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Ashift from the fast-paced college life to high-stress work life some-times takes a toll on people. Among the biggest changes that many new employees find in
themselves is a sudden gain in weight.Shubham Chauhan, 24, for instance, no-
ticed within a few months of getting his first job as a marketing executive at a mul-tinational corporation that he had started to gain weight. “Everyone told me that it is very natural for people to gain weight after college. However, the lack of any move-ment – as I had bought a car and would mostly work sitting – started affecting my health,” he said. Initially, Chauhan ig-nored his condition, but at the last weigh-in at the doctor’s office, he was surprised to see his weight. “I crossed the obesity line on BMI (body mass index). The doctor told me if I didn’t change my lifestyle soon, this could cause serious problems,” he said.
Easy availability of high-calorie food along with high disposable income is con-tributing to the problem of obesity, said Dr Anand NS, consultant bariatric, laparo-scopic surgeon at Columbia Asia Hospitals in Bengaluru. “Sedentary lifestyle is catch-ing up – with the use of vehicles, even for short distances, using lifts, etc - and free exercises are becoming rarer,” he said.
The problem runs much deeper than just weight, said Dr Pratibha Singh, a Delhi-based nutritionist and lifestyle consultant.
“With the increase in disposable income that comes along with a good-paying job, the need for ease and comfort – whether it is your lifestyle or your food – feels a lot more achievable,” Singh said.
“You work longer hours, make little or no food on your own at home, go for office lunches and socialise during dinner. It’s therefore not hard to see people getting used to accepting the added weight,” she said.
DON’T GIVE IN TO WEIGHT GAIN
Singh said that putting on weight is an ominous trend. “We should not normalise gaining weight at these milestones of life. If ignored, it can lead to obesity, and worse, a way of life that is hard to break,” she said.
Take the case of Singdha Sahani. She re-alised that if she didn’t make any changes, she could face serious consequences be-cause of her weight. “I had tipped the obe-sity scale and with multiple illnesses in my family, my doctor told me to take the weight gain quite seriously,” she said.
SET YOUR HABITS RIGHT
A good way to go about making changes is to closely observe your physical activity and what you eat, and starting from the easiest bad habit, begin making changes. For example, if you take the lift every time, you can make the change by using it every alternate time, and using the stairs instead.
DIET AND EXERCISE
Anand said that diets and slimming cen-
tres don’t really seem to provide a perma-nent solution. “There is scientific evidence to show that if one follows a diet, there is an increased level of a hunger-inducing hor-mone called ghrelin which reaches a high-er level than before starting the diet, so as soon as the person stops the regime, he or she will have a weight rebound and reach a higher baseline than before,” he said.
Sahani, 35, tried three-four diets, but when she did not get any results she needed to take a serious look at her day-to-day habits. “I met a dietician and together we came up with a food plan that was healthier for me and easy for me to adopt. I realised that I needed to make changes permanently,” she said.
Dr Priyanka Rohtagi, senior consultant (dietician) at Apollo Hospitals in Bengaluru, said: “Identifying and making changes in your wrong food choices, set-ting a routine, exercising, getting enough sunlight and keeping away from smoking, drinking and stress can go a long way in avoiding obesity.”
Reality:Each person needs a certain amount of fat for proper body function. Going below that can disr-upt the entire system. Stick to what is optimal for you.
Myth:You must target lower body fat percentage if you have to lose weight.
BODY FAT
Myth BusterGrandma’s RemedyBLOATINGGrind a small fistful of fresh and clean pudina (mint) leaves into a fine paste. Add this to a tall glass of warm water and drink to get rid of stomach bloating.
Ay
ush
Rek
ha
When you are trying to lose weight, small changes in your diet can make a big difference. When you feel like indulging, stop and think if there is a healthy food swap. In fact, choosing healthy foods is much easier than you think. Here are some shifts you can make:
Make the Smart Shift
We bring you the latest from the world of medicine and wellness
HEALTH CAPSULE
E veryone wants to stay fit, but we are unable to take out time from our busy schedules. Well, no wor-
ries! I am suggesting a few crash tech-niques for workouts, which you can fol-low during working hours.You will feel the zeal and enjoy your work and work-out together. Here are some exercises you can do at your workstation to im-
prove your body flexibility and strength.
GO FOR A BRISK WALK
Avoid escalators and lifts if your office is on the third or fourth floor. Always use the stairs, whether coming to office or going back home. Go for a brisk walk instead of slogging because it works as a warm-up.
MIND YOUR POSTURE WHILE SITTING
Mind your sitting position. Your body posture should be right. It should be in a 90-90-90 degree angle — keep your feet flat on the floor or on a foot rest and bend your knees and hips at 90-degree angles. Keep your lower spine flat against the back of the chair to main-tain proper curvature. A wellness ball is a better option than a chair in the of-fice — this will keep you in the right po-sition. It will also help keep your back and neck erect and decrease your chances of hunching forward, which can cause spasms in the back and neck, and lead to headache.
