OBESITY

Overeating is not only not good for you, it is not good for the planet. If you are consuming more food than you need, then that food has to be grown somewhere. It has to be harvested and transported at great cost in environmental terms. If, there are billions of fat people all eating more than they need for a healthy lifestyle, then the planet is being overworked and producing more greenhouse gasses than it needs to.

Okay, so you are addicted to food because you stomach has gone over the edge. It demands feeding and that in turn makes you ravenous. But you are the one with the brain, not your stomach. If you can train yourself to ignore the stomachs demands for fodder, you will be helping to reduce global warming. Is that not a good reason to cut down on consumption. Now, you'll have to excuse me while I find a nice big chocolate bar to devour - in moderation of course.

There are many diets that claim to make you feel better and the will work to varying degrees, but it is claimed that the difference between 'The Feel Good Diet' and other weight loss groups you may have tried before is that they are so confident you will lose weight on their plan that they offer a 30 day money back guarantee. You can't say fairer than that.

Follow this plan for 30 days and you will lose weight, GUARANTEED, or your money back. If you would like to know more, why not go to their free launch event at The Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club, 7.00pm on Thursday 20th February 2014.

6 Kingston Quay
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Tel: 07791 278747 (UK)

And another thing, we could go back to the old days and start to eat each other. It sound very Hannibal Lecter, but we are animals and we rear animals for food, so why not eat our way to a reduced population. Maybe the good doctor was not so mad after all. We're told that human flesh tastes like pork. Who wouldn't kill for a nice bit of crackling - well, of course you have to kill the pig, or you couldn't eat it. The Aztecs were very fond of a nice human leg, no doubt a sacrifice to the gods, but, waste not want not. If not for a fellow passenger or two, quite a few airplane crash survivors would have starved to death. So it is food for thought. Only kidding.

Researchers at Harvard University say America's obesity epidemic won't plateau until at least 42 percent of adults are obese, an estimate derived by applying mathematical modeling to 40 years of Framingham Heart Study data.

The good news is that if you can stop eating you will lose weight - and that's that. I've done it when the situation was forced on me. I lost roughly 1 pound every day by just drinking fluids. I even lost the will to eat, which is nearly as dangerous as over-eating. But eating is addictive and a psychological condition triggered by the stomach. Without huge fat reserves a whale would be unable to migrate. Humans don't need such large energy reserves, but maybe this is evolution working to prepare some of our species for who knows what? Food for thought.

Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, is increased to a point where it is a risk factor for certain health conditions or increased mortality. Obesity develops from the interaction of individual biology and the environment. Excessive body weight has been shown to predispose to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is both an individual clinical condition and is increasingly viewed as a serious public health problem.

The effects of obesity are related not only to the amount of fat but to the distribution. Central or visceral obesity, where fat accumulates around the trunk and in the abdominal cavity, is considered to be of higher risk than diffusely distributed subcutaneous fat (Cotran, 1999).

The main treatment for obesity consists of dieting and physical exercise. Diet programs may produce weight loss over the short term, but maintaining this weight loss is frequently difficult and often requires making exercise and a lower food energy diet a permanent part of a person's lifestyle. Success rates of long-term weight loss maintenance with lifestyle changes are low, ranging from 2–20%. Dietary and lifestyle changes are effective in limiting excessive weight gain in pregnancy and improve outcomes for both the mother and the child.

One medication, orlistat (Xenical), is current widely available and approved for long term use. Weight loss however is modest with an average of 2.9 kg (6.4 lb) at 1 to 4 years and there is little information on how these drugs affect longer-term complications of obesity. Its use is associated with high rates of gastrointestinal side effects and concerns have been raised about negative effects on the kidneys. Two other medications are also available. Lorcaserin (Belviq) results in an average 3.1 kg weight loss (3% of body mass) greater than placebo over a year. A combination of phentermine and topiramate (Qsymia) is also somewhat effective.

The most effective treatment for obesity is bariatric surgery. Surgery for severe obesity is associated with long-term weight loss and decreased overall mortality. One study found a weight loss of between 14% and 25% (depending on the type of procedure performed) at 10 years, and a 29% reduction in all cause mortality when compared to standard weight loss measures. However, due to its cost and the risk of complications, researchers are searching for other effective yet less invasive treatments.

