Thursday, November 5, 2009
Q: How many women in the United States are overweight or obese?
A: Over 60 percent of U.S. adult women are overweight, according to 2007 estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over one-third of overweight adult women are obese.
Q: How do I know if I’m overweight walking or obese?
A: Find out your body mass index (BMI). BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. People with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered over- weight. People with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese.
Q: What causes someone to become overweight or obese?
A: You can become overweight or obese when you eat more calories (KAL-oh- rees) than you use. A calorie is a unit of energy in the food you eat. Your body needs this energy to function and to be active. But if you take in more energy than your body uses, you will gain
weight.
Many factors can play a role in becoming overweight or obese. These factors include:
- Behaviors, such as eating too many calories or not getting enough physical activity
- Environment and culture
- Genes
Overweight and obesity problems keep estimates from the National Center getting worse in the United States. for Health Statistics of the Center for Some cultural reasons for this include:
- Bigger portion sizes
- Little time to exercise or cook women are obese. healthy meals
- Using cars to get places instead of walking
A: Being overweight or obese can increase your risk of:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Breathing problems
- Arthritis
- Gallbladder disease
- Some kinds of cancer
- Problems getting pregnant But excess body weight isn’t the only health risk. The places where you store your body fat also affect your health.
A: The best way to lose weight is to use more calories than you take in. You can do this by following a healthy eating plan and being more active. Before you start a weight-loss program, talk to your doctor.
Safe weight-loss programs that work well:
- Set a goal of slow and steady weight loss — 1 to 2 pounds per week
- Offer low-calorie eating plans with a wide range of healthy foods
- Encourage you to be more physically active
- Teach you about healthy eating and physical activity
- Adapt to your likes and dislikes and cultural background
- Help you keep weight off after you lose it
A: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) offer tips for healthy eating in Dietary Guidelines for All Americans.
• Focus on fruits. Eat a variety of fruits — fresh, frozen, canned, or dried — rather than fruit juice for most of your fruit choices. For a 2,000-calorie diet, you will need 2 cups of fruit each day. An example of 2 cups is 1 small banana, 1 large orange, and 1/4 cup of dried apricots or peaches.
• Vary your veggies. Eat more:
- Dark green veggies, such as broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens
- Orange veggies, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash
- Beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, and lentils
• Make half your grains whole. Eat at least 3 ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta each day. One ounce is about 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta. Look to see that grains such as wheat, rice, oats, or corn are referred to as “whole” in the list of ingredients.
• Go lean with protein. Choose lean meats and poultry. Bake it, broil it, or grill it. Vary your protein choices with more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds.
• Limit saturated fats. Get less than 10 percent of your calories from saturated fatty acids. Most fats should come from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. When choosing and preparing meat, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.
• Limit salt. Get less than 2,300 mg of sodium (about 1 teaspoon of salt) each day.
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