Overcoming obesity, the easy way.

I was once slightly plump. Then I started taking coconut oil as it was a good oil which brings health benefits. It has antioxidant properties. It is antibacterial and antiviral. As I have written in a previous post, it contains lauric acid which helps to prevent heart problems. As for the saturated oil in coconut oil, it is of a different length from saturated oil from animals. In fact, at room temperature, coconut oil does not harden like lard of animals.

After about two months of taking coconut oil, friends noticed that i was either slimmer or thinner. Some were in fact quite worried that I could be suffering from some kind of sickness. I believe it is the result of taking two to three tablespoons of coconut oil per day as my food consumption, the amount and types are almost always the same.

As it is a good nutritious oil, those who are obese ought to try it for two months and find out for themselves. Of course, it may be good to ask your family doctor for his/her opinion. It could be one of the easiest way to bring the weight down.

In fact, I am quite certain it is the effect of the coconut oil as when I stopped taking it for a month, my weight did increase a little.

According to my own experience, smoothies can also help us to reduce weight if we use fruits that are not so sweet as well as vegetables to make them.

Well, this is how I do it. In a blender, I put some washed clean vegetables and fruits with no sugar added. However, initially, for those who think it could be difficult to drink raw food or take on the taste of such stuff, a little honey could help. Another thing which can be done is to have a higher percentage of fruits in the smoothie. As we get used to the taste and the fibre or realise the benefits it brings, we can put in more vegetables.

Then I add some water to the fruits, vegetables and honey before I blend them for approximately one minute. You may add ice-cubes if you wish to have it cold. When it is ready, pour the smoothies into a cup or glass and enjoy it with the knowledge that you are drinking chlorophyll, a good number of nutrients and fibre for your good health.

Of course, reducing weight can never be as successful if we merely depend a certain type of food alone. We must be aware that plenty of simple carbohydrates can add calories and counter the effects brought by any effort to reduce weight. Just do not fight against your goal. An half an hour's brisk walking or some other enjoyable exercise will not only assist you towards your goal, it will bring many health benefits.

Well, knowledge not used cannot bring any benefits. So, do it and tell us the results in two month's time.

The pain of obesity.

In the Star Online today, I read of a Malay lady in Bukit Mertajam who, at the age of 35 years, is already unable to move out of her house. She was crippled by a body too heavy to be carried by her equally bulky legs.

At that age, whe was already 170 kg, a weight that gave her so much inconvenience. Even to get around in her house, she had to drag her body with her hands.

Apparently, at the age of thirty years, she was already 110 kilogram, Due to her weight, she suffered from muscular pain in her knees.

To find relief for her pain, she took traditional Indonesian medicine and her weight shot up to her present weight. In two weeks the pain did disappear but when she discontinued the medicine, the pain returned and presented her with the new problem of a swelling below the knee of her left leg.

Obesity can bring a lot of pain and joint problems to a person. I know of a retired lady teacher who was a colleague of mine who had this problem too. She was almost as heavy as the lady from Bukit Mertajam. She suffered from pain in her legs and eventually, one of her ankle joints slipped sideways and, as far as I know, is now warded in a hospital.

Another sixty-three year old lady who could not control her weight was constantly having body aches, back pain as well as pain in the legs.Her weight was just too much for her skeletal frame and it caused havoc on her vertebrae column or spinal cord as well as her knee joints.

All the above mentioned pains are common among very fat people. This situation is always aggravated with age which brings along muscle weakness and oesteoporosis.

This means young people can afford to be obese if they are able to reduce their weight as they grow older. This is because strong muscles of our body help to hold up the extra weight and reduces the burden on the skeletal frame. However, with age and a sedentary lifestyle, muscles weaken and degenerate into fat and the load, without the assistance of those strong muscles, fall heavily onto the skeletal frame, gradually compressing the joints and wearing out the protective cartilage and disc at the joints. When this happens in the spinal column, the bulging disc narrows the gap between two vertebrae and with nerves being pinched by any of the two vertebrae in the spinal column coming together, there can be pain.

Therefore, as we grow older, we should throw out any extra weight. The lighter we are, the less burden we place on our body. It is not just the weight. Our organs would not have to overwork so often if we can control out food intake, consuming only enough nutrients essential for the fitness, strength and health of our body. And if we wish to eat a little bit more, well, there is always the pleasurable brisk walk with friends in the morning each day to rid the body of excess calories.