The rate of obesity in China has increased by 97% in 10 years, according to a government report.

China's first official nutrition and health survey shows that between 1992 and 2002 more than 60 million people became obese. The biggest problem is in China's cities, where 12% of adults and 8% of children were classified as obese.

Health officials have been blaming diets too high in fat and a decrease in physical exercise. They warn that obesity is likely to increase even further. However, the study also found that levels of malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies have dropped.

Results of the 2002 survey were not fully computed until this year because of the large numbers of people involved - more than 270,000 took part in the survey. It found that while China had made progress in reducing poverty its people needed advice about how to live a healthy lifestyle.

"The Chinese population does not have enough awareness and lacks knowledge of what is a reasonable nutrition and diet," AFP news agency quoted Vice Health Minister Wang Longde as saying.

Some people - especially urban residents - were eating too much meat, oils and fats and not enough cereals, he said. Parents and grandparents often fed their offspring excessively to make up for being fed inadequately themselves, he added.

A rise in car use and less physical labour were also contributing factors, the survey said. Altogether, around 200 million people are thought to be overweight, 22.8% of the population, and 60 million (7.1%) obese.

The percentage of overweight people in the cities rose to 30%, and the Beijing Morning Post published results of separate city survey indicating that in the capital the figure was as high as 60%.

Poverty link

Some obesity co-factors are resistant to the theory that the "epidemic" is a new phenomenon. In particular, a class co-factor consistently appears across many studies. Comparing net worth with BMI scores, a 2004 study found obese American subjects approximately half as wealthy as thin ones. When income differentials were factored out, the inequity persisted — thin subjects were inheriting more wealth than fat ones. A higher rate of lack of education and tendencies to rely on cheaper fast foods is seen as a reason why these results are so dissimilar. Another study finds women who married into higher status are predictably thinner than women who married into lower status.

Public health and policy - Prevalence

The Health Survey for England predicts that more than 12 million adults and 1 million children will be obese by 2010 if no action is taken. The prime minister has urged people to take more responsibility for their fitness and diet.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States makes obesity a leading public health problem. The United States has the highest rates of obesity in the developed world. From 1980 to 2002, obesity has doubled in adults and overweight prevalence has tripled in children and adolescents. From 2003-2004, "children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years, 17.1% were overweight...and 32.2% of adults aged 20 years or older were obese." The prevalence in the United States continues to rise. The prevalence of obesity has been continually rising for two decades. This sudden rise in obesity prevalence is attributed to environmental and population factors rather than individual behavior and biology because of the rapid and continual rise in the number of overweight and obese individuals. The current environment produces risk factors for decreased physical activity and for increased calorie consumption. These environmental factors operate on the population to decrease physical activity and increase calorie consumption.

Environmental factors

While it may often appear obvious why a certain individual gets fat, it is far more difficult to understand why the average weight of certain societies have recently been growing. While genetic causes are central to understanding obesity, they cannot fully explain why one culture grows fatter than another.

This is most notable in the United States. In the years from just after the Second World War until 1960 the average person's weight increased, but few were obese. In the two and a half decades since 1980 the growth in the rate of obesity has accelerated markedly and is increasingly becoming a public health concern.

Contemporary culture

In modern Western culture, the obese body shape is widely regarded as unattractive. Obese bodies are rarely positively represented in mainstream media. Many negative stereotypes are commonly associated with obese people, such as the belief that they are lazy, dirty, stupid, or even evil. Some point to gluttony, the second of the seven deadly sins, when referring to the this last stereotype. Obese children, teenagers and adults face a heavy social stigma. Obese children are frequently the targets of bullies and are often shunned by their peers. Obesity in adulthood can lead to a slower rate of career advancement. Most obese people have experienced negative thoughts about their body image, and many take drastic steps to try to change their shape.

Not all contemporary cultures disapprove of obesity. There are many cultures which are traditionally more approving (to varying degrees) of obesity, including some African, Arabic, Indian, and Pacific Island cultures. Especially in recent decades, obesity has come to be seen more as a medical condition in modern Western culture.

Recently emerging is a small but vocal fat acceptance movement that seeks to challenge weight-based discrimination. Obesity acceptance and advocacy groups have initiated litigation to defend the rights of obese people and to prevent their social exclusion.

