Being overweight and obese is viewed by many as a serious and fast growing public health problem. More and more people are now adding extra weight because of several factors which includes family genetics, eating habits, lifestyle, and so on. This health condition not only gives the person a feel of embarrassment in social circles, but also faces a dangerous health condition.

Obesity is defined as the excess or having too much body fat. Being overweight on the other hand, refers to those who weigh too much. Both of these conditions refer to weight as those that come from the bone, fat, muscle, and body water of a person. Either way, both terms apply to people who have excess weight, more than what their height applies for.

Several health problems may arise if a person is considered as overweight and obese. From arthritis, asthma, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, gallstone, fatty liver, insulin resistance and diabetes, to depression, these conditions may seriously risk one’s health, putting an overweight or obese person at risk.

In line with this, anti-obesity drugs have been available for people who are experiencing obesity or being overweight. This particular kind of medication includes all pharmacological treatments designed to decrease or control a person’s body weight. Since these drugs are expected to alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, anti obesity drugs are medically prescribed only for people with morbid obesity, or where weight loss can be life saving.

A new and recent study on the effect of an anti-obesity drug called rimonabant found out that it reduced points of liver damage, decreases levels of pro inflammatory proteins, and improved on lipid profiles. Since obesity is associated with changes in tissue and blood levels of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory proteins and hormones, it is the main cause of several metabolic syndrome features and their complications, including hepatic steatosis an accumulation of fat in the liver. According to researchers, as they studied the effect of rimonabant on the liver, they found out that the treatment with this medication reduced liver enlargement, completely eliminated hepatic steatosis, and decreased blood levels that indicate liver disease and liver damage. The results from this study also showed an improvement in abnormal lipid levels, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases. It also lessened the levels of cholesterol and free fatty acids, and with the treatment of rimonabant, normalized levels of adiponectin are reached a hormone that plays an important role in metabolic disorders.

This study further suggests a potential clinical application in the treatment of liver diseases connected with obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Researchers from this study noted that while weight loss is achieved by burning more calories than consumed, the reality may not be that simple. But then again, this medication also offers a weakened rate due to its side effects such as nausea, dizziness, depression and diarrhea. In any case, this medication should be further studied to prevent any unaccesaaptable side effects that can harm people who are dealing with being overweight and obese.

Obesity is an imbalance between fat intake and energy expenditure. Now day obesity is a problem of health and mind in many people. The stimulating factors of obesity is social environment, advertising of many food products induce the consumers want to eat more than the energy use. The rush hours working lifestyle make many people take junk food and fast food more than nutritionists. The important factor is Generic, it is found that one obese patient has a 40 chance of obesity and both obese patients have 80 chance of obesity.

There is no truly direct way to measure how fat you are or how much the body fat. Common way is calculate BMI Body Mass Index.

BMI Weight kg Height x Height m x m

If the BMI 27 means now you have severe problem of obesity and may increase risk for morbidity, developing a number of chronic disease and health.

The chronic diseases that are developed from obesity are diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, cancer, gout and sleep apnea. So control the weight is the best way to void health problem.

There are many ways to control and reduce the weight. Exercise and should low calories foods are the best way. The other way is using weigh control products.

There are 2 kinds of weight control products.
1. Potential dangerous diet products, this group working as appetite suppression, interference food absorption and laxative. Taking this group you have to consult the pharmacist or doctor.
2. Questionable safety efficacy products, this groups more safety than the first group. Normally, weigh control products are from natural such as Garcinia cambogia, Konjac, or Spirulina.

Garcinia cambogia the active ingredient is Hydroxyciric acid HCA. It works as inhibit fat and cholesterol accumulation by slowing down the enzyme. And may be suppression of appetite so can reduce food intake and promote weight loss. Dosage of Garcinia cmbogia, beginning from 750 mg to 1,500 mg, takes 2-3 times in individual dose before meals.

Chitosan It is product from shells of shell fish. The mechanism of chitosan is binds to fatty acid and reduces cholesterols levels. Dosage of chitosan is 1 gram with each meal. However you should be careful lacking of vitamin A, D, E and K during taking chitosan.

