Obesity as a lifestyle disease

Not everyone, especially women, would like to be obese and neither would one like to be thinner and skinny. Imagine being overweight to an extent that one cannot even handle one’s own weight. A small piece of bad or even good news can lead to sudden death to a person with obesity. Actually obesity has been identified as the major cause of heart disease and even some form of cancer (Wolin and Petrelli xiii). Too much fat in a person’s body has likely been the main cause of high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes.

Generally, fats are usefully in human body for the production of energy, to act as shock absorber and also to act as heat insulator. But in excess, fats lead to obesity. Obesity can be defined “as abnormal increase of fat in the subcutaneous connective tissue.” (Kelly 5). Persons taking too much junks or fatty foods from nearby fast foods kiosks are at high risk of being victims of obesity. Some psychological behaviors, like anger, sadness and boredom, can cause a person to take too much fatty foods (Kelly 5).

Being fat really does not have to mean that one is obese. Obesity can be calculated or defined by what is called ‘body mass index’, abbreviated as BMI, which is equal to a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the person’s height in meters. Normally, a person’s BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. Below 18.5 then a person will be said to be underweight, for an overweight person, the BMI range is between 25.0 and 29.9. A person with BMI of 30 and above is said to be an obese (Kelly 6)

 

 

Works Cited

 

Kelly, Evelyn B. Obesity: What Is Obesity? Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2006.

Wolin, Kathleen Y and Jennifer M Petrelli. Obesity. Califonia: Greenwood Press, 2009.