Like many other medical conditions, obesity is the result of an interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Polymorphisms in various genes controlling appetite and metabolism predispose to obesity when sufficient food energy present. As of 2006 more than 41 of these sites have been linked to the development of obesity when a favorable environment is present.People with two copies of the FTO gene (fat mass and obesity associated gene) has been found on average to weigh 3–4 kg more and have a 1.67-fold greater risk of obesity compared to those without the risk allele. The percentage of obesity that can be attributed to genetics varies, depending on the population examined, from 6% to 85%.

Obesity is a major feature in several syndromes, such as Prader-Willi syndrome, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Cohen syndrome, and MOMO syndrome. (The term "non-syndromic obesity" is sometimes used to exclude these conditions.) In people with early-onset severe obesity (defined by an onset before 10 years of age and body mass index over three standard deviations above normal), 7% harbor a single point DNA mutation.

Studies that have focused upon inheritance patterns rather than upon specific genes have found that 80% of the offspring of two obese parents were obese, in contrast to less than 10% of the offspring of two parents who were of normal weight.

The thrifty gene hypothesis postulates that due to dietary scarcity during human evolution people are prone to obesity. Their ability to take advantage of rare periods of abundance by storing energy as fat would be advantageous during times of varying food availability, and individuals with greater adipose reserves would be more likely survive famine. This tendency to store fat, however, would be maladaptive in societies with stable food supplies. This theory has received various criticisms and other evolutionarily based theories such as the drifty gene hypothesis and the thrifty phenotype hypothesis have also been proposed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that overweight and obesity may soon replace more traditional public health concerns such as undernutrition and infectious diseases as the most significant cause of poor health. Obesity is a public health and policy problem because of its prevalence, costs, and health effects.

Public health efforts seek to understand and correct the environmental factors responsible for the increasing prevalence of obesity in the population. Solutions look at changing the factors that cause excess food energy consumption and inhibit physical activity. Efforts include federally reimbursed meal programs in schools, limiting direct junk food marketing to children, and decreasing access to sugar-sweetened beverages in schools. When constructing urban environments, efforts have been made to increase access to parks and to develop pedestrian routes.

Many countries and groups have published reports pertaining to obesity. In 1998 the first US Federal guidelines were published, titled "Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: The Evidence Report". In 2006 the Canadian Obesity Network published the "Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) on the Management and Prevention of Obesity in Adults and Children". This is a comprehensive evidence-based guideline to address the management and prevention of overweight and obesity in adults and children.

In 2004, the United Kingdom Royal College of Physicians, the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health released the report "Storing up Problems", which highlighted the growing problem of obesity in the UK. The same year, the House of Commons Health Select Committee published its "most comprehensive inquiry [...] ever undertaken" into the impact of obesity on health and society in the UK and possible approaches to the problem. In 2006, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued a guideline on the diagnosis and management of obesity, as well as policy implications for non-healthcare organizations such as local councils. A 2007 report produced by Sir Derek Wanless for the King's Fund warned that unless further action was taken, obesity had the capacity to cripple the National Health Service financially.

Comprehensive approaches are being looked at to address the rising rates of obesity. The Obesity Policy Action (OPA) framework divides measure into 'upstream' policies, 'midstream' policies, 'downstream' policies. 'Upstream' policies look at changing society, 'midstream' policies try to alter individuals' behavior to prevent obesity, and 'downstream' policies try to treat currently afflicted people.

LINKS and REFERENCE

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 'The Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults 5 (2000) PDF

Quetelet LAJ (1871). Antropométrie ou Mesure des Différences Facultés de l'Homme. Brussels: Musquardt.

World Health Organization. Technical report series 894: "Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic.". Geneva: World Health Organization, 2000. PDF. ISBN 9241208945.

Mei Z, Grummer-Strawn LM, Pietrobelli A, Goulding A, Goran MI, Dietz WH. Validity of body mass index compared with other body-composition screening indexes for the assessment of body fatness in children and adolescents. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;75:978-85. PMID 12036802.

Romero-Corral A, Montori VM, Somers VK, Korinek J, Thomas RJ, Allison TG, Mookadam F, Lopez-Jimenez F. Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies. Lancet 2006;368:666-78. PMID 16920472

Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Dans T, Avezum A, Lanas F, McQueen M, Budaj A, Pais P, Varigos J, Lisheng L, INTERHEART Study Investigators. (2004). "Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study.". Lancet 364: 937-52. PMID 15364185.