Konjac The active ingredient is Glucomanan Polysaccharide that is soluble fiber. It works by absorb water in the stomach, make bulk and you will feel fullness. So the customers do not want to eat much. This product is more safety than other. It does not interference the body mechanism. Recommend dose is 1 gram per a glass of water about 1 hour before meal.

Spirulina It is unicellular blue-green algae. It contents essential amino acid and Gamma Linoleic Acid GLA. GLA could promote loss of body fat but however there is no research to support the role of spirulina and weigh reduce.

Chromium It works by maintain the blood sugar and cholesterol and control appetite. The recommended dose of chromium is 50-200 mcg a day.

Conclusion
Control the body weight helps you against the chronic diseases and make good looking. There are many ways to reduce and control the weight. Using weight control products is not the best way, especially use potential dangerous diet products without consult from the doctors or the pharmacists. Balance the energy expenditure and fat intake is an important point. If you eat more you have to exercise more. Other ways are break bad habits such as alcohol intake, watching T.V. during eating, or ignore vegetables. You have to realize how much the fat in each menu and should the low cholesterol with high nutrition.

Did you know that the food you eat could be prematurely ageing you? Science has made some amazing discoveries in the last decade in nutrition. We really should be taking note of what we put in our mouth because more than ever, “we are what we eat”. Do you know the impact of what you are eating? Probably not. It’s time to find out because over-indulgence in certain types of food cause the body to prematurely age.

Would you like some more free radicals with your lunch…? There is frequent mention these days about ‘free radicals’ and how they are constantly attacking the body, causing potentially serious damage.

A free radical is the name for a molecule that has an unpaired electron. They are a normal by-product of metabolism and without them you would die.

To put the record straight, it’s the over-production of free radicals that causes damage to the body. We are advised by nutritional experts to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

This is because they are rich in antioxidant phytonutrients…substances that neutralise free radicals and so help protect the body.

One of the essential tasks of free radicals is in producing energy from the food you eat. Every time you eat, free radical activity is intense. The more food you eat, the more free radicals are formed, and the more antioxidants your body needs to neutralise them. Big meals are big trouble!

Effective Antioxidants include vitamins A, C, E; minerals such as selenium, zinc, and herbs such as aloe vera and grapeseed extract.

The Reality of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are root vegetables, pasta, rice, bread, grains, fruit, pastries, cakes, biscuits, crisps, sweets etc. They are easy to prepare, filling, tasty and cheap. Most meals are dominated by carbohydrates, as most of us ‘full up’ on them. When you eat carbohydrates you’re eating a form of sugar.

Carbohydrates are converted by the body into glucose, which is either used immediately for energy, or stored in fat cells. Carbohydrates make up an excessive proportion of the diet, add together a lack of exercise and excess sugar and the inevitable result is excess weight.

By reducing your overall carbohydrate intake and reducing the size of your meals, you reduce your body’s exposure to free radical activity, and, the amount of excess food that meals, you reduce your body’s exposure to free radical activity, and, the amount of excess food that gets stored as unwanted fat. A double bonus!

Big meals are too much stress

Food is in abundance – look around the supermarket shelves at the food mountain! Fill your trolley, take it home and fill your kitchen cupboards – fill your plate and fill your stomach till you can barely move. How many times a week do you overeat? How many free radicals are attacking your body and accelerating the aging process? You could choose to eat less.

Think about your meals over the last week.

Better still, keep a food diary for the next week, record each meal by drawing a plate divided up showing how much protein, carbohydrate, fat, vegetables and fruit you eat at each mealsnack. After a week you’ll be able to see for yourself how much sugar you are eating.

Even with the tremendous emphasis on diet, fitness, and nutrition in our society, the problem of obesity is increasing throughout the western world.

According to most experts, the cause of obesity is quite simple. A person gains weight when he or she consumes more calories than they burn. This involves both diet and level of physical activity, because it is primarily physical activity that burns off calories that are taken in through food.

Recent statistics for various countries around the world suggest that obesity has reached epidemic levels in the worst offending countries. By definition, a person is considered “obese” when his or her health is endangered by the amount of fat stored in his or her body.

According to a recent study, the percentage of people 15 years old who are technically obese has reached 30.6 for the U.S.A., 24.2 in Mexico, and 22.4 in the U.K. European countries fare a bit better.

