Eat away at obesity

OBESITY is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to health problems and reduced life expectancy.

Body mass index (BMI), a measurement which compares weight and height, defines people as overweight (pre-obese) when their BMI is between 25kg/m and 30 kg/m2, and obese when it is greater than 30 kg/m2.

Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness.

Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited; on average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their thin counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass.

The primary treatment for obesity is diet and physical exercise. Avoid excess eating. Avoid day sleeping. Do regular exercise like brisk walking, running or swimming.

Avoid a sedentary and lethargic lifestyle. Avoid excess sugar and sweets. Have low fat/skim milk products. Avoid chocolate, ice cream, cheese or paneer.

Take non vegetarian foods like chicken, fish, eggs and meat in moderate quantities. Eat white meat (chicken, fish) in preference to red (lamb/pork/beef).

Remove fat from meat and skin from chicken.

Minimise excess oil and ghee in cooking.

Avoid hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Use low-fat spreads on bread instead of butter and cheese.

Eat lots of fruit and green vegetables. Include leafy greens and sprouted moong beans in salad, which should form a major part of most meals.

Spices like dry ginger, cinnamon, black pepper etc are good.

Early morning have a glass of warm water mixed with the juice of half a lemon. A teaspoonful of honey can be added if you like.

Breakfast on wheat or mung (green bean) sprouts and a cup of skimmed milk.

Mid morning have a glass of orange, pineapple or carrot juice.

Lunch on salad of raw vegetables such as carrot, beet, cucumber, cabbage, tomatoes. If you cannot digest raw vegetables, steam or boil them. Include wholegrain bread or whole-wheat chapatis and a glass of buttermilk. Add some roasted cumin seeds, green coriander leaves, a little salt and grated ginger to the buttermilk.

Mid afternoon, have either coconut water, lemon tea or vegetable soup.

Dine on wholegrain bread or chapatis, steamed vegetables and any seasonal fruit except banana and apple.

Bitter gourd and bitter vegetable drumsticks can be useful for losing weight.