Did you know that in 2016 more than 1.9 million adults were obese and 2.8 million die each year as a result of it?
The worst is that our children are also getting heavier and one of the most serious public health challenges in the 21st century is childhood obesity. Overweight children are likely to become obese in adulthood and develop diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a younger age – which leads to a higher chance of premature death.
But what’s/who’s to blame?
Well, genetics as well as our stress levels definitely play a part but the world we live in now is made for us to get everything without moving. We are becoming more lazy. With Netflix, Uber Eats and Deliveroo (to mention a few) its so easy to sit at home and get our meals (most of the times not the healthiest option when we order take-away) delivered to our door. We can do online shopping from our couch, again without moving. We are moving less and eating more.
Obesity is one of the easiest medical conditions to recognise but most difficult to treat. It’s a vicious circle and difficult to get out of but we can take a step to make a change, nothing is impossible!
So what can we do?
Go out for walks
Take the stairs instead of a lift when possible
Learn about nutrition and reading food labels
Join a gym, a boot camp or invest in yourself by getting a PT
Don’t do your grocery shopping when you are hungry as it’s easy to fall into a trap and buy what you crave at that moment
Track your calories (we tend to underestimate how much we eat)
Reduce your saturated (bad) fat intake
Swap the “bad” fat to “good” fat like avocado, nuts, olive oil, olives
Eat more vegetables and fruit
Reduce your sugar and refined carbohydrates intak
Try to exercise 150 minutes per week – that’s about 20 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day. Yes only 20 minutes!!!
Do some weight training as strengthening your muscles helps prevent falls when you age and increases your metabolism.
Most importantly: Prioritise yourself. Specially if you are a parent as we often neglect ourselves thinking we should do everything for our children… I don’t disagree on that but if you think about it, wouldn’t our children want us to be healthy and strong as we get older? Wouldn’t they want us to live happy and long lives?
Invest in and Prioritise YOURSELF!