That means, almost 1 in 3 Americans are so severely overweight that they have health problems because of it.

What happens when diets and exercise don’t work?

In spite of all the hype surrounding diet, exercise, and nutrition as solutions to the problem of obesity, millions of people cannot make these solutions work. They simply don’t have the will power, discipline, or motivation to enter into a long term program that requires a radical change of lifestyle.

The consequences for people who are overweight or obese are just as serious for those who cannot get their weight down using these traditional techniques. They are just as susceptible to heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. So it is certainly in their interest to find a “non-traditional” solution that will help them lose weight.

Gastric Surgery works for some people

One interesting new technique for helping people lose weight involves various “gastric surgery” procedures. The object of most gastric surgery is to limit the amount of food passing through the stomach and intestine. It normally does this by constricting the size of the stomach so it is filled much faster, food moves through more slowly, and therefore the ability and desire to eat is significantly reduced.

One of the most successful and least invasive is the technique called Lap-Band Surgery, which involves using a device called the LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System. The most important component of the LAP-BAND Systems is an adjustable band that circles the stomach about two thirds of the way up from the bottom.

The band is usually a silicone elastomer hollow ring filled with saline which is placed around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a new small stomach pouch in the top portion of the stomach. The larger part of the stomach is below the band. This way, the primary food storage area in the stomach is reduced.

Food in the stomach can still pass from the upper part of the stomach to the lower part for proper digestion, but the constriction makes this process go much more slowly. So a person who has had this procedure done can only eat enough to fill the primary stomach area above the band before feeling full. The net result is that he or she eats less, and gradually loses weight.

Safest and least invasive

The Lap-band procedure is normally done using laparascopic surgery which is considered minimally invasive. With laparascopic surgery a few small incisions are made in the abdominal wall, and then narrow hollow tubes are inserted into the abdomen. The surgical tools and a small camera are then inserted through the tubes.

A small tunnel is made behind the top of the stomach. Then the band is pulled around the stomach to form a ring. The band is then locked in place with a simple locking device which holds the band securely in a circle around the stomach.

The band is then connected by a tube to a reservoir placed just beneath the skin. This allows the doctor to make adjustments to the band as the effectiveness of the system is monitored.

The size of the band controls the size of the passage stoma between the upper and lower portions of the stomach. The surgeon in charge of the procedure can later control the amount of saline in the band by adding solution to the reservoir or drawing it off through the skin with a fine needle. These adjustments can be done quickly and without further surgery.

An effective alternative for combating obesity

In a clinical trial conducted in the U.S., 61 of lap-band surgery patients lost at least 25 of their excess weight. 52 lost at least 33 of their excess weight. 22 lost at least 50 of their excess weight, and 10 lost at least 75 of their excess weight.

This technique is not for everyone, but it is a very promising alternative to traditional diet and fitness regimes. The lap-band procedure requires a significant change in eating habits, and it takes time — doctors recommend a program of gradual weight loss over 18 months to 3 years.

But the payoff is significantly reduced weight and a longer, healthier life for many thousands of people.

Typically, a gastric bypass surgery involves a 4- to 6-day hospital stay and 2 to 3 days for a laparoscopic approach. Most people can return to their normal activities within 3 to 5 weeks.

Gastric bypass surgeries may cause dumping syndrome. Dumping syndrome occurs when the small intestine fills too quickly with undigested food from the stomach, as can happen following gastric bypass surgery. This occurs when food moves too quickly through the stomach and intestines. It causes nausea, weakness, sweating, faintness, and possibly diarrhea soon after eating. These symptoms are made worse by eating highly refined, high-calorie foods like sweets. In some cases you may become so weak that you have to lie down until the symptoms pass. After gastric bypass surgery, you will need to train yourself to chew your food thoroughly, eat slowly and not overeat.

Talk to your doctor about the exact level of risk gastric bypass surgery may pose for you. As with any major surgery, gastric bypass carries risks such as bleeding, infection and an adverse reaction to the anesthesia. A risk of death has been associated with gastric bypass surgery. It’s important to follow your doctor’s directions in preparing for gastric bypass surgery. Bypass surgery in unresectable distal gastric cancer. However, it does not have any of the risks of nutritional deficits associated with gastric bypass surgery.

