Obesity

Obesity is one of the most important health problems in the world, especially in developed countries. According to the World Health Organization data, 1.9 billion people in the world are overweight and 600 million of them are obese.

Obesity is a Treatable Disease

Obesity, which is becoming increasingly common in the world, significantly affects the quality and duration of life. However, obesity is a treatable disease.

In the treatment of obesity, exercise or surgical methods are applied along with diet. Experts aim to reach and maintain a healthy weight by determining the appropriate treatment method for the person.

By defeating obesity, you can fight diseases such as high blood pressure, heart, sleep apnea, breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer, and take a step towards a healthy life.

What Does Morbid Obesity or Obesity Requiring Surgery Mean?

Obesity is the accumulation of more than normal fat in the body as a result of consuming more calories than one can consume. Morbid obesity, on the other hand, is defined as “diseased” obesity, which causes fatal diseases and shortens life, and having a body mass index above 40.

Who are Candidates for Obesity Surgery?

Those with a BMI between 35 and 40 and those with problems such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and sleep apnea due to obesity are considered morbidly obese in terms of bariatric surgery. Even in patients with "new" type 2 diabetes and metabolism disorders due to obesity and with a BMI between 30 and 35, surgery is now in question.

How Should Morbid Obesity Be Treated?

The first treatment option for morbidly obese patients is diet. However, if diets lasting less than 6 months and applied at least 2 times have failed, diet therapy should no longer be continued. In this case, the most effective treatment option is surgery and should be done as soon as possible.

What are Obesity Risk Factors?

According to the World Health Organization, obesity is among the 10 most risky diseases. Today, obesity is among the preventable deaths after smoking. While struggling with obesity, you must first change your eating habits and lifestyle. The risk factors that you should pay attention to while struggling with obesity are as follows.

Environmental Risks

Children living in big cities today often have limited physical activity. Almost every child only engages in physical activities such as sports in physical education class at school.

You should encourage your child to do more sports. Computer use and watching television are among the most important environmental risks. These two situations allow your child to consume less energy and store more energy during the day.

It also allows him/her to eat more junk food in front of the television or computer. Increasing the amount of foods that are shown in advertisements and have no nutritional value will also help your child gain weight.

Attention to Nutrition!

A child with obesity may not eat as much as his peers, but he expends less energy. A child's low energy consumption is one of the leading risk factors for weight gain.

Decreased feeding times in children, eating once or twice a day, or high-calorie foods such as carbohydrates or fatty fries are an important factor in a child's weight gain.

Are Genetic Factors Effective?

As a result of both parents being overweight, there is an 80% risk of obesity in the child to be born. If only one of them is overweight, this risk may decrease to 40%. It should not be forgotten that one of the biggest causes of obesity is not eating too much, but not spending as much energy as eaten.

It is observed that families of children struggling with obesity are less involved in physical activities.

Effect of Hormones

Children with obesity must be checked by a hormone specialist. Some of the children with obesity disease; Obesity can be caused by diseases such as adrenal glands, thyroid gland diseases and diabetes.

What are the Causes of Obesity Disease?

Irregular and unbalanced nutrition, consuming fast-food-style foods, not doing sports cause weight gain and lubrication of some vital organs. Eating uncontrolled meals after a long hunger, consuming carbohydrate-containing foods and sugary drinks are some of the nutritional mistakes that cause obesity.

Starting from childhood, a healthy diet and active lifestyle should be adopted in order to prevent lubrication.

How Is Obesity Degree Determined?

The body mass index (BMI) calculation is based on the obesity classification of the World Health Organization.

When you divide your weight by the square of your height (kg/m²), the result indicates whether you are overweight or obese.

Less than 18.5 kg/m: Thin

18.5 – 24.9 kg/m. between: Normal weight

25 – 29.9 kg/m. among: overweight

30 – 39.9 kg/m. Among those: Obese

Those over 40 kg/m: It is seen as severely obese (morbidly obese).

What Health Problems Does Obesity Cause?

Obesity is a clear risk factor for atherosclerosis and some cancers such as colon, breast, kidney, bladder, pancreas and prostate. Dozens of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, increase in blood fats, liver disease, sleep apnea, joint problems, polycystic ovary do not leave the morbidly obese.

Atherosclerosis starts at a very early age in these people and progresses rapidly and invites situations such as infarction (heart attack) or stroke (stroke). Due to these conditions, unfortunately, morbidly obese people die significantly earlier than their peers.

In addition, obesity can lead to serious loss of self-confidence and social problems, especially in children and young people. Morbid obesity can be an important cause of infertility in women.

Relationship between Diabetes and Obesity

Diabetes and obesity go hand in hand. With an increase in weight

Insulin resistance also increases and diabetes can develop accordingly.

On the contrary, a person can gain weight due to diabetes. For example, Type 2 Diabetes patients may gain weight due to insulin use.

This rate is observed less in Type 1 diabetes. The main reason for this situation to be seen in Type 2 diabetes is the use of drugs due to the increase in the amount of insulin produced by the body, as well as the increase in the resistance of the person.

