“Fatness”- Really?

Happy weekend bloggers!

In one of the articles I was reading while doing research to write this post, this is what scientists at the American Heart Association referred to obesity as- “fatness”. But I suppose that is science for you- we tend to be pretty direct. In your case, however, we will refer to obesity as just that- obesity- because I recognize that you, bloggers, are humans, and not rats. We don’t have “fatness”, we have junk in the trunk, badonk, a little wiggle. But today let’s go over how a little extra wiggle might put you at risk.

I was looking at resources to try to find an explanation for my intense salt addiction when I found this statement:

“Every pound of excess weight adds several miles of extra capillaries that must be supplied with blood from the heart.”

MILES. You have MILES of extra blood vessels in all of that badonk.

This means that you heart has to work even harder to pump blood to all those tiny little capillaries (capillaries are the teeny little blood vessels that supply all the parts of your body with blood and nutrients and things. These are what actually bleed when you get a papercut or something). That’s why there is a direct connection between obesity and high blood pressure, one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Not only does your heart have to pump harder to get blood where it needs to go, your lungs have to work harder to put oxygen into your blood, your bones have to work harder to keep you vertical, and your muscles have to work harder to move you around, among other hard working parts of your body.

But I’m not here to just tell you that you should probably lose weight and eat healthier and blah blah blah, because I’ll be the first one to admit that I haven’t seen the gym in a month and I really prefer pasta to vegetables. I’m here to tell you HOW to easily accomplish these things, because that’s where so many prevention campaigns go wrong. We all know what we’re SUPPOSED to do, we just don’t have any idea how to do it.

How do you fight obesity? Lifestyle changes. This takes a while, but let’s start with easy ones.

1.       The American Heart Association recommends getting 30 minutes of activity a day to be heart healthy. Who has time for that? You do! On your lunch break, take a brisk walk around the building. Take the stairs. Park a few spots away from the grocery store entrance. Stand when you talk on the phone (it burns more calories than sitting down). Carry your own groceries. Dance while you’re getting ready in the morning. These are all quick little ways to work exercise into your life.

2.       Choose to eat more vegetables. Sneak them into foods. I always make sure I put peas in my rice so I trick myself into eating a vegetable. If you’re making meatloaf, shred some carrots into the mix. Take advantage of all of these little ways you can eat more vegetables without having to crunch raw celery all the time.

3.       Go in on it together. Even if you’re not struggling with weight problems, we all still need to take charge of our health to avoid cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer. Get a group of friends together and initiate a “Walking on Wednesday” group or a recipe exchange group where you and your friends exchange healthy recipes, or think of something you can do together to support each other’s healthy habits. It’s SO much easier to be healthy when you’re all doing it together.

From my heart to yours,
Red in Richland County