What are the health effects of obesity on women?

Clinical studies have revealed a direct connection between diabetes and obesity, especially in women and in the last decade there has been a 32 percent increase in women with diabetes. At this stage, women need to have the desire to talk to their doctors to gain control over this frustrating disease and about anti-obesity drugs that are safe and effective. A major problem with women comes after having a healthy pregnancy. Moreover, over half of all breast cancers are diagnosed among obese women only.

The evidence for the adverse effects of obesity on women's health is overwhelming and indisputable. Obesity, especially abdominal obesity, is central to the metabolic syndrome and is strongly related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in women. Obese women are particularly susceptible to diabetes, and diabetes, in turn, puts women at dramatically increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Obesity substantially increases the risk of several major cancers in women, especially postmenopausal breast cancer and endometrial cancer. Overweight and obesity are associated with elevated mortality from all causes in both men and women, and the risk of death rises with increasing weight.

Another effect of obesity in women is obese women who are starting to take birth control pills should also use alternative methods of contraception for atleast 10 days and perhaps for as long as 20 days because it takes that long for effective levels of the drug to build up in the blood.

Nearly five per cent of all cancers in women aged 50 - 64 were connected to obesity. The World Cancer Research Fund found a link to obesity in six types of cancers. Women who were overweight were four times more likely to develop cancer of the uterine lining while obesity boosts the risk by six-fold. Obese women also are at greater risk of breast and colon cancer. Excess weight also increases mortality from many cancers, with the strongest association seen for endometrial cancer; heavy women are 6.25 times more likely to die from the disease.

Excess adiposity, or fatness, is the source of many metabolic problems. Obesity is a major cause of liver problems such as non-alcoholic fatty liver. The liver is responsible for over 500 different metabolic functions, so having a liver that is clogged and congested with fat can have health effects that reverberate through the entire body, causing chaos and disorder at every level. For example, the liver is responsible for removing the reproductive hormones from the bloodstream after ovulation. During days 14-28, the uterus, breasts, and other reproductive tissues prepare for the next menstruation. At this time they require an environment that is very low in estrogens and progesterone. When the liver is congested due to toxins and excess fat, it fails to perform its duties, and the blood remains rich with estrogens and progesterone. The female hormones are actually toxic to the other tissues during the final days of the menstrual cycle. That toxicity is experienced as breast tenderness, pain, cramping, emotional stress, and other symptoms that we would identify as PMS - Premenstrual Syndrome. Most people think that “estrogen” refers to a specific compound. In reality, there is no single chemical compound called “estrogen,” rather the word estrogen refers to a class of related compounds. One form of estrogen commonly known as estradiol has protective effects on women’s bodies. Women with greater levels of estradiol compared to other estrogen compounds show decreased risk of reproductive tissue cancers. Another form of estrogen known as estrone is associated with increased risk for reproductive tissue cancers including breast cancer and others. Obese women produce more estrone, and are also at greater risk for PMS. The evidence of the links of the unholy triad continues to mount.

Studies have revealed that heavier the women before pregnancy chances of the daughter becoming obese decades later are more. If having children is on your agenda and you want to help them avoid being overweight, lose your own fat before you get pregnant. That’s the message from researchers who have found obesity during pregnancy can cause lifelong obesity in the next generations. Bring down your Body Mass Index - bmi to normal.

Obese women are known to have more difficulty becoming pregnant and also are more likely to miscarry. Excess weight could exert its effects either by acting on the ovaries, which produce eggs, or on the endometrium, where the fertilized egg implants.

Women who are obese when they conceive are more likely to have babies with birth defects than are mothers of normal weight, a US study suggests. For many types of birth defects, including spina bifida, heart, limb and genital defects, mothers were between 1.3 and 2.1-fold more likely to have been obese

Women are more emotionally effected by obesity.

Body image for women carries an utmost importance that makes her confident about what it looks like to her and how looks to others. The relationship between body image and self esteem is complicated yet both are closely associated with obesity. It is not new if an obese woman thinks the way, "I am fat, I look funny" "So I am not worthy of anything". Though these are not researched well but improved body image has direct impact on a woman's self-esteem. Therefore, it is important for women to learn to love themselves and to create a healthy and smart lifestyle for them that do not emphasize weight loss as the only measure of good health

Whatever the society is, a woman is always brought up with a message that she must be beautiful to be valuable. Attractive women are not only seen as attractive but also smarter, active, and morally superior regardless of any other fact. Thus we can see that these cultural ideals of beauty are often transient, unhealthy and nearly impossible for most women to live up to. From a tender age, women are encouraged to be delicate, frail or "ethereal." If a woman is not meeting those so called "acceptable" body size then she must be ready to face discrimination and prejudice in society.