SHAKE YOUR LEG
Tap the Fred Astaire in you by speedily tapping those toes on the floor under your desk. Or, graduate to a harder (and less inconspicuous) move: Stand in front of a small trash can and lift up your legs to tap the toes on its edge; alternating feet, tap toes forward and backward. Put your legs on the well-ness ball and move slowly in a circular way for 4-5 minutes.
TAKE A BREAK
Sitting continuously for 8-9 hours in one position is harmful. So, take breaks every hour for a few minutes. Stretch
your body by touching your feet with your hand. Keep in mind that your legs should be straight while stretching your body in the sitting position.
DO THE CARPET RIDE
The 'Magic Carpet Ride' works your core and arms. Sit in your chair with your legs crossed and your feet on the seat. Then place your hands on the arm-rests, suck in your gut and raise your-self a few inches above the seat, using your belly, muscles and hands. Hold for 10-20 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat it five times.
WIND UP WITH STRENGTH
Just a few minutes before you log out, pull out the chair, straighten your hand and hold yourself for 15-20 seconds in the position of squats and then relax. Repeat this exercise three times until your PC shuts down. It helps you build strength in the legs and reduce belly fat too.
—The writer is MD, Technogym India
PANKAJ ARORA
Expert Take
Fitness on Mind? You Can Work Out while You are at Work too
Early Diagnosis, New Drugs Key to Beat AIDS
Developing new frontline antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and
using technology for early diagnosis are among key steps needed to sus-tain momentum in fighting HIV/AIDS and ending the disease as a public health threat by 2030, UNAIDS said in a report on Monday. The United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, said that by June this year around 20.9 million people were receiving life-prolonging ARV treatment, with rapid progress seen over the last five years when the numbers of people accessing medication nearly doubled. "The pace of scale-up has been particularly remarkable in eastern and southern Africa, the re-gion most affected by the epidem-ic," said the 'Right to Health' report, released in Khayelitsha township some 31 km from Cape Town. The number of people on treatment in the region surpassed all other re-gions combined in 2010 and pres-ently accounts for 60% of all people on treatment. South Africa led the world with the number of people on treatment, at 4.2 million, followed by India, Mozambique and Kenya. UNAIDS said the worldwide expan-sion of ARV therapy was the main factor behind a 48% decline in deaths from AIDS-related illnesses, from a peak of 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million in 2016.
Brain Training Seen Reducing Dementia Risk
In a first, research-ers have identi-
fied a form of men-tal exercise that can significantly reduce the risk of demen-tia. The cognitive training, called 'speed of process-ing', showed bene-fits up to 10 years after participants un-derwent the mental exercise programme, said Frederick W Unver-zagt, from the Indiana University in the US. The proportion of participants who underwent the training and later devel-oped dementia was significantly smaller than among those who received no cog-nitive training, they said. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, examined 2,802 healthy adults aged 65 years and older from multiple sites who were randomly divided into four groups.
Weight gain happens rapidly when you are focussed almost entirely on meeting deadlines at work. But you can steer clear of the extra kilos and a host of accompanying diseases with conscious living, writes Nishtha Sabharwal
Big Burden: It Costs You Your Health, Pinches PocketIndia is facing a serious burden of obesity. The
condition is infl uenced by people’s dietary patterns and the environment of physical activity. Living with obesity
is linked to poorer mental health conditions, inactivity,
reduced quality of life and increased use of medication.
Being directly associated with diabetes and hypertension, it is a serious risk for heart dis-ease, stroke and some types
of cancer, and thus, among the leading causes of death worldwide. Saliha Nasline
talks to experts and fi nds out that prevention can make a
big difference to both individ-ual health and economic cost
T he burden of obesity in urban India is increasing alarmingly and around 21% of the total
population is over weight, said Dr Manish Joshi, senior consultant and head, surgical gastroenterology, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, Bengaluru. According to Dr Rohan Sequeira, consultant cardiovascular diabetologist and obesity consultant, Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai, India and China account for 15% of the world’s obese popula-tion, of which 30 million people are in India. Among adults, 16% men and 22% women have crossed the red line.
In 2016, three of the five leading causes of disease burden in India were non-com-municable, with ischaemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-ease as the top two causes and stroke as
the fifth, Dr SD Gupta, chairman of IIHMR University, Jaipur, said.
Dr Sanjiv Kumar, director, IIHMR Delhi, said that a recently-released ICMR, PHFI and IHME report shows that in India, the proportion of deaths due to NCDs has jumped from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016. This is an alarming trend.
ECONOMIC COST
“Some studies indicate that the current monthly ex-penditure in a mor-bidly obese person is around ̀ 224 compared to ̀ 68 in a normal- weight individual,’’ said Joshi.
The older age groups are typically more vulnerable to obesity which is a precursor to chronic diseases such as car-diovascular disease, diabetes,
hypertension and lipid issues, said Sequeira. “Obesity-related conditions are estimated to have cost the Indian economy $200 billion during 2005-2015.The projections for the next 10 years can be twice or thrice the cost of the past 10 years. By 2025, obesity-related diseases will cost India a staggering $13 billion.” India stands to lose $4.58 trillion before 2030 due to non-commu-nicable diseases and obesity-related
health conditions. Cardiovascular diseases, ac-
counting for $2.17 trillion, and obesity and associated
health conditions ($1.03 tril-lion), will lead the way in economic loss.
