According to obesity statistics gathered over the years, obesity has continued to spread across the globe, and the issue is only getting worse.
Many contributing factors can lead to one being obese, such as genetic background, poor diet, lack of physical activity, exposure to chemicals, and an assortment of others.
Obesity is a complex issue that is often impossible to overcome for most. The amount of effort required to lose the excess body fat for good is extreme. There can be a deep level of psychological digging to get down to the core of why somebody is prone to the lifestyle that can lead to obesity.
Is Obesity a Disease?
Now, this is a complicated topic that has layers of reasoning to be considered. To cover this question, let’s first look at the definition of disease.
A disease is defined as an abnormal morbid condition that disrupts the body’s proper function caused by adverse environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors.
When looking at this definition, you can see that it can be considered a disease in an individual light. The fact that it so dramatically affects society for reasons such as psychological disorders, genetics and that it has such an adverse effect on the body as it leaves the body constantly inflamed has led it to be considered a disease.
Because it is considered a disease, the expenses related to obesity treatment is supposedly covered by insurance. If it were not considered a disease, many would not afford the appropriate treatment to overcome their struggle.
8 Causes of Obesity
However, there are still some medical professionals who would argue that it is not a disease and more a lack of education and self-control.
With the processed foods, long work hours with little physical activity, and fast-food chains that there are out in the world, it is reasonable to side with the idea. In fact, some would say that solutions such as bariatric surgery are a means of evolving to adapt to the environment that modern-day society provides.
A truck driver who works long grueling hours that involves sitting and little access to healthy meals can take their toll. So there are in fact both internal (psychological, health, and genetic) related causes alongside external (food options, work environment, and mobility) related reasons.
Here are the eight primary factors that contribute to being fat and out of shape.
- Heredity
- Gut Hormones
- Overeating
- Sugary Drinks
- Medications
- Smoking
- Inactivity
- Stress/Lack of Sleep
Why Trying Diets May Cause or Only Temporarily Fight Obesity
Many people try to do different diets to lose excess weight which involves cutting back on calories. They may try a no carbohydrates diet, only eating soup for a week, diet pills, and so on.
Cutting back calories too drastically or not eating the appropriate balance of macros can put your body at serious risk.
When you deprive yourself of too few calories, it is, in fact, damaging to your body and can cause it to both store fat and burn off muscle mass.
Then the weight can come right back when you bump your calories back up with an even higher fat percentage. This is where the argument about obesity being a disease or a case of poor self-control can come into play. However, as stated above, there can be genetic and psychological causes that lead to the failed diets and what people call yo-yo dieting.
Choosing One of the Most Effective Weight Loss Tools
Choosing to have bariatric surgery helps you slim down permanently assists you in avoiding many of the pitfalls of dieting. One of the biggest challenges with dieting is relying on your willpower. You are constantly “trying” not to eat hoping you will say no.
This lack of consistency is what creates the yo-yo dieting. You are fighting to say no to certain foods as well as amounts of foods.
You will have a small pouch to quickly create fullness and facilitate getting that sense of satisfaction you want with a small amount of food. Bariatric surgery will also help you with the types of foods you choose. Overindulging in processed sweets or saturated fats can cause you to get sick.
No one wants to be sick, so it supports you create healthy boundaries with foods. Bariatrics helps you develop the limitations you could not complete in the past.
When choosing a bariatric center, it is crucial to choose a center that has a nutritionist on its team. As mentioned above, with many low-calorie diets, when your caloric intake is deficient, this can drastically slow down your metabolism as well as slow down your weight loss. When you can not maintain the fewer calories you put yourself on, you gain the weight back and more.
The bariatric meal plan with a higher good fat content was created to help circumvent this. It is essential to follow the bariatric program so that your total energy intake is not so small to decrease your metabolism. When guidelines are followed, weight loss surgery does set you up for sustainable and healthy weight management.
The Risks Of Being Obese
Obesity triggers an array of health issues that are leading causes of early death. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity, and overweight together are the second leading cause of preventable mortality in the United States. It triggers underlying medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and much more.
Some consider obesity to be a form of drowning, whereas you are in fact drowning in fat, inflicting serious damage to your internal organs. It’s like being trapped in a toxic environment that you can’t escape as it eats away at your health.
Risk factors of obesity include;
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Hypertension
- High Blood Pressure
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Sleep Apnea
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
- Asthma
- COVID-19 Infection
How Bariatric Surgery Helps Fight Obesity
On Your Left: Paul | Flora | CEO of Mexico Bariatric Center, Ron Elli | Bariatric surgeon, Dr. Alejandro Gutierrez
Bariatric and metabolic surgery options such as a gastric sleeve (VSG), gastric bypass, duodenal switch, gastric banding, and the gastric balloon are helpful in serving as a weight-loss tool.
But even after undergoing bariatric surgery, it is important that an individual adheres to healthy dietary and lifestyle habits. Many who undergo bariatric surgery in Tijuana, Mexico with our company state after the fact that they still see that overweight person in the mirror after they lose weight. To them, there is still a mental battle that they must face as they fight for their health and well-be. One example of this is former patient Paul M, who underwent surgery in January of 2016.
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