Recommendation for overweight or the obese individual has been founded to include engagement in lifestyle modification that is inclusive of diet, behavior change and exercise. However, according to extensive studies and observations, this therapy has been noted to have short term effects that are unsustainable and therefore the obese situation frequently reoccurs. The failure of these therapies poses the following question, how does diet make one fat?
Hippocrates (400) prescribed that the obese should eat less and exercises more. Despite this notion being deemed as a failure, many people still apply it to present as a weight management approach. It is believed that, long-term studies indicate that there is one third to two third of the weight lost is regained within the first year and approximately all the weight is regained within five years (International Life Sciences Institute, 1). There are many cases of weight cycling or repeated cycles of weight loss and regain which increases cardiovascular risk. Diet therapy on the other hand has not yielded the expected result. In fact it has resulted to the exact opposite of expectations.
Dieting and the food that we take only make us fatter. There is an increased spread of western civilization which has affected many cultures around the world through globalization. The food culture or feeding habits have been affected by this trend of western civilization. Currently, most community has more animal products than the beneficial vegetable products. Animal products contain more carbohydrates that that are rich in glucose which is converted into fats once in the body. These fats only help the body to become fatter (BioMed, 1). This could lead to obesity, a global health problem, which is associated with disorders such as hypertension; type two diabetes, dyslipidaemia, atherosclerosis, cancer and hyperinsulinaemia. Obesity is becoming a worldwide problem that does not only reduce the quality of life and other healthcare associated costs but it also increases the risks of death.
Diet has been ineffective according to European industry. A report produced in the year 2002 shows that about 231 million Europeans attempted some form of diet. However, out of that big number only one percent reported achieving permanent weight loss. The diet industry has grown with the increase in obesity population (Cambridge, 1). It seems that the industry is not working on solve the problem because if it is dedicated to the achievement of this objectives, it would be committing a long-term financial suicide. This industry is one among many that have raised a global concern like the agriculture, food industry and pharmaceuticals which make profit out of obesity.
At times, individuals are required to choke down foods you can’t stand because a diet demands it. Such situations create a feeling of resentment and deprivation. As a result, the stress hormones increase in the body that buffer our bodies from burning excess fats and consequently craving is intensified. The individual becomes fat not because of taking fatty foods but because of taking a diet that they did not desire to take. Moral perception of foods also contributes to fatness.
Diets are typically filled with fake foods. Most of the foods in diets are laden with artificial additives that can be termed as pollutants to the body. These foods do not taste good or satisfying and are rather too skimpy. Processed foods fortified with nutrition are not nourishing but can rather be perceived to be scanty. People tend to eat too much of these foods. For instance, one can take quite a good number of calories in a frozen dinner. Additionally, pre-portioned meals are expedient, but if they lead to extra snacking, they eventually work against some one’s health. Eating junk foods for quite some time, individuals become fat due to the failure of the body’s mechanism to control the excess fat. Foods that contain too much sugar have an effect on the appetite centers of the brain and it would therefore require that one eats more food to feel satisfied (Cruise, Jorge & Holter, 128). They take too much eating is dangerous as this potentially because fatness.
Losing weight using commercial diets is becoming popular as many people want to reduce weight. This has been prompted by an increased use of low-calorie diets, juice fasts and soup only diets. These diets are popularized through advertisements that promise positive outcomes of losing certain amount of lbs per day with significant results at the end of the day. Despite the promises of such products and assurances in financial benefits, the guaranteed result is not achieved.
There are drugs that are available in helping obese patients lose weight. It is reported that the patients can lose up 10 kg body weight in a span of one year of treatment (International Life Sciences Institute, 1). However, their potential effectiveness in the long-run, given the possible side effects, is unclear. Pharmacological therapy is seen as a supplement to lifestyle intervention through the adherence to specific dietary or physical exercise programs. Long term maintenance of weight loss involves behavioral changes in habits and dietary skills. Obesity patients who comply with slimming programs tend to achieve better weight loss than those who are poor adherers.
In practicing dieting, food becomes an enemy. People, who are practicing dieting in order to reduce obesity, do not take food as a source of sustenance and well-being. Yo-yo dieting or weight cycle is bad for one’s health. Sudden abstinence from food intake reduces the body metabolic rate in order to store energy efficiently (BioMed, 1). Dieting and other weight loss behavior are championed by public health policies and other health practices as a way of solving obesity or fatness problem. However, these expected results have not been fully achieved due to the recurring cycle of weight loss and weight gain.
Dieting provokes a huge responsive response, as it is clouded by people’s own involvement of humiliation and expected allegations of liability for their overweight. One can therefore comfortably accuse the diet industry as contributing to obesity. However, dieting cannot entirely be blamed weight gain or fatness (Krieger, 113). There are other biological factors that have a role to play too. Research indicates that dieting is a proxy for prognostic variables in relation to eating disorders fatness being among them.
A survey done in the United States revealed that women start dieting at the age of between 15 to 20 years (Cruise, Jorge & Holter, 76). Most of them diet routinely three times a day while a small proportion diet five times a day. Consideration the ager, bracket involved in the research, such amounts of dieting are unhealthy for the people in the age bracket. They accumulate too much of fats and no wonder they become fat. The entire problem of fatness is brought about by the fact that some schemes are too strict bringing to a shrieking halt. And diets that permit the eating of unlimited amounts of “acceptable” foods essentially consent eating too much, and regrettably, any time you eat more than your body requires, the excess feeds are converted into fats that accumulate in the body (Krieger, 83).
Dieting makes food an enemy, not a foundation of nourishment and well-being. However, despite the adversities associated with dieting, it will still not be correct to regard it as a waste of time and resources. People need to overhaul their eating habits. However, eating as little as possible throughout the day will not necessarily mean that one cannot grow fat. Without adequate nutrition metabolism will wane thus making energy levels low and weight loss even harder. Fatness cannot be attributed to dieting alone (Dow, Mike & Antonia, 56). There are other factors that contribute to fatness and are not in any way related to the food one eats. However, some strategies can work in reducing plumpness. For instance, spacing meals and snacks throughout the day, enjoying good balance of nutrients in any particular meal and always starting the day with a breakfast (Kolata, 137).
As elucidated above, diet potentially brings about fatness hence individual should efficiently organize their meals ion terms of content and timing. Several researches have proven the adverse effects of dieting and the findings should not be under looked. However, dieting is a matter of individual decision hence can be controlled to some extent.
Works Cited
Cruise, Jorge, and Holter Graham. The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin. New York: HarperAudio, 2005. Print.
Dow, Mike, and Antonia Blyth. Diet Rehab: 28 Days to Finally Stop Craving the Foods That Make You Fat. New York: Avery, 2011. Print.
Glucostatic Control of Intake and Obesity. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
Kolata, Gina B. Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss-and the Myths and Realities of Dieting. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. Print.
Krieger, Ellie. The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life. Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 2008. Print.
Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome: Role of Different Dietary Macronutrient Distribution Patterns and Specific Nutritional Components on Weight Loss and Maintenance. International Life Sciences Institute, Print.
Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift. BioMed Central Ltd, 2011. Print.
