A medical expert, Dr. Ajayi Abass, has urged Nigerians to adopt healthy eating habits to avoid obesity.
Abass gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of this year’s World Obesity Day on Thursday in Kaduna.
According to him, making healthy eating choices contribute to prevention of obesity. “You can reduce your risk of obesity by making healthy choices such as eating right, staying active, quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol and knowing your family history. ”
Obesity is associated with a lot of health and psychosocial problems, including risk of poor hygiene and skin infection especially along skin folds. “Obesity is a complex disease involving an excessive amount of body fat.” Obesity is not just a cosmetic concern. It is a medical problem that increases your risk of other diseases and health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers,” he said.
Ajayi said that crude population measure of obesity were the Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres.
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According to him, a person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese, while a person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight. He said there were many reasons why some people have difficulty avoiding obesity. Ajayi said that obesity resulted from a combination of inherited factors, environment, personal diet and exercise choices, adding that obesity could occur at any age, even in children.
He said that a lot could be done to prevent obesity including restricting selling of food and drinks high in fats, sugar and salt to children and taxing sugary drinks. The doctor said that we could also provide better access to affordable healthy foods by making them available in the markets.
He said that parents needed to teach the children healthy eating habits from early stage as well as make space for safe walking, cycling and recreation. Ajayi said that hormonal changes and less active lifestyle increase risk of obesity as one aged.
“The amount of muscle in the body tends to decrease with age. Lower muscle mass leads to a decrease in metabolism.” These changes also reduce calorie needs, and can make it harder to keep off excess weight. ”If one does not consciously control what one eats and becomes more physically active as one aged, one will likely gain weight,” he said.
Ajayi said that weight loss could improve or prevent the health problems associated with obesity, adding that dietary changes, increased physical activity and behavior changes could help weight loss.
According to him, prescription medications and weight-loss procedures are additional options for treating obesity.
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“Although there are genetic, behavioral, metabolic and hormonal influences on body weight, obesity occurs when one takes in more calories than one burns through exercise and normal daily activities.
”The body stores these excess calories as fat,” he said.
Ajayi said that Nigerians should promote the eating of healthy foods like vegetables, high fibre diet, increased water intake, reducing intake of processed foods and carbonated drinks.
He also said that Nigerians should promote physical activity, preconception and pregnancy care, early childhood diet, nutrition and physical activity for school age children and weight management.
Ajayi said that family inheritance and influences contributed to obesity, adding that genes inherited from parents might affect the amount of body fat stored and where the fat was distributed.
He said that genetics also played a role on how efficiently the body convert food into energy, regulate appetite and burn calories during exercise.
Ajayi said that weight gain was common during pregnancy, adding that some women found it difficult to lose the weight after the baby was born.
He said that breast feeding after child birth could be the best option to lose the weight gained during pregnancy.
The doctor said that not getting enough sleep or getting too much sleep could cause changes in hormones that increased appetite.
He said that craving foods high in calories and carbohydrates could also contribute to weight gain.
“Stress and many external factors that affect your mood and well-being may contribute to obesity,” according to him.
Ajayi said that things that had effect on one’s mood and well being might contribute to weight gain, noting that people sought more high-calorie foods when experiencing stressful situations. (NAN)