Obesity in Children

Even though your child is small, if he is overweight and you find him/her in front of the refrigerator every second, it's time to say stop to your child. If you think your child is overweight for his or her peers, you can calculate your child's body mass index.

According to the result of the body mass index, you can find out whether your child has an obesity problem. If you think your child has a weight problem, consult a specialist as soon as possible. Thus, you can start your child's obesity treatment early.

There are two important items of obesity. One of them is to start treatment early, and the other is to consume less calories and spend more energy.

One of the most common health problems in the world is obesity. It is frequently seen in children as well as adults. Overweight children have a higher risk of developing obesity and morbid obesity than children of normal weight. Therefore, the earlier the treatment is started, the easier the fight against obesity will be.

Which Diseases Are Obesity Children At Risk Of Caught?

While metabolic syndromes are not seen in children with normal weight, overweight or obese children; Diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, respiratory arrest and cardiovascular diseases can be seen.

Encourage them to sport!

Children under the age of six spend 2 to 5 hours in front of the television or computer a day, but spending more than 4 hours in front of television, tablet or computer a day may cause obesity in the future.

Any child who spends more than 4 hours in front of the TV is at an extremely high risk of becoming obese. Having a television or computer in the room or bedroom where your children sleep may increase this time.

The American Pediatric Association states that children under the age of 2 should not watch television. If your child is over 2 years old, it is recommended not to stay in front of the television for more than 1 or 2 hours a day.

If your child is older than 2 years, it is recommended to do moderate exercise for 60 minutes a day. Almost all children do not get enough physical activity on a daily basis. In schools, on the other hand, a maximum of 25 or 30 minutes of classes per week are held in physical classes. So, make sure your child gets enough physical activity on a daily basis.

Activity is a must for children to burn energy, which is extremely effective in the treatment of obesity. Along with the regimen given to children, they should do sports regularly during the day. The exercise program should be tailored to your child's height and weight.

The frequency and intensity of the exercises can be increased according to the development and health status of your child. While lighter exercises are given at the beginning of the program, the level of severity may increase as the program continues. The daily physical activity of children is at least 30 minutes. This includes jogging, cycling, dancing, walking or other sports.

Your child's daily physical activities not only increase energy consumption, but also increase insulin resistance. This situation is good for cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and prevents the formation and development of diseases.

What Diet Should Children Be Applied?

There are different dietary recommendations for the treatment of obesity in children. It is absolutely wrong to apply the tabloid diets in magazines or newspapers to your children. The diet to be applied to children should be close to the eating habits of the family and the child.

Especially when preparing the diet, the age, height, weight, daily activity time and social environment of the child should be taken into consideration. All diets usually include main meals and snacks. The most important factor for the diet to work in a healthy way is not to skip meals.

Small and frequent meals should be preferred instead of large meals. Considering the child's growing age, a diet rich in calcium, zinc, iron and vitamins should be provided. Therefore, you should take your child to an expert dietitian and act according to the list he or she will recommend.

don't be impatient

The treatment of obesity in children is a process that requires some patience and the support of the family during the treatment is extremely important. During the diet period of the child, the family should be patient and guide the child and not be disappointed. A child on diet therapy may not be able to lose weight every week. Just because your child isn't losing weight doesn't mean she/he is not following a diet. That's why you should be understanding and patient with them during the treatment period.

Is Obesity Surgery Applied to Children?

Children struggling with obesity in childhood are not treated with medication or bariatric surgery. Generally, children are given bulking and high-calorie products to inflate the stomach and reduce the feeling of appetite. Slow and healthy weight loss is the ideal method in the treatment of obesity. Therefore, it is necessary to observe the treatment patiently. Especially growing children lose weight slowly. With the lengthening of the neck, the height and weight return to normal over time.

How to Prevent Weight Gain?

If you think your child has an obesity problem or if you want him/her not to face obesity problem, you can benefit from the following suggestions.

You can enable your children to spend their free time with sports activities.

Physical activities can be increased in schools.

The family can change the feeding behavior according to the child.

Especially nutritious foods can be preferred.

Consumption of carbonated and sugary drinks can be reduced.

Short distances can be walked or biked.

You can create opportunities for your child to do sports.

Too much gum should not be chewed and food rewards should be avoided.

Sweetener or diet products should not be consumed frequently.

You can prepare a lunch box for him/her to take to school and eat healthy.

Consumption of ready-made foods such as fast food should be avoided.

Consumption of foods such as vegetables and fruits should be ensured.

One of the most effective causes of obesity is eating fast food. If the food is eaten fast, the feeling of satiety will be less. For this reason, it is necessary to eat slowly and chew food thoroughly.

Is Obesity Disease Genetic?

Being overweight of parents is among the factors that increase the risk of children becoming obese in the future. Although genetic structure is also related to weight, it cannot be held responsible alone. Eating habits and physical activities of families are also associated with overweight.