Wednesday 20 April 2011

Obesity around the world - part I

In the world full of temptations it is getting harder and harder to understand why we live and what we live for. Some people live for money, some people live for fame and some are made to eat.

Nowadays, more and more people take over healthy lifestyle as their way of life. There is no question that such a lifestyle should be admired. However this trend is only beginning to become more popular. There are still thousands, if not millions of people who are overweight. And this is the problem I would like to focus on today.
Do you think that people in Poland are obese?

If your answer to the above question is yes, please have a look at the video I have included below:



As you may already know, the highest number of obese people is found in the USA , Mexico and Australia. Over 74% of people living in the USA are overweight. In Australia there are over 67% of obese people. In Poland this number is not as dramatic as in other countries since it is “only” 19% of population that is overweight. However one has to admit that even in Poland the problem does exist.

Please refer to the diagram below for more information on the percentage of obese people around the world.


http://www.diabetesfamilies.com/sites/default/files/global_obesity_map.gif

It is also very important to realize what causes obesity. According to WHO definition obesity is the lack of balance between the number of calories consumed and burnt. Among most common reasons for obesity we can find: lack of movement, unhealthy diet, genetic factors. It is also important to realize that obesity is a disease and that it should be medically treated.

According to WHO – world health organization the number of obese people since 1980 has doubled so far. Even though there are more and more people who try to lead healthy lifestyle it does not affect other people who prefer to be overweight.

Not so long ago, Morgan Spurlock - a film director, made a movie called supersize me. The director decided that he will be eating at McDdonald’s every single day for 30 days. The results were extremely harmful for him. His doctor told him to stop this experiment due to health issues.


http://www.vismaya-maitreya.pl/uhuhuhuhuh.jpg

Below you can find shortened version of what was included in the movie supersize me:



For more information on the problem of obesity you can refer to WHO website.

Questions:

1. Is there any way people can fight obesity?

2. What do you think will happen in the future, is obesity going to disappear?

3. What healthy lifestyles method do you know?

4. Have you ever had any problems with your weight?

13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes of course that people can fight with that phenomenon. In Poland it calls “ŻP” – free translation “eat-half”. Beside that - exercises and healthy way of living. Obesity is not a natural effect in human being. Laziness and inactivity that’s the clue. Many of them said “hmm, that’s a genetic disease” – not true. In my opinion yes, obesity could disappear. When we start to live on pills and tablets, that could become realistic.

    About healthy lifestyles. Actually there are thousands of them starting from healthy food and everyday’s walk to extreme sports, gym and body shaping.
    Yes I had a problem with a weight…and I still have :) but I am keep on fighting. Shell I provide my dimensions?

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are many ways people can fight obesity. The best way to fight it is being active all the time. If you practice lots of sport it will help you be in shape and fight any problems with you weight. Another good way to fight obesity is to control yourself and what you eat. People forgot what it means to eat healthy food. They want to have everything faster and faster. They go to fast food restaurants and eat junk food. Instead you can eat some salads or other healthy diet. It does not cost that much but it does take some time to prepare it.

    In my humble opinion I think that people will get fatter. Obesity in 20 years will double in size if we do not stop eating such unhealthy food. By no means will it disappear. There will be people who do not care about what and how they eat and they will always be obese.

    The best method to keep my healthy lifestyle is to eat natural preservatives free food and exercise a lot. In this way you will lead a healthy lifestyle.

    No , I have never had any problems with my weight mainly because I try to stay fit all the time. I exercise a lot, I swim and jog in order to be healthy. It also helps to fight the stresses of your life.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thans for comments.
    Tomasz, dimensions are not necessary :-). I hope the last part of my presentation will gives you some tips to achieve a perfect weight.
    Hubert, I think the same. Phisical activity and good balanced diet is the best way to be fit and healthy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are many ways to fight with obesity for example active lifestyle ore sensible eating.
    I think it's depends on country and people. Now we can not say which way it goes. Maybe in a few years this phenomenon will disappear or maybe it become something normal

    ReplyDelete
  6. >>There are still thousands, if not millions of people who are overweight.<<

    "Excess weight has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults being either overweight or obese." - wikipedia

    If it was problem of thousands then no-one would pay attention to it.

    --

    For me, obesity is nature's way of elimination of weaker individuals. If drugs were legal and the lady from the first clip had easy access to them then she would "overeat" them too. She doesn't have any self-control and she prefers to blame it on the depression and her mother, etc. If she had wanted to stop she would do it. Another thing: why her son didn't force her to stop? She was at the point of no return for quite some time.

    --

    >Do you think that people in Poland are obese?

