by human fat cells. When you have either enlarged fat cells or too many fat cells, because you gained weight the danger is that the excessive amounts of these substances begin to damage blood vessels and impair function.

Fat is associated with gut fat or enlarged abdomens. When a pound of fat forms in the body it means that a mile of new blood vessels will form. This is called angiogenesis. Also, fat has an infinite capacity to make more of it. 

Crossing over from an annoyance to a disaster, fat fits into the category of powerful health disruptors.

“In the old days, people used to think fat tissue was a passive organ,” said Rexford S. Ahima, an endocrinologist at the University of Pennsylvania. “Now it’s obvious that it makes and secretes more hormones and problems than probably any other organ. It’s at the center of a very complex system. It coordinates how much we eat, how much energy we burn, how the immune system works, how we reproduce.”

Fat stores pesticides, preservatives, MSG, artificial colors and flavorings, and artificial sweeteners which all can cause weight gain.

Fat plays a leadership role in the cost of health care, and our physical wellbeing. Our national growth may very well depend on the size of our citizens. There doesn’t appear to be a simple solution. Government can’t mandate weigh loss. However, obesity may dramatically redefine our lives individually.

Theoretically we are embracing being fit, specifically we are into expansion. The evolution of a fat nation is market driven. The paradigm shift is what our economy now depends on. Food manufactures are well into the game and tagging along are the pharmaceutical companies.

Our economy is boosted by the revenue generating from these two giants. Obesity is a fair-trade item; being exported around the world.

GET UP

Get up, because sitting down shuts off the circulation of a fat-absorbing enzyme called lipase. This is not a surprise just looking around you can see what couch potatoes look like. Standing up engages muscles and distributes lipase, which helps to process fat and cholesterol. On top of that they also found standing uses glucose, and this may ward off diabetes.

STANDING

Standing also means that you will more likely be moving around. That equals some calorie burning. Stand Up for health may be the best way to ensure it. Without knowing any of these facts, we know it is a liability to not to move around. We are a moving machine, with all kind of parts for this purpose. Stagnation is what causes many of the health problems. The lymph system has to be working well, to be well.

MOVE AROUND

The practical advice is always to take a break and move around. It is known that it is not good to sit all day be it on a plane, couch, work station, or in front of a computer. Lipase is an enzyme that moves fat into muscles so it gets burned for energy. You do not want it stored in tissue, then it becomes body fat. All it takes is standing up, and once you do that you will be using muscles, calories, and promoting better circulation. It is a fact that couch potatoes are usually heavier, and less healthy than there active counterparts.

ACTIVITY

There are studies that show that activity cuts your risk of most health conditions. These include heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Stand Up for health and burn calories, lower your risk of all these chronic conditions. Instead of just daydreaming about spending your day at the gym, all it takes is getting up to look out the window, get your mail or even your neighbors, chase the mailman with your dog, and do whatever it takes to get up and moving.

MUSCLES

We must get up out of the sitting position. We are nation of sitters be it watching or reading the news, either on the computer or in front of the television. This has us making the news, as we add to the soaring number of people causing the health care crisis of this nation. Engage your muscles, and spent some time being active. Stand Up for health means to take personal responsibly. What people would rather do is sign a petition that calls for the nation to stand up for health. Unless you are going door to door with it, it will not be that meaningful for you or the nation.

METABOLIC SYNDROME

Metabolic syndrome is the plague of the 21^stCentury. It affects more lives than any infectious agent so far. It is as potentially destructive, and it now affects the old and young alike. The question should be is how we arrived to this point. It is now as American as apple pie, even thought recent surveys from places as far as away as Maori shows that 32% of the population has this syndrome. In the Pacific the estimate is 39%, and 16-40% of New Zealanders of European descent suffers from this.

CONDITIONS

The metabolic syndrome includes high cortisol levels, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, fatigue, and the “spare tire” around the middle. This syndrome causes a fat gain, especially in the belly, and widens the waist. This predisposes a person to diabetes and heart disease. The diagnosis to start is usually pre- diabetes, borderline high blood pressure, raised triglycerides, and higher than normal cholesterol. This is a drug companies dream, and your nightmare. You are now what I call a recyclable patient.  

The conditions related to metabolic syndrome are Insulin resistance, obesity, Glucose intolerance, elevated triglycerides, low HDL the good cholesterol, predominance of small dense LDL cholesterol particles. These are the ones that line the arteries, the large fluffy particles of LDL cholesterol go thought and are not a major cause of problems.  Also, Hypertension, Oxidative stress, and inflammation are part of the syndrome. These are possible indicators of a predisposition to some serious chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, gout, and asthma.

COSTS

Having the risk factors for metabolic syndrome raises the cost for the patient’s care.  It is estimated the cost is about twice as high on average when there is a risk factor for diabetes in people that have metabolic syndrome.

DIAGNOSING

Here is the fun part; there are no well-accepted criteria for diagnosing metabolic syndrome. The criteria proposed by The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) are the most current used criteria.

One of the markers is central obesity which means a waist circumference for men of at least 40 inches or more, and women a waste of 35 inches or more. The HDL which is considered the good cholesterol has to be for men less than 40, and for women less than 50, Then you need to have a fasting glucose 100 or higher, and blood pressure 130/85 or greater.

Here is the problem and where the costs are, these patients are routinely checked for weight, waist circumference, blood glucose, lipoproteins, and blood pressure. The guidelines are to treat risk factors such as cholesterol, hypertension and high glucose levels. Also, according to the guidelines the physician has to choose anti-hypertensive drugs carefully because different agents have different effects on insulin sensitivity.

The American Heart Association states it needs more studies to understand the relationship between metabolic risk factors and the efficacy of drug therapy in people who have the metabolic syndrome. It is also stated that the safest and most effective treatment is to lose weight and increase activity levels.

GUIDLINES

Metabolic syndrome is a troubling diagnosis for a number of reasons. The guiding numbers keep changing, what was a normal reading for glucose, now is a danger sign. Blood pressure readings, and cholesterol levels guidelines keep dropping; again what was once normal is now pre-disaster. Next we will be going for the pre, pre-diabetic. This is where a fasting glucose reading of 85 or over, puts you on a watch list for a possible tendency to having full blown diabetes. It also helps if you can name a family member that had or has the condition.

LARGE PROBLEM

Medicine looks and expects to find the boogie-man every where. You do not have to be in the medical profession to see we have a large scale problem. Our eyes are not deceiving us; we are an overweight nation, getting larger by the day. Common sense seems to be missing, metabolic syndrome, is a new disorder according to the medical profession. Obesity is a disease of the mouth, which does need to be addressed, not by pills, fad diets, or by drawing a food pyramid.

NUTRITIONAL ANSWERS

The only methods that work are the ones that address your nutritional needs. Weight control without regard for your personal nutritional needs, may help you temporarily lose a few pounds. It is a method that will fail in the long term.

With all kinds of food stuffs on the shelves that have never been consumed on a regular basis before, we are now in uncharted territory. To be able to loss weight and stay healthy is going to be a challenge, which will become more complex over time. Our individual nutritional needs are not a multi-vitamin away.