Obesity rates have been sky rocketing in Australia over the past couple of years. Since 1986, Australia has been gaining weight consistently, and there’s no evidence to suggest a change of course. Yet.
Quite the opposite in fact.
- 1986: the rate of overweight or obese children in Australia is around 10-12%.
1995: a two-fold rate increase of overweight or obese children in Australia.
- 2004-05: 18% of men and 17% of women in Australia are obese.
2014-15: 63.4% of Australian adults are overweight or obese.
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It’s time to ring the alarm about obesity and understand that we are facing bad news and a very serious issue with deeper associations. Obesity doesn’t just affect appearance, but it also presents various health risks, and it lowers quality of life for both adults and children.
Obese children are more likely to be bullied at school and obese adults to be discriminated at the workplace. It has long been documented by social science that weight is one of the most common types of discrimination nowadays. So what can be done? And where does it all start?
Understanding obesity
It isn’t just people who are not affected by obesity that need to understand this condition but also obese people themselves. We could all benefit from a deeper understanding that this is a condition which needs to be treated adequately and addressed successfully.
People do not become overweight or obese overnight. This is a progressive condition that can be prevented when there is access to relevant information and to proper education.
Where obesity begins
There are various reasons that cause obesity: some people form bad eating habits, and others are even prone to develop eating disorders due to genes in the family.
Obesity can as well be a result of various medical conditions. Thyroid disease is, for example, the cause why a number of people become overweight.
In most cases, however, obesity is caused by overeating, and since most of our eating habits form during childhood, it’s important that children receive proper education on nutritional health from an early age. Children can be encouraged through fun activities to develop an active lifestyle and make healthy food choices.
How to approach weight loss for best results
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Whether preventive or not, there are several steps that help form and maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.
- Start by making healthier food choices: incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts into your diet and your family’s diet daily.
- Avoid unhealthy fats and sugary drinks: or at least start cutting back if you eat them in excess.
- Watch out for large restaurant meals: make an effort to assess the portion sizes when dining out. Fast food and affordable restaurant meals are now up to four times larger than in the past.
- Make time to exercise more if you have a desk job: a sedentary working lifestyle even affects thin and normal weight people, let alone people who are overweight and obese. Depending on which category you fall into, you might need more than an hour’s exercise a day. Fit activities into your schedule such as biking, walking, running, or practicing whatever you want.