Bulik CM, Wade TD, Heath AC, Martin NG, Stunkard AJ, Eaves LJ. Relating body mass index to figural stimuli: population-based normative data for Caucasians. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2001;25:1517-24. PMID 11673775.

Flier JS (2004). "Obesity wars: molecular progress confronts an expanding epidemic". Cell 116 (2): 337-50. PMID 14744442.

Whitmer RA, Gunderson EP, Barrett-Connor E, Quesenberry CP Jr, Yaffe K (2005). "Obesity in middle age and future risk of dementia: a 27 year longitudinal population based study". BMJ 330 (7504): 1360. PMID 15863436.

Sørensen TI, Rissanen A, Korkeila M, Kaprio J (2005). "Intention to lose weight, weight changes, and 18-y mortality in overweight individuals without co-morbidities". PLoS Med 2 (6): e171. PMID 15971946.

Snow V, Barry P, Fitterman N, Qaseem A, Weiss K (2005). "Pharmacologic and surgical management of obesity in primary care: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians". Ann Intern Med 142 (7): 525-31. PMID 15809464. Fulltext.

Obesity Surgery Complication Rates Higher Over Time. Press Release, July 24, 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. Obesity

Powdermaker H. "An anthropological approach to the problem of obesity." In: Food and Culture: A Reader. Ed. Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik. New York: Routledge, 1997;206. ISBN 0415917107.

Ogden C, Carroll M, Curtin L, McDowell M, Tabak C, Flegal K. Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 1999 - 2004. JAMA 2006;295:1549-1555. PMID 16595758.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Obesity Trends 1984 - 2002 Obesity.

Morrill A, Chinn C. The obesity epidemic in the United States. J Public Health Policy 2004;25:353-366. PMID 15683071.

Levine JA, Lanningham-Foster LM, McCrady SK, Krizan AC, Olson LR, Kane PH, Jensen MD, Clark MM (2005). "Interindividual variation in posture allocation: possible role in human obesity". Science 307 (5709): 584-6. PMID 15681386 DOI:10.1126/science.1106561.

Lopez R (2004). "Urban sprawl and risk for being overweight or obese". Am J Public Health 94 (9): 1574-9. PMID 15333317.

Dannenberg AL, Burton DC, Jackson RJ. Economic and environmental costs of obesity: the impact on airlines. Am J Prev Med 2004;27:264. PMID 15450642.

109th U.S. Congress (2005-2006) H.R. 554: 109th U.S. Congress (2005-2006) H.R. 554: Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act of 2005

EA Finkelstein, IC Fiebelkorn, G Wang, National medical spending attributable to overweight and obesity: how much, and who’s paying. Health Affairs, 2003. Fulltext.

F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers)
PO Box 3074
Cardiff CF3 3WZ
Tel: 029 2077 7499
E-mail: info@factuk.org
Website: www.factuk.org
Campaigning organisation and support group which provides help and advice to falsely accused and wrongly convicted carers and teachers throughout the UK. The website contains a range of information, leaflets, books and links.

Guidance for education staff and volunteers in schools
Website: www.lg-employers.gov.uk/conditions/education/allegations
This website has guidance on: 1) staff facing an allegation of abuse; 2) preventing 'abuse of trust' for education staff; and 3) the conduct of education staff working with young people.

LINKS and REFERENCE

Bankston, Carl L. and Caldas, Stephen J., Family Structure, Schoolmates, and Racial Inequalities in School Achievement, Journal of Marriage and the Family 60:3 (1998), 715-723.

Dependent Children: 1 in 4 in lone-parent families," National Statistics Online, National Statistics, United Kingdom (July 7, 2005) . Accessed at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1163 on July 17, 2006.

Geographic Distribution: London has most lone-parent families," National Statistics Online, National Statistics, United Kingdom (July 7, 2005). Accessed at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1166 on July 17, 2006.

Hilton, J., Desrochers, S.,Devall, E. Comparison of Role Demands, Relationships, and Child Functioning is Single-Mother, Single-Father, and Intact Families. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage ,35(?) 29-56.

