Obesity: A Message of Good Cheer to All Who've Put on Weight This Christmas

Most adults put on two to three pounds of excess weight over the Christmas holidays. This is enough to make them feel below par and look a trifle pudgy around the waist. As a result, it's not surprising that every year one of the most popular New Year resolutions is to lose weight. This goal is rarely accomplished, largely because it's rarely thought through. It's a panic a measure which often lasts no longer than the left over turkey and mince pies. Each year people go on low-calorie diets. Today it may be the Dukan diet, in previous years the Atkins diet or Grapefruit-only diet. These crash dieting regimes have one thing in common - they don't work. Anyone can lighten their bulk by enduring a few weeks of semi-fasting, but only two per cent retain this weight loss for more than a year or two. What's needed is not a temporary switch of diet, but a permanent change in life style.Providing you're healthy, it's no bad thing to be carrying a little excess avoirdupois. Several American surveys have shown that men who were 15-20 lb heavier than their 'desirable' weight lived longer, and had 80,000 fewer premature deaths, than their thinner counterparts. Another study of 14,345 men, revealed that regardless of how much weight they gained or lost over an 11 year period, those who maintained or even improved their fitness levels lowered by at least 30 per cent their risk of dying prematurely, or succumbing to a heart attack, compared with those who'd suffered a decline in their physical condition. So for a while ignore the scales and concentrate instead on gaining health rather than losing weight. Walk more. Use the stairs rather than the lifts and escalators.
Watch less television. The average American spends five hours a day glued to the idiot's lantern. Every two hours more they spend in front of the box increases their mortality rate by 13 per cent. Rather than reach for a can of coke from the fridge, get up and make yourself a cup of tea. This carries far few calories and contains small quantities of catechins which lower the amount of cholesterol absorbed in the gut. Also make a point of getting a good night's sleep, for sleep laboratories studies show that subjects who sleep less than six hours have a tendency to gain weight and develop high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes with an accompanying 48 per cent increased risk of succumbing to a fatal heart attack.
Other popular New Year resolutions are to have more fun, suffer less stress and spend more quality time with family and friends. The pursuit of these three goals will also help you lose weight and improve your fitness ratings. Researchers at a Californian university found that people who laughed for at least half-an-hour a day - by watching comedy films or TV shows - showed a rise of more than a quarter in their levels of 'good' cholesterol. This compared favourably with the rise of just three per cent shown by in those who took standard cholesterol medication without the accompanying chuckle therapy. In the same way scientists at the University of Utah have discovered that women in turbulent marriages are significantly more likely to accumulate fat deposits around their midriffs and develop high blood pressure and raised blood sugar levels. So don't worry excessively about your weight. In the New Year set out to make gains in fitness, rather than losses in weight. But don't push your luck too far. The Sumo wrestlers take part in a daily programme of strenuous strength training, but because they're grossly obese their life expectancy is little more than 60 years, which is more than ten years less than the average Japanese male..
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