PREVENTION IS KEY
Prevention of obesity can make a sea of difference, chorused the doctors.
Economic and social losses due to NCDs are not inevitable, said
Sequeira. Options exist for action that policy-makers can take today, and businesses may contribute as well through workplace health pro-grammes aimed at prevention, early detection, treatment and care. Health education programmes that promote exercise and weight reduction, screening for hypertension as anoth-er pathway to influence both exercise and dietary behaviour, early treat-ment, reduced smoking, etc need to be accorded high priority, he said.
“Prevention is much better than cure for obesity as the compounding risks of medical illnesses like diabetes, hy-pertension, cancer and heart disease increase with increasing BMI,” said Joshi.
Physical inactivity and improper die-tary practices contribute to obesity and NCDs. The government must in-vest in prevention of obesity by active-ly engaging with different ministries, added Kumar.
Untreated Obesity is Respon-sible for Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs)
Heart diseases Diabetes Liver disease Some types of cancer
Estimated Percentage of Adults Living with Obesity (BMI > 30kg/m2)
SHED BAGGAGE, CUT DISEASES
Percentage of Indian Adults Living with Obesity (BMI >30kg/m2) (In %)
2014 2025(Estimated)
2.3 5.2 3.1 6.9
MALE FEMALE
4,83,38,000No of adults in India who will be living
with obesity by 2025
$12.70 billionEstimated an-
nual costs of treating health consequences of obesity by 2025
By spending $13 billion on treating obesity now, we can reduce its prevalence from 5% to 3%
Prevention can thus sig-nifi cantly cut medical costs of treating the conse-quences
$89.94 billionCumulative cost of consequences of
not treating obesity between 2017
and 2025
SOURCE: WOD 2017 DATA. WORLD OBESITY FEDERATION
Worldwide $600 $1.2billion trillionCost of Preventing Obesity to Re-
duce Prevalence by 5 percentage points over 2017-2025 ($ billion)
USA 37 Australia 3.3 UK 8.1 South Africa 2.2Germany 8.9 Brazil 12.2 Worldwide 361
US $ at 2014 value, adjusted for purchasing power parity
Annual Cost of Consequences of Not Treating Obesity ($ billion)
Countries 2014 2025USA 34 41Australia 28 34UK 27 34South Africa 27 32Germany 21 25Brazil 21 25
Countries 2014 2025USA 325 555Australia 9 17UK 19 30.6South Africa 4.4 8.6Germany 31.3 50.2Brazil 16.6 34.4
People who overdose on paracetamol could be helped by a blood test that
shows immediately if they are going to suffer liver damage, a study has found. Researchers at the University of Edin-burgh in the UK say the test — which de-tects levels of specific molecules in blood — will help doctors identify which patients need more intense treatment. It will also help speed the development of new therapies for liver damage by tar-geting patients most likely to benefit. The test detects three different mole-cules in the blood that are associated with liver damage — called miR-122, HMGB1 and FL-K18. The study, published in the journal Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, measured levels of the three markers in more than 1,000 pa-tients who needed treatment for par-acetamol overdose. They found that the test can accurately predict which pa-tients are going to develop liver prob-lems, and who may need to be treated for longer before they are discharged.
Paracetamol Overdose: Test will Tell Liver Damage
NOT THE NEW NORMAL
We should not normalise gaining weight at these mile-stones of life. If ignored, it can lead to obesity, and worse, a way of life that is hard to break Dr Pratibha Singh, Nutritionist and lifestyle consultant, Delhi
MAKE TIME
Squeezing in some steps and stretches can add zeal to whatever you are doing at your workplace too
Fruit juice to vegetable juiceFruit juice is healthy, but the added sug-ar in it will come in the way of achieving your target weight. Try vegetable juice or sugarless fruit juice instead.
Potato chips to popcornHomemade popcorn has 80% less saturated fat than potato chips. It is also high in fi bre.
Vada pav to dosa-sambarVada pav contains maida, butter and oil. Dosa is rich in energy while the sambar contains protein. Only, go for less oil and eat less chutney.
Chocolate to dark chocolateCompared to normal chocolate, dark chocolate has less sugar in it. It aids heart health, blood pressure control and is rich in antioxidants.
Snack bars to almondsThese bars contain
high-fructose corn syrup. A handful of almonds will give you healthy fats & protein.
Stay on the Right Side of the OBESITY LINE
THINKSTOCK
INVITING TROUBLE?
5Health & YouThe Economic Times, Hyderabad, Saturday, 25 November 2017
CCI NG 3.7 Product: ETBangaloreBS PubDate: 25-11-2017 Zone: Hyderabad Edition: 1 Page: ETHECO2 User: megha.reddy Time: 11-24-2017 21:31 Color: CMYK