Mulkey, L.; Crain, R; Harrington, A.M. One-Parent Households and Achievement: Economic and Behavioral Explanations of a Small Effect. Sociology of Education, 1992, 65, 1, Jan, 48-65

Pong, Suet-ling The School Compositional Effect of Single Parenthood on 10th Grade Achievement, Sociology of Education 71:1 (1998), 23-42.

Quinlan, Robert J. Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 24, Issue 6, November 2003, Pages 376-390

Richards, Leslie N.; Schmiege, Cynthia J. Family Relations, Vol. 42, No. 3, Family Diversity. (Jul., 1993), pp. 277-285.

Risman, Barbara J., and Park, Kyung. (1988). Just The Two of Us: Parent-Child Relationships in Single-Parent Homes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1988, 50, 4, Nov, 1049.

Sacks, G. (September 4, 2005) “Boys without fathers is not a logical new idea.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)

States News Service. (2005 July 20). “America’s Children: Family Structure and Children’s Well-Being

*Quotes taken from Neale B and Wade A (2000) 'Parent problems! Children's views on life when parents split up', Young Voice/Nuffield.

Disclaimer:

Some of the views expressed on this website are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of SN. All content is for general information only and is not intended to replace professional advice of any kind. SN is not responsible or liable for any actions taken by a user of this site. SN is not liable for the contents of any external sites listed, nor does it endorse any advice, products or services mentioned on these sites.

In the wild we had to work much harder to earn our food for energy - so we kept fitter. With convenience food in abundance, it is hardly surprising that our natural urge to feed leads to speedy weight gain.

AIDS - HIV

Bladder

Blood

Bones

Brain

Bullying

Cancer

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Children - Adoption

Diet

Digestion

Disease

Divorce

DNA

Drugs -

Dysfunctional Families

Euthanasia

Exercise

Fantasies - Schoolgirl

Gestation

Hair

Hate

Hearing

Heart

Homosexuality

Humans - Genome

Intelligence

IVF Artificial Fertilisation

Joints

Justice - DPP

Kidneys

Liver

Lungs

Memory

Muscles

Munchausen's Syndrome

Nails

Nursing

OCD Compulsive Obsessive

Obesity

Personality - Disorders

Reproduction

Sight

Sleep

Smell

Skeleton - Skull

Skin

Stress

Suicide

Teachers - Petition

Teenage Pregnancy

Veins

Virginity

Whistleblowing - Public Interest

There are now hundreds of diet plans all claiming huge weight losses. In case you had not realized, if you simply stop eating solids and drink only four or five cups of tea or coffee a day, you will lose at least one pound a day. The proof of this concept is that nobody came out of Auschwitz fat.

AMPHIBIANS	Such as frogs (class: Amphibia)
ANNELIDS	As in Earthworms (phyla: Annelida)
ANTHROPOLOGY	Neanderthals, Homo Erectus (Extinct)
ARACHNIDS	Spiders (class: Arachnida)
BIRDS	Such as Eagles, Albatross (class: Aves)
CETACEANS	such as Whales & Dolphins ( order:Cetacea)
CRUSTACEANS	such as crabs (subphyla: Crustacea)
DINOSAURS	Tyranosaurus Rex, Brontosaurus (Extinct)
ECHINODERMS	As in Starfish (phyla: Echinodermata)
FISH	Sharks, Tuna (group: Pisces)
HUMANS - MAN	Homo Sapiens THE BRAIN
INSECTS	Ants, (subphyla: Uniramia class: Insecta)
LIFE ON EARTH	Which includes PLANTS non- animal life
MAMMALS	Warm blooded animals (class: Mammalia)
MARSUPIALS	Such as Kangaroos (order: Marsupialia)
MOLLUSKS	Such as octopus (phyla: Mollusca)
PLANTS	Trees -
PRIMATES	Gorillas, Chimpanzees (order: Primates)
REPTILES	As in Crocodiles, Snakes (class: Reptilia)
RODENTS	such as Rats, Mice (order: Rodentia)
SIMPLE LIFE FORMS	As in Amoeba, plankton (phyla: protozoa)

Obesity - Youtube

UK's fattest lady - Youtube

USA fattest man - Youtube

Larry @ 700lbs - Youtube