Obesity Treatment for women.

All this does not mean that an obese women is doomed to remain obese and face the emotional and health problems. Obesity is curable. Weight loss is possible. The first step in this direction is to live a disciplined life, do physical exercises and consume a balanced healthy diet. Obesity can be treated through a variety of modalities, including;

Various dietary therapies like Low-calorie diet (LCD), Very low-calorie diet (VLCD), Regular physical activity, Behavior therapy, Drug therapy Surgery . Surgery gives improved results for severe obesity called as morbid obesity.

Here is a simple and easy Seven Day Weight Loss Plan . This is a tested plan. It is difficult to remain on a diet of only water, fruits, vegetables with an occasional beef or hamburger on two days. But then the fruits of following this diet are sweet. I reduced my weight in one week by 14lbs. Give it a try. Follow the instructions contained meticulously and it should work for you.

Set your goals for weight loss management
Keep a primary target of reducing 10% loss of the initial body weight. You will find a dramatic change and improvement along with significant risk reduction.
Be determined to keep your weight off for a long time by remaining on balanced diet and regular physical activity .

Additional Considerations

Substitute medications that may lead to a weight gain.
If you are successful at reducing weight as per the primary target, set another target for weight reduction. This time you have a back of motivation from earlier success.
Get help of a support group if required.

There are many weight loss therapies that may prove inappropriate for:
Women with illnesses that might be worsen by caloric restriction
Women with a serious, acute psychiatric illness
Pregnant or lactating women

What is a healthy diet for women?

A variety of vegetables and fruits - women should have 6-11 servings a day constituted of refined carbohydrates instead of whole food grains. This may include white rice, pasta, sweets, and white potatoes. You may find it difficult to eat raw veggies. Don't worry, I used the recipes described in this e-book "Amazing Smoothies". Thereafter I just relished eating raw veggies. I have now made this a part of my daily diet.
2-3 servings of protein a day that may include lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, or legumes
20-35 % of total calories from fat that may include olive, peanut, canola oils, and most nuts and polyunsaturated fats (e.g.,corn, safflower, and soybean oils, flaxseed oil, fatty fish). Trans and saturated fats should be avoided.
Low sugar and sodium intakes
Drink at least eight glasses of fluid a day. Limit intake of juice and soda.
A multivitamin diet should contain 400 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of elemental calcium for premenopausal women. If dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D is less than these recommended guidelines, calcium and vitamin D supplementation is necessary.

Consider calories. This is absolutely critical. Many people think that they can eat as much low-fat food as they want, but these foods contain a significant number of calories and if you take in a lot more calories than you need-even if they’re fat-free calories- you gain weight. For every 3,500 “unused” calories that you consume, you gain 1 pound. On the other hand, if you cut your calorie intake by 100 calories a day, you can lose 10 pounds over the course of a year- even if you make no other changes in your eating habits

Keep those carbs coming. Complex carbohydrates-foods such as pasta, bread, beans, rice, and potatoes- always had a reputation for going straight to your hips. But the truth is that your body would much rather burn carbohydrate calories than attempt to store them as fat. In deed, research has shown that people who achieve and maintain a healthy weight consume and abundance of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates have low energy densities-that is, they weigh a lot, but they contain relatively few calories.

Complex carbohydrates also switch off hunger by triggering certain nerve endings to alert your brain that you’re full. With high-fat foods, this message never gets delivered, and you end up eating more than you should. Of course, not all complex carbohydrates are created equal. Go easy on foods such as packaged baked goods, which are usually made with refined flour and pack a lot of fat and sugar to boot. Stick with whole grains, fruits and vegetables. They’re virtually fat-free, they contain a lot of nutrients, and they fill you up.

Do You Know How to Walk? Can you chew gum at the same time? All kidding aside. For reducing obesity and weight, walk is the best and cheapest exercise. An exercise you can do anywhere you are and at anytime convenient to you. But, have you ever thought about how your are walking - are you walking correctly? If you don't know, you need help and you need it before you do serious and permanent damage to your feet! You may be thinking that you don't need any help learning how to walk but there's much more to serious walking than just putting one foot in front of the other. There is a definite advantage to having a clearcut guide of what kinds of equipment to wear or how to use your arms when you are walking. You must get the most out of your walking routine. Click for details

Burning belly fat, especially for women has appeared to be a difficult exercise. Often recommended solution is surgery. It is not required. Find out here how to do it without surgery "