Of course, to enjoy life, do not be too obsessed with anything we plan. Just have a healthy lifestyle.

Fats, food and health.

Recently, in this blog, you have read about the fats your body needs to stay healthy. Your cells which are found in every part and organ of your body need fats to to be produced and maintained. It supplies you with energy, without which your organs and body cannot function. Some vitamins need fats to be absorbed. So, naturally, fats are necessary.

However, do not go overboard, as we also know that too much of anything is not good for our health. Excess of some vitamins can cause problems. Excess fat can also be a problem. Knowing this how do we go about eating correctly.

Before I continue, I would like to point out that not only obese people get heart problems. I have personally known of at least two persons who had blocked arteries even though they are two very thin persons.

Knowing that saturated animal fats are not recommended by many health researchers, we ought to eat only lean meats. Of course, there is still a little saturated fats in the lean meat but that amount is not excessive. If it is chicken, remove the skin as most of the fats is found there.

When it comes to meat, it is not so much the fats in the lean meat but residues of the antibiotics and other chemicals or growth hormones which are given to the animals that can bring on health problems.

It is good to have some fish a few days a week as our protein intake. Oily fish supplies us with Omega-3.

Then again, some people do not see the fats in ghee, butter and magarine which are used in a good number of food. One of the friends who had blocked arteries told me his favourite breakfast food was 'roti canai', a kind of bread made with some ghee, which he took every morning. Here again, it is not so much the fats in the food but the build-up of the fats. Just as people who eat carrots everyday find their skin taking on a certain colour. Therefore variety is important.

I supplement with two tablespoons of coconut oil and a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon each at either breakfast, lunch or dinner because of the benefits they bring. (Please read my posts on coconut oil.)

To be healthy, we should, as often as possible supply our body with sufficient protein, vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates and water; besides giving it sufficient exercise and sleep.

How do we know we are giving our body the right amount of food? If our weight is fairly constant, then we know there is hardly excess food turning into fat in our body. Of course, we are talking about people with a good healthy build, neither too thin nor too fat.

Thus, if we desire a change, such as doing less exercise, we should reduce our food intake accordingly. Not doing so is one reason some sportmen or women grow fatter when they retire from active sports. The calories remain the same but the energy expended is lower; therefore forcing the body to turn the excessive food, which could be carbohydrates and protein, into fat.

As we can see body fat causing obesity does not come just from fat consumption. It also is caused by excessive carbohydrates and protein.

It is, therefore, excessive fats, carbohydrates and proteins which brings excessive calories which we must think of to remain healthy, not the amount of food. Some food contain so little calories that we can eat more of them and still have no health problem.

Do you agree? Well, let's share our knowledge for the good health of everyone.

Carbohydrates, not necessarily fat, can cause obesity.

We know that obesity is not healthy. We know that when a person becomes too fat, chronic diseases are bound to follow.

Thus, it is not strange that people avoid fats but not the other types of food. When we buy meat, we try to have the leanest parts. That is the right path for people to take.

However, we need fats as nutrionists and research will tell you. Fats, be they liquids or solids are essential to our health.

In a previous posting, I have written on the need of fats to be consumed together with vitamins A, D, E and K for these vitamins to be digested and absorbed.

Fats are also necessary for healthy skin and hair. The fat around our organs insulate them against shock. It promotes healthy cell function and is a ready source of energy as well as maintaining body temperature.

Toxic substances entering the bloodstream can be held captive in fat tissues till they can be removed through our body's waste disposal system.

Some fatty acids are essential nutrients which means that they can't be produced in our body and need to be consumed in small quantities through food.

Fats are nutrients that the body uses to build nerve tissue and hormones.

Fat gives food flavor and texture, making food tastier. However, fats also contain a lot of calories and therefore it is better to eat lean meat.

Nevertheless, despite avoiding too much lard, people in developing or developed countries are suffering from sicknesses brought on by obesity and too much fat in the body.

It is the result of concentrating on fat as the problem and forgetting other facts about nutrition.

Have we ever thought ot the amount of calories we take in from carbohydrates such as grains, fruits and vegetables? Have we ever thought of the calories from excessive intake of protein? When we take in too many calories; more than what our body needs daily, what happens to the excess calories?

