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Nutrition to Help Reduce Obesity

Obesity, which is also associated with being overweight, is the excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat that risks an individual's health. Individuals are considered obese if their body mass index is more than 30. To reduce obesity, certain dietary changes can be made, including meal replacements, cutting calories, or reducing the number of calories one takes in a day, restricting certain foods, making healthier choices, or feeling full on less food consumption (Seiler et al., 2018). The food options or diet recommended for the reduction of obesity include plant oils such as vegetable and olive oils, whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat, and steel-cut oats, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds, or any other protein sources that are healthy, and whole fruits.

The four components of a healthy diet are carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals. High-risk carbohydrates reduce the risk of obesity in the long term. Protein is necessary for weight loss among obese individuals in that it assists in increasing the number of calories one burns through digestion, stabilizing blood sugar, and curbing hunger. Dietary fat is characterized by high caloric density, and it results in to increase in weight gain and risks individuals to obesity. Less consumption of high-fat foods can help reduce the amount of fats and, in turn, reduce weight gain and risk for obesity. Vitamins significantly lower weight gain among obese men if used for a long time, especially the vitamin B-12 and vitamin B-6 supplements.

The fats provide the body with energy and assist the body to absorb vital nutrients. The function of the proteins is to build and repair the body's tissues. Carbohydrates provide the body with energy and function to maintain the glucose level of the blood.

The long-term deficiency of fats affects the overall body health, resulting in a weaker immune system, dry rashes, and hair loss. On the other hand, excessive long-term intake of fats results in increased obesity and coronary heart disease risk. Long-term carbohydrate deficiency results in health complications, including headaches, constipation, weakness, fatigue, osteoporosis, heart arrhythmias, kidney damage, and cardiac contractile function impairment. The excessive intake of carbohydrates results in weight gain and increases risk for obesity and heart disease. Protein deficiency results in muscle mass loss, increasing the risk of bone fracture, weakness, and fatigue. Consumption of excessive proteins for a long time increases the risk of cancer and heart disease and burdens the bones, kidneys, and liver.

Potassium is one of the micronutrients involved in fluid balance, and taking it adequately lowers blood pressure. Sodium regulates electrolyte and fluid balance and maintains normal cellular homeostasis. The low sodium level in the body results in excess water's movement into the cells, causing them to do well. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that prevents cancer, cataracts, and cardiovascular disease.

The imbalance of micronutrients can result in reduced work productivity and educational outcomes over time. Deficiency results in many issues; for example, lack of vitamin A, iron, vitamin B-12, and folate can result in anemia, which can lead to reduced weight loss due to loss of RBCs. This could lead to dizziness, weakness, shortness of breath, or fatigue and also reduce the effect of obesity.

Physical activity is important for obese people because it results in the breakdown of unused/ stored fats for energy, reducing weight gain. Physical activity ensures that the nutrients taken are utilized, reducing the risk of obesity. Obese persons can balance physical activity with their energy intake by increasing their total expenditure of energy (Alexander et al., 2022). To maintain a healthy body weight, obese individuals should take between 60 to 90 minutes of activity every day. Some ways for obese people to stay active include jogging, long yoga sessions, dancing, walking, push-ups, and weightlifting.

The precaution taken by the obese individual is choosing healthier beverages and foods such as healthy proteins and fats sources, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.

The nutritional issue associated with pregnant women is gestational anemia due to the low intake of foods containing protein, iron, calcium, and folate. Adolescents and children are associated with tooth decay and excessive weight gain, which results from high sugar and fat, processed foods high consumption. The elderly is associated with osteoporosis, a nutritional issue resulting from low intake of diets rich in minerals such as iron and calcium.

Sources of nutritional information may include the Mayo Clinic food substitution guide and the Eat Right organization.

References

Alexander, L., Christensen, S. M., Richardson, L., Ingersoll, A. B., Burridge, K., Golden, A. … & Bays, H. E. (2022). Nutrition and physical activity: an obesity medicine association (OMA) clinical practice statement 2022. Obesity Pillars, 1, 100005.

Seiler, A., Chen, M. A., Brown, R. L., & Fagundes, C. P. (2018). Obesity, dietary factors, nutrition, and breast cancer risk. Current breast cancer reports 10, 14-27.