[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Shobha John<\/p>\n
This lucid and revealing book by a bariatric surgeon gives advice on how to tackle this lifestyle problem with simple, long-lasting solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n A book with a catchy title can grab one\u2019s attention immediately. In a world where obesity reigns supreme \u2013266 million men and 375 million women globally in 2014\u2014\u201cFight With Fat\u201d is just what the doctor ordered. Coming from a writer, Dr Kamal Mahawar, who is alsoa bariatric surgeon, his words carry weight. Even Shakespeare said about obese people: \u201cThou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.\u201d All the more reason to lose weight.<\/p>\n Dr Mahawar from Sunderland Royal Hospital in the UK has had wide experience in treating people with weight issues. With some 5 percent of Indians being obese, it is a health epidemic which needs to be tackled on a war-footing as it can lead to other life-threatening illnesses such as BP, diabetes, cancer, liver disease, etc.<\/p>\n Books on obesity have been written earlier too, but what makes this one different are surprising, but little known facts. For example, did you know there is a link between obesity and Vitamin D deficiency? That India is the third most obese country in the world? That even lower middle classes are getting obese? That fat first appears around the waist from where it is hard to displace?<\/p>\n For those who have always been perplexed about body mass index (BMI) issues, Dr Mahawar says that besides weight and height, muscle mass, body mass and body frame too should be taken into consideration. Anyway, Indians have a higher body fat content so standard BMI figures may not be so apt for us. Perhaps a better way to measure obesity is by waist circumference. Anything over 80 cm for women and over 94 cm for men is bad news and increases the risk of diseases.<\/p>\n The good news is that there are healthy overweight individuals and unhealthy normal weight individuals. How is that possible? It all boils down to how fit you are. And a bit of fat is not bad at all as it helps in the time of major illness and old age.<\/p>\n Obesity happens when one is consuming more calories than one can burn off, be it carbohydrates or proteins. And this fat gets deposited around all our organs and impairs their functions. Besides the debilitating effects on health, obese people, says Dr Mahawar, are more likely to be unemployed. That says a lot about society and outdated social norms.<\/p>\n However, weight loss can reverse these conditions in the early stages. And that is why fasting once in a while is good as the stored excess fat is used up then. It is also important to be aware of the calories in common food items so that lifestyle and dietary changes can be made. And while going on a diet is fine, unless it is balanced and healthy, there is the risk of getting nutritional disorders, not to mention loneliness and depression.<\/p>\n It is important to understand what fast food and sugary drinks do to one\u2019s body. They spike sugar levels and once they are stored, glucose and other food components in the body drop again, triggering hunger, leading to a vicious cycle. That is why a natural balanced meal is important \u2013 it takes longer to digest and get absorbed, leading to a feeling of fullness.<\/p>\n So what is a balanced diet? It derives 60 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 25 percent from fat and 15 percent from proteins. All have to be included in the diet. But it is important to stop eating before one feels full. Dr Mahawar suggests slowly cutting down on food; it won\u2019t make a difference as the body adjusts to lower levels. Also, eat fruits, vegetables and high protein foods which give you more satiety per calories. But beware of fruit juices and aerated drinks as they have some of the highest amounts of sugar and are one of the leading causes of diabetes.<\/p>\n Along with diet changes, exercise is also important. Did you know that exercise actually reduces hunger, helps reduce calorie intake and improves the heart? However, our modern lifestyles and machines \u00a0hardlyhelp in this regard. So it is important to do physically demanding jobs as they make the heart worker harder and its muscles stronger. But exercise too has tobe done properly. Start with walking, brisk walking, jogging and then running.<\/p>\n The book also talks about childhood obesity, surgery to reduce obesity and better options in food (eg, replace refined flour with whole wheat flour, sweet potato with potato).It would, however, have been a good idea to also include some sample diets for vegetarians and non-vegetarians in India to illustrate these points.<\/p>\n Read this well-written book so that good eating habitscan be passed on to your kids. Then only can a whole nation improve.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1557122516377{border-top-width: 10px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #cccccc !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”]Fight with Fat<\/p>\n By Dr Kamal Mahawar<\/p>\n Fingerprint! Publishing<\/p>\n Rs 299; 269 pages[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Shobha John This lucid and revealing book by a bariatric surgeon gives advice on how to tackle this lifestyle problem with simple, long-lasting solutions A book with a catchy title can grab one\u2019s attention immediately. In a world where obesity reigns supreme \u2013266 million men and 375 million women globally in 2014\u2014\u201cFight With Fat\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":61534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1532],"tags":[60828,72248,72251,72247,72246,19320,72249,72250],"yst_prominent_words":[72241,72237,6567,72239,32707,60043,60816,72245,72243,72236,60044,28741,72244,72240,42171,60310,72238,60307,4051,60308],"ppma_author":[140543],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/d2r2ijn7njrktv.cloudfront.net\/apnlive\/uploads\/2019\/05\/06111658\/Obesity.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":140543,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"apnnewsdesk","display_name":"APN Live","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/478eacb893eda88aa6ed8d99b005bf58?s=96&r=g"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61529"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=61529"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=61529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}