    Probably most of us has some slightly overweight but from that you don't have any health consequences. And it's still very rare to see a obese person in Poland.

    --

    "Supersize me" is very tendentious movie. Don't get me wrong - I don't defend the McDonald's but watch/read about the critic's arguments on the Internet. He tried to prove that eating only McDonald's for a month is unhealthy. Duh. And he always took the "Super sizeme" option if the clerk asked him (so basically always). And he ate not to satisfy hunger but to prove the point of the movie and (consequently) to become famous.

    --

    >1. Is there any way people can fight obesity?

    Yes, there are many ways. But there's no shortcut, you have to earn it by hard work. If you cannot deny yourself the sweets you should exercise more. It's simple.

    >2. What do you think will happen in the future, is obesity going to disappear?

    I don't know. I think that scientists will invent something to fight it. I know that now we have some supplements for weight lose but if you read opinions on the Internet everyone says that they don't work. :)

    >3. What healthy lifestyles method do you know?

    Sports. Balanced diet. Not eating for pleasure but to quench your thirst.

    >4. Have you ever had any problems with your weight?

    Unfortunately yes! :( I was fat in high school. But I learned to find always time to exercise during the week and from that one moment I've never been fat again. :) So the systematics pays off. And I encourage everybody to fight with overweight. There's always a way to beat it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The one thing we can be sure is that obesity is not going to disappear. Quite the contrary more and more of us start to have some obsesity or addiction. Nowadays people are much more exposed to some addictions not only a drugs, cigarettes or food but also an Internet especially social portals such as a facebook. We can say that presently neurotic personality is so common as literacy. I am not sure if you have ever heard about it. It is a very interesting and up-to-date problem.
    If you are interested in it I recommend you a great book by Karen Horney. In "The Neurotic Personality of Our Time"an authoress (psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) tries to show an image of the neurotic person, his conflicts, fears, sufferings and difficulties which he has with oneself and another people and his surroundings. I will not rehearse the book but it is really a valuable reading-matter if you of course would like to extend your knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think that problem is not the obesity but socialized medicine, people have been obese since ancient times but now it has become a 'social problem' since in socialized medicine you have to pay for healing other people which makes them a burden for a society.

    Imho this issue will solve itself with advances in technology.

    ReplyDelete
  9. People, eat as much as you want! it's your damned right, even if you harm your body - it's just up to you. it's worse to surrender to all those "wonderful shape" bullshit and get your brain washed than to live your way and eat whatever you feel like. Once you feel you've had enough you can always lose weight - it's NEVER impossible, you just have to do it. Feel good with yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1. The easiest way is to eat less and have some sport. I do not believe in magical meds from tv. If it was so easy everyone would be like a thin model. We should also change our feeding habits and turn back to organic food.

    2. In my opinion just opposite as you can see the obesity is a think that is mostly popular in advanced modern cities mostly because of the life style. What is more I do not thing that will ever change for better.

    3. Eat what feel like and remember about vegetables and fruits ;) + a lot of fish.

    4. None so far ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Since I have started to work my lifestyle is also not healthy one (lack of sport practicing) as I do not have time - in the morning to the job, than to the university and than I just want to get rest. But I have good metabolism so I am not fat (yet :P). Unfortunately I have noticed that in Poland more and more people are obese, especially kids who spend a lot of time in front of the computer, eat fastfoods etc. because parents do not have time to make normal dinner..

    ReplyDelete
  12. In my opinion the problem of obesity is caused by food and we can't fight with obesity but should change our lifestyle. The main problem are fast foods (not only from KFC or McDonalds) which doesn't provide to our body any vitamins and this is start of our health problems - not only obesity. Fast food it's all what we can do in a short time. As I see on people, they buy in markets mainly "ready meals". There are fast foods similar to ones from McDonalds. This ones has many preservative, are devoid of vitamins and minerals. These are empty calories which lead us to disease including obesity.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think that the best attitude towards the problem is to be aware of
    what you eat. It does not mean that you should only eat healthy food.
    It’s OK to let yourself have some candy or fast food once in a while,
    but not letting it become an every day habit. And what’s even more
    important is to try different things – in fact a good home cooked meal
    tastes much better than McDonalds. It’s just a matter of knowing how
    to cook it and caring enough to do it.

    On global scale the best solution is education. Jamie Oliver has a
    great initiative in Great Britain. He figured kids are picking up bad
    eating habits at school because food in cafeterias is very high in
    fat. He started a nation-wide program of changing cafeteria food to
    valuable and healthy meals. I think this is a good way of helping
    society to fight against obesity.

    ReplyDelete