The human body holds two types of fat: essential and stored. Essential fat, as the name suggests, is required in order to be healthy and to have properly functioning reproductive functions. The second type, however, is unnecessary fat that accumulates around our organs and between connective tissues. It is this that also leads to obesity and, once obesity gets too great, leads to people searching for Suffolk NY bariatric surgery. It is important that you are able to figure out just how much fat your body holds, and, more importantly, how much of that is stored fat.
Ideally, a human body holds between 1% and 19% fat. If you have 20% fat or more, then it means that you are classed as overweight or obese.
Three Categories of Obesity
There are three main categories of obesity:
- This is the most common of all, covering around 90% of people who are obese. IT means that people are 20% to 40% heavier than would be ideal for their gender and height.
- This covers around 9% of people who are obese. It means that they carry between 40% and 100% more weight than is ideal for their body.
- This is also referred to as morbid obesity. Only 1% of the obese fall into this category. It means that their weight is at least 100% higher than what it should be.
While currently only 1% of the population is classed as grossly obese, this percentage is on the increase. And, more worryingly, children are also starting to enter the moderate to grossly obese categories. One of the reasons for this is because the fast food industry bombards children with advertisements for toys and foods. But did you know that a typical children’s fast food meal contains about 600 calories, made up of 23 grams of fat (six of which are saturated) and more than 800 mg of salt? It isn’t just about the calories, in other words, it is also about what is in those calories. We know that obesity is a global problem and we really must do something about it.
We must all become familiar with our daily calorific recommended amount, how many carbohydrates and fats we can consume and more. We must also make sure that we absorb all the good nutrients and that we avoid the bad ones that contribute nothing to our overall health. You must, therefore, know not just how much you eat, but what you eat as well. This can be difficult as labels are often complex and, frighteningly, misleading. Court cases have actually been held to allow food manufacturers to be less than honest on their labels, which goes to show how difficult it is for people to become healthy, even if they want to.
We must all make a stand against this global epidemic. It won’t be easy, but it will certainly be worth it in the long run, as we are dying.