Risks common to all surgeries for weight loss include an infection in the incision, a leak from the stomach into the abdominal cavity or where the intestine is connected resulting in an infection called peritonitis, and a blood clot in the lung pulmonary embolism. About one-third of all people having surgery for obesity develop gallstones or a nutritional deficiency condition such as anemia or osteoporosis.

Most people who have gastric bypass surgery quickly begin to lose weight and continue to lose weight for up to 12 months. One study noted that people lost about one-third of their excess weight the weight above what is considered healthy in 1 to 4 years.1 Although some of the lost weight may be regained in time.

The laparoscopic approach showed similar results, with 69 to 82 of excess weight lost over 12 to 54 months.

THE CAUSES OF EXCESSIVE WEIGHT

If you eat more nutrients containing energy than you need for your daily activities, for the internal processes of your body, and for the burning process that maintains the body temperature, the excessive nutrients can be transformed to fat and stored in the fat depots in your body. The causes of this occururing, and thus of overweight, are one or more of these factors

1. Consuming too much fat Fat is the most energy-rich nutrient, and over-consume will cause the eccessive fat consumed to be deposited in the body.

2. Consuming too much sugar, starch or other carbohydrates Carbohydrats are also important energy sources. Over-consume of carbohydrates will cause the eccess to be converted to fat and stored in the body.

3 Consuming too much alchohol Also this substance contains energy, and eccessive consume results in fat stored in your body.

4 Consuming too much of preprocessed products with added, and often hidden fat or sugar, like sweet beverages, cakes, ice-cream, fast food and snacks.

5. Eating too much alltogeather Perhaps your food is not fat- or sugar-laden, but you simply eat too much alltogeather. Also protein will be converted to fat if it is overconsumed.

6. Irregular eating, like eating much at one time, little at another time, wait long between some meals, cunsuming huge doses of sugar at some times, no sugar at other times If you eat irregularly, you can get an uncontrollable appetite, a swinging blood sugar level, and an abnormal physiology that makes you deposit fat in your body.

7. A still sitting life with little exercise so that you burn little fat and sugar.

8. Boredom in your daily life If you do not have much hobbies, or leasure activities, or isolate yourself from other people, you may suffer form boredom, and eccessive eating may be your way of getting entertainment.

9. The body has some capacity of burning some extra amount of sugar or fat. This capacity may be decreased because of lack of vitamins and minerals, and because of an unsound diet.

10. An abnormal appetite that urges you to eat far more than you need This abnormal appetite may originate from psychological causes, an onsound diet or lack of exercise.

AANALYZE YOUR OBESITY PROBLEMS

Before beginning your weight reduction program, go through every possible obesity causing factor listed above, to find out what factors contribute to your over-weight problem. Go down to details. For example If you find you consume too much sugar, find out the exact food types contributing to your eccessive sugar consume. Write everything down.

MAKE A PLAN

With the performed analysis in hand, make a plan for your weigh reduction. Decide a goal for your weight. Decide one or more measures for each component contributing to your problem. Write down your plan.

HOW TO REDUCE WEIGHT

In order to successfully loose weight, you must attack every component you have found to be a causing factor of your obesity problem. Here are the concrete mesures you can use, and put into your plan

1. Eat less fat

If you eat much fat, you must reduce the daily intake of fat, to do so

Choose fat poor fish, fat poor meatbeef, chicken, turkey, mushrooms and other food sources with law fat content as the main components for dishes.

Cut away visible fat from meat or other food sources.

Do not add much margarine, butter or oil to your food.

When you fry something, try to use as little fatty smear in the pan as possible.

2. Eat less sugar

If you eat much sugar, reduce your daily inntake of free sugar, or bounded sugar as in flour, potatoes and the like

Do not add much sugar to your food.

You may also need to consume less bread, potatoes, peas and beens, if you eat very much of it, but do not stop eating these kinds of food, since they contain valuable nutrients. However, use bread made of full corn.

3. Avoid eccessive alcohol consume

Alcohol contains energy, and will be transformed to fat, if you consume too much of it.

