The Obesity Epidemic
The Body Mass Index, BMI, calculated as the ratio between weight and the square of one's height, shows whether a person is within the bounds of a normal weight
Corina Cristea, 02.09.2022, 14:00
The Body Mass Index, BMI, calculated as the ratio between weight and the square of one’s height, shows whether a person is within the bounds of a normal weight, which is considered normal when it falls between 19 and 25. Values between 25 and 30 indicated an overweight condition, while people with an index over 30 are in the range of obesity. At the European level, more and more attention is being paid to this index, because the situation gets more alarming one year to the next, since obesity brings with it a bunch of additional problems. A report from the WHO indicates that there is an obesity epidemic in Europe. It states that the rate of overweight and obese people have reached epidemic proportions across the region, and is on the rise. Figures indicate that in Europe, almost 60% of adults are overweight or obese, along with 8% of children under 5, while one of three school age children face such problems. As compared to 1975, only 40% of European adults were overweight. In other words, the prevalence of obesity among Europeans went up by 138%, higher than in every region of the world, with the exception of the United States. According to the report, it is estimated that excessive weight causes over 1.2 million deaths every year, which means 13% of overall deaths. At the same time, obesity causes at least 13 types of cancer, and is most likely directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cases of cancer per year. In Romania, 5 million people are obese, while the number of patients with diabetes or high blood pressure has been going up by thousands of cases every year, but, in spite of warnings from physicians, too few are heeding the warnings. Experts warn that, as a result of following present policies, the chances the chances for Romania to comply with the plan of reducing the risk of obesity by 25%, adopted as a member of the WHO, are 0% for men and 4% for adult women. That is considering that only 1 in 4 Romanians in urban spaces facing obesity admit and are aware of the issue and its implications. All this led to the creation of the National coalition for Combating
Obesity, as explained by Professor Nicolae Hancu, PhD, honorary president of the Romanian Federation for Diabetes, Nutrition, and Metabolic Disease:
“The National Authority has initiated a while ago a frame of action as part of the Romanian Obesity Forum, which converted into the National Antiobesity Coalition. Now we are awaiting for the decision makers to take into consideration all these recommendations from international forums, such as the WHO, in order to issue a national plan for combating obesity.
Among the proposals is to recognize obesity as a chronic disease in Romania, as well as to institute adequate policies for the prevention, treatment, and integrated management of obesity, in line with other chronic disease. As a specialist in nutrition, physician and lecturer Lygia Alexandrescu explains what overweight people have to do to get back to normal weight:
“It is by balance. Balance means getting back to five meals a day, meaning the main three and two fruit servings. There are also people who observe fasting, intermittent fasting, taking meals either earlier or later, but eating only once every eight hours, with a break for 16. If they prefer to eat breakfast, they start with that in the morning, and a second meal at 4 or 5 PM. Intermittent fasting is wonderful, that give a break to the pancreas, to the digestive system. We should refrain from snacking all the time, in order to give a break to the digestive system. This does not necessarily reflect in weight in kilos, but in a state of well being, in energy, and mental clarity, when you wake up in the morning without an alarm clock. The conclusion is that a starving diet is not the solution for bringing your weight down.
What is needed is a change in lifestyle, not strict dieting, which means denying oneself. According to Lygia Alexandrescu long term and medium term dieting is dangerous, leading to major metabolic upset. These can be seen on the skin, on the eyes, because it leads to lack of essential nutrients, causing a poor mental state. She warns that things have to be balanced: five days of dieting followed by two days of moderate spoiling, which works much better than strict long or medium term dieting, followed by weight gain. This, in turn, leads to depression, anxiety, and metabolic upset. What is very important is to match correct nutrition with exercise. She also warns that exercise without proper nutrition will never work. Also, proper hydration, taking into account body weight, is essential for maintaining a proper weight, and good quality sleep, especially starting before midnight, helps a lot with hormonal balance.
