Do you think you are obese?
Measurements of obesity vary throughout the world. In America obesity is classified as having a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 but in Asia where body types are different it occurs over 23. Morbid obesity occurs with a BMI of 30 and 28 relatively. BMI is calculated by your weight in kilograms divided by the high measured in meters squared. This does not allow for varying bone mass.
In my clinic, however, I use the simpler measurement that if you can pinch more than an inch on your waist, excluding pregnancy and nursing, then you may be obese. In nature we are meant to be active until death, like any other animal, which means lean and mobile.
So in reality at least half of the population in the western world are now obese. While many in world are dying from starvation, similar numbers are dying from diseases associated with overeating and obesity. Unfortunately most doctors ignore the reality that being obese increases your risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, blood clots, stroke, liver failure, gall bladder blockage, stress fractures, hip and joint problems, diabetes, dementia, depression and cancer.
Obesity can be managed through diet and exercise. The problem for obese people, however, is they often have low levels of education around nutrition and poor motivation to change their lifestyle. Maybe you have struggled for years, going on and off diets that you have found difficult to maintain or been unable to afford.
The truth is that well-managed, healthy weight loss and maintaining healthy eating costs less than the average daily diet. This happens when you become connected to your food and invested in feeding yourself from a healthy perspective.
A diet meal delivered in a box is a waste of your time and money because it is probably the same kind of poor eating you have been carrying out for years, just a lower amount. To beat obesity you need to become deeply connected to and interested in every morsel you put in your mouth.
You also need to become motivated and mobile. Exercise is the second major key to body shape. Even if you have some kind of disability there is generally some kind of exercise you can do on a regular basis.
As medical nutritionist I am very clear when working with obese people I do not prescribe diet, but lifestyle choices; and those choices help to maintain a healthy weight and shape and become a permanent part of your everyday life.
To motivate people I always use hypnosis to help people arrange their minds to think differently. Hypnotherapy helps change your thought patterns at a deep unconscious level so you begin to think about food and your body from health point of view. And the beauty of that is the hypnotherapy works fast to make those changes.
Over the years with tens of thousands of patients, these methods have proved highly successful. Yes it takes commitment from you towards managing a program of change and as you do that you can shed the kilos, become more mobile, healthier and probably have a much higher quality of life.
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