Obesity: A Human Evolution

The major problem faced by modern man today is that of his ever increasing weight. Millions of years of evolution have leaded us from being an ape to what we are today. From a Neanderthal to a homo habilis to a homo erectus to Homo sapiens each was a step ahead from the older version. Evolution is an on going process so where are we headed to now. Are we evolving into an obese being? Are we giving rise to a generation of obese people? Are we moving from Homo sapiens to a homo flabein? What happened what went wrong in the process of evolution?

If we were to flashback a few thousand years ago food was an integral part of our lives and in fact still is everything more or less revolves around food we need food to celebrate, food to comfort, and food sometimes just to pass time. So what is the difference? Food then was a means of survival. As we evolved the food evolved with us from tearing down raw meat and grazing on vegetation we have now developed the most intricate and complicated culinary styles. Food then as we have mentioned before was a means of survival people ate to live. Today with the variety of cuisines and tastes available the tables seem to have turned and we now 'live to eat.'

Obesity is fast reaching epidemic proportions. Obesity is a word used commonly these days but how many of us know what it implies. To put it in simple terms obesity means being overweight with a body fat % above normal or in other words obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserves of humans is stored as fat tissue is expanded far beyond usual levels to a point where it impairs health.

How does it all begin? Where does it start? If we want to get rid of it we need to know where its roots lie. It all begins at the level of the fat cell. Well but if fat is so unwanted then why do we accumulate it in the first place. Well actually speaking fat is not all that bad it has ensured survival of our species through two ice ages. Wait a minute this does not mean that being obese is essential for our survival. Of course not lets first understand why our bodies horde fat.

As we have discussed earlier it has ensured survival of our species through two ice ages and never ending draught and famine. Our ability to eat when food was available and store excess as fat for future use allowed us to survive when food was not available. However an extreme overabundance of body fat places a lot of stress on the body and can be unhealthy.

The real problem with modern obesity today is not only food abundance but lack of activity coupled with it. What I mean is food is easily available you do not have to travel hundreds of miles to hunt or gather food as our ancestors did. Sometimes we feel that the dessert last night was a little too much so we try to burn it off jogging that day. Does not really work there needs to be consistency in what you do cause an hour of jogging will burn around 250 calories but it takes just about a minute to gulp down 2 gulab jamuns or a bar of chocolate which gives you 250 calories. The problem is that this energy storage system evolved long before junk food made its appearance on earth. For most part of the evolution getting enough to eat was a driving force for survival therefore body devised its own system to store energy to be used in periods of scarcity of food as adipose tissue or fat.

It is high time now though we cannot wait for evolution to change this mechanism of energy storage. Today we have got an army of professionals to deal with it. The right nutrition along with a structured exercise program is very crucial as we have already seen that food abundance and lack of activity is the cause of obesity. So gulping down tablets to lose weight or syrups to burn body fat is of no use. To lose it you need to use it. We need to change for the better. We need to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Choice is yours.