4. Avoid preprocessed food with added and often hidden fat or sugar

Some food contains a great amount of hidden fat or sugar, espesially fast food, snacks or preprocessed food.

Therefore you should avoid eating much of products like cakes, sweet drinks, snacks, choclate, icecream or fast-food.

You should also buy all the food you use in a natural form, and make your dishes yourself. Then you achieve an absolute controle over the amount of fat and suger in your dishes

5. Eat less alltogeather, but do not starve yourself

Having reduced the amount of sugar and fat from your diet, you may fall to the temptation of eating more than before, beacuse the new composition of your food does not satisfy your hunger. You should be aware of, and avoid this trap.

When trying to loose weight, you should reduce the total amount of the food you eat.

However, you should not starve yourself. To starve will only make you tired and sick, and then make you interrupt your efforts to get slim.

6. Eat regularly

Regular eating habits will give you a stable blood sugar level, help you control your appetite and normalize your fat burning physiology.

You should eat three or four meals each day.

Each meal should contain the same moderate amount of sugar and fat.

Each meal should contain some protein sources like fish, meat, eggs, mushrooms or proteine-rich seeds, and in every means be as nutritionally complete as possible.

7. Increase your daily physical activity

Physical activity increases fat burning and will help you control your appetite.

Do some daily exercises of a kind that increases energy consumption Jogging, cycling, swimming, ball play, skiing, and so on.

Do also som exercises to increase your muscular volume, since muscles will burn fat, for example weight lifting.

8. Find some new hobby or interest

If you find yourself some new hobby or leasure activity, you will avoid boredom and the temptation to over-eat because you are bored. Try also to do interesting activities together with other people. The new activities will also give you less time to only sit eating.

9. Eat healthy food to increase your fat burning capacity

It is not possible to loose weight without sticking to the above mentioned basic fat reduction principles, but you will also benefit from applying some measures that will increase your ability to passivly burn fat

Eat as natural food as possible, avoid food that has been heavily cooked, heavily fried or chemically processed. Natural food has its content of protein, vitamines minerals and anti-oxydants intact, and these are necessary for the fat burning abilities.

Eat some raw fruit and vegatables to each meal, since these contain vitamins, minerals and anti-oxydants you need.

You may benefit from supplements of vitamins, minerals, herbs, anti-oxydants, as these will make your body more capable of burning fat.

The little fat you use in your diet, should come from sources like olive, peanuts, canola, fish, nuts, sun-flower, etc. Then you will get a good balance between mono-unsaturated fat olive, canola, peanuts, poly-unsaturated fat of the omaga-3-type fish and poly-unsaturated fat of the omega-6-type sunflower.

Consume whole cereals or bread made from whole unrefined cereals.

There are also natural products on the market you can use to increase your break down and burning of fat.

10. Bring your appetite under controle

Many of the measures allready listed, will also help you to controle your appetite. If this still is difficult, this problem may be attacked by specific means

You can use some medicines to reduce appetite for some time or to reduce the uptake of fat or carbohydrates in your inestines. There are both natural medicines based on herbs, vitamins and minerals and pharmachological products to achieve this.

Daily meditation can help to relaxe your mind and gain controle.

Psychological counseling may be necessary.

11. The ratio between fat and sugar in your diet

The total mount of fat and carbohydrates combined, is a key factor in causing obesity, not fat alone or carbohydrates alone. In some weight loosing regimes, one eats very little carbohydrates, and fairly much fat. In others one eats fairly much carbohydrates, and very little fat. The proponents of each type of regime claim that their approach helps the body to burn fat better.

Probably people are different, and react differently when trying to manipulate the diet in these ways. As a first approach, it is probably not wise to try such extreme approaches. However, if you have brought your eating habits under controle, and still not achieved a satisfactory result, you can try to manipulate the fatcarbohydrate ratio to see if this will help. But do not stop consuming fat alltogeather. You will allways need some essential fatty acids in your diet.

CARRYING OUT YOUR PLAN

Having made your plan for your weight reduction, the time has come to carry it out. After each week, go through the points in your plan, and evaluate how well you did. Also check your weight. Write down for every point in your plan how well you did.