In fact, there are some among us who consume so much carbohydrates and protein that it exceeds the healthy portion needed in our diet. According to the nutritionists, we should take approximately 25% of the calories needed from fat. The remaining 75% ought to come from carbohydrates and protein. But, is the calories consumed through carbohydrates and protein 75% of our diet? For a lot of people it's "No!". It's a resounding 'no!'.

Especially for office staff who do not perform any strenous physical tasks, the carbohydrates and protein ought to be less.

In fact, when excessive simple carbohydrates, as opposed to complex carbohydrates are consumed, the sugar content is released so quickly into the bloodstream that it raises the blood sugar level leading to insulin increase there which is not good for our health.

Because simple carbohydrates are easily digested, we feel hungry faster and so we consume even more food with a even greater increase in calories in our body.

Where does the excess calories go to. Unlike the fibres and undigestible seeds they are not excreted. They are changed into fat. And that is how carbohydrates could be the culprit to the problem of obesity.

To lose weight needs discipline, knowing our daily energy output, understanding calories and how excess is converted to fat and the type of fats we ought to consume.

The failure of most weight-loss programmes is due to inattentiveness to such facts.

Let us go into failure to maintain weight loss in a later posting.

Be big but not that big.

After being born, acquiring sufficient correct nutrients to grow so as to have the best possible bone density and the best possible healthy growth of the various organs, is important to reach the best physical potential any individual is capable of.

When it comes to bone density, I am not saying it is desirable to have big bones. Gymnast, for instance, need to be strong and powerful but not big boned or too tall. A wrestler must have the maximam weight and the thickness of skeleton to combine with their power and practised skills to excel. So, it depends.

To develop physically, this has to be done before the approximate age of thirty, after which nothing much can be done. After that age, it is only possible to maintain whatever has been developed.

To achieve our goal of giving maximum possible physical growth to our children, they can be allowed to be plump but not so overweight that there is no possibility of the condition being reversed as they become teenagers.

Being overweight has nothing to do with size. A stout person is often seen to be big but is not necessarily overweight.

Overweight or the better word for it, obesity, means having an amount of excessive fat being lugged around by our body and hampering our organ's work twenty four hours a day.

In their teens, our children may gradually realise that the extra weight they carry around can be a disadvantage. They can be clumsy and are not able to participate in some of the more vigorous activities of their peers.

However, if obesity is still at a low level and if our young adults are habitually active, it may not present any problem.

As they grow older, their problems with too much weight may become more noticeable. Some may have to start seeing their doctors more often with diabetes or some kind of heart disease.

According to the latest research, excess fat comes not so much from consuming fats as from consuming too much carbohydrates. The experts tell us people who consume fats do not feel as hungry as often as those who consume carbohydrates. That is because fats is not as easily digestible as carbohydrates. Also due to this reason, easily digested carbohydrates make us feel hungry sooner. In the process, we take in more food which means more calories, causing more blood sugar leading eventually to diabetes.

For young adults burdened with excessive weight, unless they do vigorous walking or running regularly at least three times a week to bring down their weight, their weight will increase with our age.

When weight is borne by their skeletons to wherever they go, certain parts of the skeleton like the spine and the rib-care will have to suffer. To remain upright and straight becomes a heavy task for the spine. That is why older men and women who are too fat hunch more than their peers as they age. Not only that, there could also be pain as gravity and weight presses down on each and every vetebrae, perhaps pinching some nerves in the process. Having to support too much fat around it, the rib cage suffers and that is the reason some fat old people complain of pain at their sides, near the ribs.

The joints suffer too when excessive weight is put onto them in every move they take. With more pressure on them, they will wear out faster.

With too much fat around the organs, the lungs have to struggle to breathe, the heart has a tough time pumping blood to every part of the body.

With fat around our organs and body, movement is bound to become more and more limited and it is just a matter of time for fat to beat any will-power a person may need to overcome it unless we set out with determination to beat it before it does.

Prevention is the best way to ensure such hardships which impede movement does not become our misery; with such impediment further aggravating the situation with even less movement can only mean less calories burnt. With hardly any brisk movement, energy is barely used up and excess fat builds up; each day fat is added as almost the same amount of food is usually consumed although there is less activity.

Any preventive steps must be taken as early as possible as age can sap us of our strength, mobility, metabolism and almost everything needed to overcome obesity.