Health Alert: Are You Medically Obese?

Many people talk about wanting to lose weight or increase their overall health, but statistics show that there are roughly 40 million obese Americans in the U.S. today. If you include overweight Americans, the figure jumps to 97 million adults, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Obese is defined as being more than 20 percent above your ideal body weight, or having a BMI (body mass index) over 30. That makes a 5'7" woman weighing 185 pounds obese in medical terms. For a complete chart that shows where you fall on the obesity scale, go to http://www.holisticonline.com.

Obesity is linked to a long line of medical problems, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and Type II diabetes. These diseases are linked to mild obesity and being overweight but not obese-the prognosis is worse for those who are extremely overweight. Fortunately, reversing the possibility of suffering from an obesity-related disease is easy-losing only ten percent of your current weight can lower your risk of stroke and heart disease.
Losing that ten percent may be easier than you think. It is common knowledge that eating less and exercising more will make you lose weight; however, this seems to be the hardest diet program for people to stick to. Here are some quick and painless ways to jumpstart your weight loss program:

•Increase activity. Do something, anything, above what you normally do. This can mean parking in the farthest space from the grocery store or taking the stairs at work. If you're already active, add a little jog to your walk or take up swimming, the best all-over workout available.

•Avoid excess sugar. Everyone knows they should avoid excessive sugar if they want to lose weight, but they may not know how their health foods sabotage this goal. Read the labels of your food and avoid high fructose corn syrup, added fructose, and added sugar. Try to eat as little processed food as possible.

•Water, water, water. Drink up! Replace at least two drinks a day with water. H2O keeps your body running smoothly while reducing water retention and quenching thirst and hunger. By replacing fruit drinks or soda with water, you're cutting down on sugar and calories, too.

Take 10% of your weight off and you could remove yourself from the obese list. You will immediately increase your overall health and create a better long-term health outlook for yourself. Obesity does not have to be an unknown health problem in your life. Find out if your weight level is healthy, overweight, or obese-and get healthier today!