Posted by By DR. OJUM OGWO on
If a man is overly fat, what are the reasons attributed to it?....
If a man is overly fat, what are the reasons attributed to it?
Sedentary work life
Over consumption of food
Predisposition to obesity
Let me tell you the bitter truth. Anytime a fat man passes you on the road, you will be right to assume that he is a glutton and a greedy man.
Have you ever attended a buffet and served yourself dinner with those hunky men? The quantity of food they dish would make a sumo wrestler green with envy.
Do you know that excessive food consumption is habit forming? You may start it as a little treat to yourself, rationalising it that a little more won't do any harm. You will gradually get addicted to food; before you know it, a pot belly follows and hunk of flesh everywhere gradually accumulates.
Men who sit at a place for their job have been correlated to obesity according to a recent article published in the "American Journal of Preventive Medicine." The Australian study of 1,579 men and women in full-time employment aimed to determine the role of the work place in obesity (body mass index - BMI) equal or greater than 25.
The authors collected data as follows:
Age
Gender
Occupation
Occupational sitting time and
BMI
The average occupational sitting time was more than three hours per day and notably higher in men (209 minutes) than women (189 minutes).
The odds ratio for a BMI greater than 24 was 1.92 in men who were sedentary at work for more than six hours a day; compared to those who reported sitting less than 45 minutes a day.
Based on univariate analysis, significant associations were found between occupational sitting time and a BMI of 25 or more in men.
However, relationship was not seen in women; the authors noted that the role of the workplace in women is not fully understood.
What am I trying to tell men, especially our chief executive? They hardly do a five minutes walk. From their house, into an air-conditioned car, straight to the office complex, into the elevator to their own office. After work this continues in reverse order.
Pleasure manifests as taking a girlfriend or a business partner to a calorie eatery. Stuffing yourself with excess meat and bear and then back to the house. No exercise in any form, year in year out, and you think you can be healthy. Nothing apart from obesity results from such a regimental life style.
Are you overweight?
I am tried of people bursting into my office and exclaiming "Doc, my wife said I am overweight." "My brother, my sister, my friends said I am overweight." Bullshit and balderdash. Nobody should remind you of being overweight. You should know. Your body will tell you.
Doc, what do I weigh?
It is not easy to say what any one person should weigh. Typical weight labels show how weight varies with sex and height. But these are usually average figures, taken from people's actual weight. They are likely to be higher than "ideal" because more people in our society are overweight than underweight.
Note this dictum: "An average man weighs 70kg, except if he is 6ft tall, he could weigh 80kg. An average woman weighs 60kg except if she is 6ft tall, then she could weigh ."
The above is a medical statement of fact; use that to ascertain whether you are overly overweight.
Some insurance companies have produced figures for "desirable weights," for each height and build, by noting which weight are associated with low death rates. But though useful, the range of figures is still quite wide.
So perhaps the best way is just for a person to look at himself honestly.
Fat soon shows up as:
An increase skin fold thickness
A stomach bulge
A waist that just beyond a straight line between hips and ribs
The waist should measure at least 2 in less than the deflated chest
Another way is to compare present weight with the weight at 20 years i.e. when must people be near their ideal weight. The rise of weight with age in average tables, shows what usually happens - but not what is desirable.
Numbers involved.
Africans and especially Nigerians are suddenly becoming overweight. Reason: the advent of junk food.
Watch the next man you meet and access for yourself.
Even by the standard of the average weight, perhaps 15 million people in Nigeria are 10 percent more than their standard (overweight), five million 20 percent over (obese). Some estimates put it at twice this.
Obesity is more common in:
Older people
Sedentary workers
Among the poor it is more common in women; among the well up, in men.
Effects of obesity
Overweight people are not just
More tired Short of breath Physically and mentally lethargic With aching joints
Poor digestion
They are also more likely to suffer from: High blood pressure Heart disease Diabetes Kidney disorders Cirrhosis of the liver Pneumonia Inflammation of the gall bladder Arthritis Hernias and Varicose veins.
They have more accidents, and more likely to die during operations, have higher rates of mortality in general (including three times from heart and circulatory diseases).