These days, it has become almost a sort of a trend to say “I am comfortable in my own skin”. But the sad reality is that most of the people who say they are comfortable with how they look, which is fat in most cases, are actually just looking for a psychological escape.
I thought ten times before I used the word “fat”, because unless you’re medically restrained from maintaining a healthy body, you’re fat and you need to accept that. And only when you accept it, can you do something about it.
How Did We Get Here?
Obesity hasn’t been a problem that existed all the time. Even about a hundred years ago, people were not that fat and obesity was not a very big issue. Although, the height and weight of people in developed countries increased progressively.
By the year 2000, we had achieved a historical milestone where overweight people had outnumbered the underweight people. Obesity almost became a pandemic after that. It is a disease with properly listed causes and a proper treatment too.
This happened because of a huge medical misunderstanding. In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors saw a small rise in heart attacks and blamed it on fats that people generally consumed. These doctors had earlier recommended that the general public eat those fats because they are high stores of energy.
They even started calling fat-filled diets or carbohydrate-restricted diets “equivalent to mass murder”. That gave way to the great epidemic of obesity where fattening carbohydrates suddenly transformed into healthy whole grains.
What Is The Problem With Carbohydrates?
The biggest contributor to the unhealthy deposit of mass in several areas of the human body is sugar. It comes in different names like glucose or fructose or corn starch.
The problem with carbohydrates is that they are filled with sugars; in fact, they could very well be a substitute for sugars in the way they get used and stored. Here, sugar isn’t the crystal sugar that you use on a daily basis, it is the chemical composition of sugar.
Also Read: Dear Millennial: Stop Hiding Behind Body Confidence/Positivity For Being Unhealthy/Unfit
Some Lifestyle Mistakes
There are certain mistakes everyone makes that lead to an unhealthy body and several medical issues like type II diabetes. Some of these medical issues are chronic and even deadly at times.
There is absolutely no need to cut sugar out of your life totally and start a strict diet. Not everyone’s body is flexible enough to take on a strict diet, and most of the time, we may not even have the discipline to follow it for a long time.
Eatables like fruits and juices already have sugar in them. If you add more sugar, eat a lot of sugary candies or pastries – that is where you’re making the mistake. Eating one kind of grain like rice or wheat only also is a mistake. Your diet should consist of healthy grains, vegetables, a balance of carbs, proteins and fat.
To be very frank, we are still in the obesity era. One out of every 4 Americans is obese and as many as 31% of Indians are obese.
This can very well change, only if you make the choice of leading a healthy life, eating right, getting enough sleep and participating in some form of physical activity like a sport or going to the gym.
In this article, I didn’t intend in any way to body-shame anyone or attack anyone personally. Being slim is not the aim, being healthy is. Please remember, it is not about how you look, but how you feel too. And trust me, you will feel far better with a healthy body than an unhealthy, obese one.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: Harvard School of Public Health, Oxford Academic, Health Day
Connect With The Blogger: @som_beingme
This post is tagged under: food, obesity, obesity pandemic, carbohydrates, carbs and fats, intermittent fasting, body positivity, calorie counting, fitness and health, joint health, difference between fat and muscle, fat loss, weight loss, insulin effects on the body, liver functioning, ancel keys, harmful effects of obesity, diseases related to obesity, is obesity a first world problem, when did people start getting obese, overweight people more than underweight people, self-confidence, healthy body, eating too much sugar, how to lead healthy lives, healthy lifestyle
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