October 11th is World Obesity Day, a great opportunity to learn more about this growing epidemic and ways to get out of it.
What is obesity?
Obesity is considered a medical condition. It occurs when an individual carries excess body weight or fat.
To determine if one is obese, doctors use a tool called the body mass index (BMI). It classifies individuals on certain categories based on their age, sex, height, and weight.
Using the BMI, a person is considered obese if he/she has a BMI of 30 or over.
What causes obesity?
Obesity is a multifactorial disease. It’s a result of genetics, lifestyle (e.g. poor eating habits, being sedentary), and environment (kids who grow up with obese parents are more likely to become obese as well).
What are the health complications from being obese?
Obesity is a deeply concerning condition as it can lead to a number of health complications including sleep apnea, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
What’s the best way to get into a healthy weight?
Making the necessary lifestyle changes (i.e. eating healthy and moving more) can make a difference. However, for morbidly obese individuals, the National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends bariatric surgery.
According to NIH, bariatric or weight loss surgery is the only long-term solution for morbid obesity.
Foothills Weight Loss Surgeons in Knoxville have a team who can help you. We require our prospective patients to attend our free information session (available both online and in-person/live) if they are considering bariatric surgery. This is to help them make a more informed choice.
To register, simply click here or call (865) 541-4500.