The problem of excess weight is becoming global – at least a significant part of the population of developed countries suffers from obesity and related chronic diseases. The reasons for this phenomenon are considered to be economic and social, and among them there are several main ones.
For example, the main cause of obesity in US residents is a poor diet, writes the EatThisNotThat portal, citing research data. This, of course, is not about starvation and lack of food, but about the wrong monotonous diet of predominantly “harmful” food – and this is commonplace not only for the States. In European countries and in Russia, the popularity of fast food, home delivery, the use of semi-finished products and similar fast food is growing. Not only do such products contain a lot of “extra” and “harmful” substances, they also often lack the necessary useful substances.
“Instead of treating the symptoms associated with obesity with medication, you should use food as medicine,” said Dr. Lee Frame, MD. “We need to limit the amount of processed foods consumed and increase the consumption of fresh vegetables, fruits, water.”
There are other factors that globally contribute to weight gain. For example, a sedentary lifestyle, in which not only the consumption of calories by the body is reduced, but also the metabolism slows down.
“Participants who ran about 17 miles a week showed noticeable results in the reduction of visceral and abdominal fat,” Dr. Chris Slents of Duke University Medical Center said of the results of one experiment.
Another negative factor is stress. “Studies show that chronic stress causes an increase in the level of (hormone) cortisol in the body,” said Dr. Sarah Jackson from University College London. “People with elevated levels of cortisol are more likely to have large body measurements.”
Also among the reasons for weight gain, scientists call the lack of sleep and its poor quality. “Experiments have shown that insufficient or poor-quality sleep is associated with an increased risk of weight gain due to deregulation of appetite, which leads to eating more food,” says Dr. Kristen Knutson of the University of Chicago.
See also: “Named the best foods for breakfast against visceral fat”