Are three meals per day essential for the average human body to stay well-fed? And if they are, what are you eating for those meals? Keep in mind how being overweight puts a strain on everything from your heart, blood pressure, and lungs to the very stem cells that lay the blueprint for your body’s physical makeup. Being overweight is also a considerable strain on energy, vitality, and it even shortens lifespan.
Being overweight is exceptionally harmful, and it does not get enough attention as a public health crisis in the medical and health sectors, or in the public. However, if we take a close look at what we eat daily and how much food we consume each day, it becomes easy to see what is contributing to the obesity crisis in America.
How to Know if You are Overweight
Understanding what constitutes healthy weight is just as important as understanding the risks and dangers of being overweight.
Thankfully, it is relatively easy to determine if one is at a healthy weight or not.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- “Weight that is higher than what is considered as a healthy weight for a given height is described as overweight or obese. Body Mass Index, or BMI, is used as a screening tool for overweight or obesity. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A high BMI can be an indicator of high body fatness.”
The CDC offers an easy-to-use Adult BMI Calculator, which helps people find out if their weight is in a healthy range.
Starting at 10lbs and Working Your Way Up – How Different Levels of Obesity Affect Your Health
It does not take being overweight by a lot to begin experiencing adverse effects of that excess weight.
Let’s start at 10lbs overweight and go from there:
- At 10 lbs of excess weight, one may have difficulty sleeping at night, they might experience a spike in blood sugar levels, and they’ll likely notice an increase in belly fat.
- At 20 lbs overweight, one might begin experiencing lethargy and general loss of energy. They may notice that previous physical activities that were once easy are now quite challenging to do. They may find themselves sitting down more often, staying in bed longer, and being generally less active.
- At 30 lbs overweight, that much extra weight has begun taking a severe toll on internal organs. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, digestive system, and muscular and skeletal systems are all harmed by that weight gain.
As one continues to gain weight, the adverse health effects will become more pronounced, more dangerous, and more likely to cause severe disease and even shorten lifespan. It’s important to remember that even just a 10lb weight gain is harmful, but that harm increases exponentially as more weight is packed on.
The Primary Causes of Obesity in the United States
As complex as obesity is and as different as this condition is for each person who struggles with it, there are only a few root causes behind unhealthy weight gain. These are:
- Eating differently. Americans eat differently than they did half a century ago when obesity was a relatively uncommon occurrence. Today, Americans consume too much sugar, salt, fat, processed foods, junk food, etc. Furthermore, healthy food, like fresh fruit and vegetables, is becoming more expensive and difficult to obtain for lower-income families. And last but not least, portion sizes for less-healthful foods and beverages are getting bigger.
- Not exercising enough. Americans do not get nearly enough exercise. Technology has made us sedentary, chores are mechanized, physical education is not encouraged in school, and we live in a “drive there, don’t walk there” society.
- Screen time is a contributing factor. Most people, especially young people, spend far too much time in front of screens, up to seven or eight hours per day. This sedentary, screen-focused time contributes to weight gain, as the lack of body movement and activity does not burn calories at the same rate new calories are being consumed.
- Breastfeeding is halted too soon. This is a lesser-known contributing factor. Though 75 percent of women do breastfeed, only about 13 percent of infants rely on breast milk alone after six months.
- Genetics, diseases, and medications also play a role. While the vast majority of obesity cases are caused by poor diet and lack of exercise, there are other factors, such as hereditary contributors, some diseases, and certain medications.
Obesity can be caused by more than one factor. For example, maintaining a poor, unhealthy diet over time, coupled with a sedentary, screen-filled, and exercise-lacking lifestyle, can easily contribute to unhealthy weight gain.
How to Lose Weight Effectively – 20 Day Weight Loss Program
Rather than attempting exotic or otherworldly weight loss routines, invasive procedures, or extreme, unproven remedies, the safest and the most effective way to lose weight is to merely correct that which caused obesity in the first place. The best way to lose weight safely is to address one’s diet and exercise. Making healthy eating and regular exercise a part of one’s daily routine is a safe and proven way to lose weight in a healthful fashion, going about it in such a way that one loses the weight and improves their overall health at the same time.
Our team at Immune Solution put together a helpful product, our proprietary 20 Day Weight Loss Program, to help you in this endeavor. The plant-based cleanse enables you to regain control of your weight by giving you a clean diet, organic nutrients, superfoods, protein, and the minerals and supplements your body needs.
This weight loss program combines:
- 100% Natural, Raw, Organic Kamut Blend
- Healthful, Non-Dairy Raw Organic Pumpkin Seed Protein (a full meal)
- Organic Ashwagandha (extract) Root
- A Guide on Healthy Weight Loss
At Immune Solution, our commitment is to help our customers get healthy and to do so with the effective, natural products that we create. If you have any questions about the 20 Day Weight Loss Program, don’t hesitate to reach out! You can call our office at (727) 768-4688, or you can send us a message using our convenient contact form.
Best of luck on your healthy weight loss journey, and remember, summer bodies are made in the winter!
– Ren Brabenec
Immune Solution Writing Staff
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/obesity/7-primary-causes-obesity
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