subject: The Link Between Obesity And Environmental Pollution [print this page] Most of us link obesity with excessive food intake and lack of exercise. And by just addressing these two with a well balanced diet and more physical activity, we think we are already doing a good job in keeping ourselves healthy. Sometimes though, the excessive effort can take too long, only to show very minimal in favored results. Based on definition, obesity is not simply defined as fatness, but it is already considered as a medical condition because of excessive body fat that can affect health and reduced life expectancy due to potential health complications. It seems to sound more serious now right than just merely seeing a person as if he/she just enjoyed the hobby of eating. Apparently, there is more to it than just that.
Recent studies and tests show that environmental pollution plays a big role in the difficulty in shaking those extra pounds off. Here is a couple of obesity, more so diabetes, caused by environmental pollution based on 2 groups of mice (Mice testing is most commonly used to test out certain effects of products, food, etc to the human body): One group was within a controlled environment with fresh breathable air, while the other group was exposed to microscopic air pollutants as what we have in a normal urban setting. The test results show that:
-The mice exposed to microscopic air pollutants acquired increase the levels of fat around the abdomen and internal organs. This is because the human body forms fat as our defense against toxins.
-The same group of mice had increased blood sugar levels and developed insulin resistance compared those not exposed to polluted air.
Unfortunately, for humans, the effects of environmental pollution may highly be the same. Our body combines the toxins acquired from the pollutants with triglycerides and sends them to fat storage to avoid them from circulating through our internal organs. This is good as a defense mechanism indeed, but apparently has its adverse effects in the long run.
In this case, we need not only the combination of effort of a balanced diet and physical activity, but also to detoxify regularly, avoid smoking and expose ourselves more to a better environment. Let us make this switch from processed food to organic and fresh fruits and vegetables to maximize the natural health components. Maximizing means less if not zero on the chemical pesticides used that may disrupt the hormones in the body. We can even take advantage of services provided by food coaches for better knowledge, if not be trained to be food coaches ourselves through courses on nutrition to promote the same living standards to others. Bottom line is we need to watch the food we eat, exercise, detoxify, do not smoke and avoid exposure to highly polluted places as we take our healthy lifestyle as we know it to a higher and optimum level. Overall, this can complete our healthy physical well-being and lifestyle.
