Month: April 2020

Your Workplace Can Play an Important Role in Controlling Obesity

The common misunderstanding, that should be cleared, is that being obese is the same as being overweight. Being overweight means having a body mass index (BMI) of more than 22.5 whereas obesity is when the BMI is 27.5 and above. Obesity occurs when the energy consumption from the consumption of food is greater than the energy spend through the body’s metabolism and physical activity over a stretched period, resulting in the stocking up of excess body fat.

One out of five people suffer from obesity in India and unfortunately India has been ranked as one of the top five obese countries in the world. Thanks to the speedily changing lifestyle of the Indian population. Obesity is responsible for multiple health conditions, psychological and social problems. Nowadays, lifestyle of people is driven by work culture to a great extent. The young generation inclines to spend more time at workplace than at home or outdoors. This has resulted in many lifestyle and behavioral changes like desk job, inadequate sleep, sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, consumption of alcohol and fatty diet adding to the risk factors associated with obesity.

Physical activity and healthy diet are two main factors which impact our body weight. But, in our fast paced life, we hardly get time to undertake such healthy measures. Sitting in front of the computer for extended hours and eating junk food has become the way of life. The corporate plays an important role in instrumenting this serious problem and promoting a lifestyle-oriented work culture. Corporate should take the initiative of guiding employees towards a balanced and healthy life. Weight management exercises, health screening, access to gyms and yoga sessions are some of the initiatives workplaces should take to save their employees from the risk of developing obesity.

Another important role that corporate can play is to arrange health programme sessions where every employee will get essential information on healthy eating behavior and health tips from experts. This will not only help them cut on expenditure towards doctors and medications but will also benefit the workplace by lowering the rate of absenteeism emerging due to illness.

Covid-19 Lockdown – Effects on obesity

Due to absence of mass immunity and effective treatment against COVID-19, most nations are forced to go into lockdown of their cities as a public health measure to control the spread of virus thus ensuring safety of their citizens.

As a practicing bariatric dietician, I am equally worried about the health risk of our obese population and for patients who have underwent weight loss surgery, so would like to share some facts on how they are more susceptible to the corona virus infection and its complications as compared to non-obese population.

Obesity is the root cause of many metabolic health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and many types of cancers. Obesity also affects nutritional status by giving birth to many nutritional deficiencies in the body which ultimately alters immune response and weakens immunity. Hence, it is important for obese people, especially those with BMI >40kg/m2 to be more careful during the lockdown about their health by not gaining weight. It is generally seen from various scientific studies that people with obesity get reduced protection from vaccination, which necessitates more care for such population.

Lockdown is necessary to stay safe, but it may exacerbate existing obesity. The unwanted alteration in daily routine may make you lenient and lazy which may badly interfere with your weight loss goals.

Most likely for the first time in the past, all recreational facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, parks and outdoor play areas, adventure parks etc. have been shut down to safeguard people from the virus. This has created boundaries for people to continue with their exercise regime and the comfort and relaxation of being at home with family may induce people to eat carelessly.

Taking care of your weight is a great matter of concern at this time as behavioral therapy, physical activity and healthy eating are at risk of being ignored. Obese people with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, etc. should prevent even a minor weight gain, as increased vulnerability to infection and lack of routine connect to the healthcare may contribute to the new health issues in the near future.

Having a structured routine and eating mindfully is important to strengthen the immunity during this pandemic. It is important to stay positive, sleep well, exercise and stay stress free to enhance your well-being.

Following are some tips to spend structured, healthful days during lockdown:

  • keep up to an exercise program while at home, include walking in your balcony or terrace or on your treadmill, do yoga, aerobics, stretching exercises with therabands, dance or zumba etc. 30 to 45 minutes a day to increase your metabolism.
  • People with limited space in the house can do spot walking, spot jogging and floor exercises.
  • Walk while you are on a phone call, avoid sitting.
  • Maintain your regular meal pattern of 3 main meals and 2 to 3 healthy, low calories snacks.
  • Don’t munch in between meals, this may increase your calorie intake.
  • Watch your portion sizes. Patients who have undergone bariatric surgery must use bariatric utensils, other may use small size utensils to control meal portions.
  • As we all are bound to be less active, cut on your carbohydrate intake to balance energy intake. Consume more of protein based foods like skimmed milk and milk products, pulses and legumes, sprouts, well cooked egg whites, nuts like almonds or walnuts, fresh summer salads, homemade soups and low calorie beverages like buttermilk, green tea, green coffee, coconut water and lemon water to stay fit.
  • Non-vegetarians may eat well cooked chicken and seafood.
  • Stick to roasted, boiled, baked and grilled low fat food items.
  • Keep a gap of 3 to 4 hours between meals and snacks.
  • Consume 2 to 2.5 lts. liquid a day, preferably water.
  • Keep a track of your weight.
  • Include immunity boosters like amla, turmeric, ginger, tulsi and citrus fruits in abundance in your daily diet to build your immunity.
  • People with diabetes, high blood pressure and other comorbidities stay in touch with your doctor through phone calls and keep monitoring more often.
  • Do not smoke and drink alcohol.
  • Take your nutritional supplements regularly.
  • Meditate to make mindful choices. This will also help you to stay positive, relax and sleep well.

Remember, it is difficult to lose weight during the lockdown period, but having a healthy routine with proper planning, making right choices and staying happy would help you lose as well as shall prevent weight gain.

Together we should utilize this time, focus on our health and let’s come out as a better version of you after the lockdown!!

Cheers!!

How to Avoid Gaining Weight During Lockdown

Guidance to help prevent weight gain while people work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic

Most of us have a habit of eating when we’re bored. This would not have been a problem when you worked from 9 to 5 and had breaks in between but now, at home, it appears snacks are always around. It’s normal to change your habit due to the changing routine. Many of us find comfort in food or just snacking because we’re at home and relaxing more, than in a normal routine. There’s only so much to do in lockdown: read, work, eat and repeat. Just being constricted to our apartment, where snacks are nearby, they are bound to be eaten. Make sure to inhabit yourself to avoid needless eating between meals and choose healthier snacks that will make you feel full and give your body more energy to continue with the day. We all sometimes forget to drink water therefore, get hold of a bottle of water and track your daily intake or focus on drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. The important thing is to drink water and it is good for your immune system, also good for detoxing. It keeps you fuller, so you don’t have likelihood to want to eat.”

This is a very stressful time, so don’t make things worse by sitting on a couch and eating all day. People are turning to emotional eating at this time for simple reason: It’s calming and resolves boredom. You just got to eat healthily – make sure you’re getting your protein, vegetables and fruit. Control sugary drinks, also alcohol and snacking as this will help boost your immune system and get you through this hard time. Eat small amounts of healthy food every 2 – 3 hours to keep your metabolism going. After eating, wait for 20 minutes and try doing something else, like watching a show or call a friend because usually after 20 minutes, your body perceives you’re full. Set a time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stick to a routine.

Too much relaxation can easily make us break our habits and lose motivation to reach our goals, whether they’re health-related or simply weight-wise. If you can’t get outside, go up and down your stairs or do easy exercise at home – find some way to be active. It’s important to carry on with physical activity, not only for managing your weight but to keep your body healthy. Being physically active boosts your immunity which is especially necessary when dealing with the coronavirus. Exercising for a minimum of 30 minutes daily should be a standard. With the world feeling a bit out of control, now is the ideal time to take control of your health.

Feel Free to Contact us for Other Weight Loss Information.