19 Diseases and Conditions Directly Attributable to Being Overweight Source: Mercola.com (Check it out! It's a great resource!)
Obesity is a growing concern in the United States; overweight rates have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents. This increases the number of years that they are exposing themselves to dangerous health risks associated with obesity.
Here are 19 diseases or conditions that can be attributed to obesity:
- Diabetes, a disorder where the pancreas is not producing enough or sometimes not any insulin. Diabetes can lead to a whole host of other medical issues and obesity is one of the main causes.
- Cancer has many different forms and types; many of them could be prevented with more attention to eating healthily and avoiding obesity.
- Congestive heart failure is a condition in which your heart can’t pump enough blood to your body’s other organs.
- Enlarged heart is another heart condition where the muscle of your heart becomes larger due to being overworked, which naturally happens if you are overweight.
- Pulmonary embolism is a sometimes fatal blockage of an artery. Being overweight causes most people to reduce activity, and after time lack of activity can result in an embolism.
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a condition in which cysts develop in your ovaries. These can burst, causing even further problems.
- Gastro-esophageal reflux disease happens when stomach acid and juices flow from your stomach back up into your esophagus. It is common in overweight people.
- Fatty liver disease is a reversible condition in which large pockets of fat accumulate in liver cells.
- A hernia is caused when the hole in the diaphragm weakens and enlarges.
- Urinary incontinence is the inability to control urination. It is frequently associated with obesity, weak bladder and pelvic floor muscles.
- Chronic renal failure, meaning your kidneys fail to work, is a much greater risk to those who are overweight or obese.
- Lymph edema is a condition that occurs from a damaged or dysfunctional lymphatic system, sometimes caused by people suffering from obesity actually crushing their own lymphatics.
- Cellulitis is a spreading infection, involving both the dermis and subcutaneous skin tissues, resulting from poor lymph flow caused by obesity.
- Stroke is caused by a lack of blood supply to your brain.
- Pickwickian syndrome is characterized by sleep apnea resulting from obesity placing an excessive load on your pulmonary system.
- Depression is a condition where a person feels miserable constantly, even to the point of being suicidal. It can be worse for someone who also has a weight problem.
- Osteoarthritis is a clinical syndrome in which low-grade inflammation results in pain in your joints. It is caused by abnormal wearing of the cartilage, oftentimes due to obesity.
- Gout occurs when uric acid accumulates in your blood. Nerve endings then become irritated, causing extreme pain, which is made worse by carrying extra weight.
- Gallbladder disease commonly affects overweight people as a result of high blood cholesterol levels, which cause gall stones.
According to a Surgeon General report, obesity is responsible for 300,000 deaths every year in the United States.
One More Reason to Ban Artificial Sweeteners from Your Diet Source: Mercola.com (Check it out! It's a great resource!)
Individuals who consume a diet high in artificially sweetened drinks are more likely to experience a decline in kidney function, according to a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting in San Diego, California.
Research conducted by Julie Lin MD, MPH, FASN and Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, FASN of Brigham and Women's Hospital examined the influence of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages on kidney function decline in a group of 3,000 women subjects in a Nurses’ Health Study.
This investigation reported "a significant two-fold increased odds, between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and faster kidney function decline; no relation between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney function decline was noted.”
The association persisted even after the study authors accounted for age, caloric intake, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, physical activity, and cardiovascular disease.
Aspartame Dangers You Need to Know
Aspartame goes by the brand names NutraSweet and Equal. It is one of the first generation of artificial sweeteners and is 180 times as sweet as sugar. There are over 6,000 products containing aspartame, sold in over 100 countries and consumed by over 250 million people worldwide.
There have been more reports to the FDA for aspartame reactions than for all other food additives combined. And, there are over 900 published studies on the health hazards of aspartame. You can find a list in the National Library Medicine Index.
There are also some 10,000 documented reports of adverse reactions to aspartame, including death. Since it is estimated only about 1 percent of people who experience a reaction report it, it is safe to assume at least a million people have had a reaction to this chemical.
Among the risks, the phenylalanine in aspartame dissociates from the ester bond and increases dopamine levels in your brain. This can lead to symptoms of depression because it distorts your serotonin/dopamine balance. It can also lead to migraine headaches and brain tumors through a similar mechanism.
Furthermore, the aspartic acid in aspartame is a well-documented excitotoxin. Excitotoxins are usually amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate. These special amino acids cause particular brain cells to become excessively excited, to the point they will quickly die. Excitotoxins can also cause a loss of brain synapses and connecting fibers.
Then the ester bond in aspartame is broken down to formaldehyde and methanol, which have their own toxicities. So it is not surprising that this popular artificial sweetener has also been found to cause cancer.
Why Splenda is Not so Splendid
Splenda was approved by the FDA in 1998 as a tabletop sweetener and for use in products such as baked goods, nonalcoholic beverages, chewing gum, frozen dairy desserts, fruit juices, and gelatins. Sucralose is also permitted as a general-purpose sweetener for all processed foods.
The approval was given after the FDA supposedly reviewed more than 110 animal and human safety studies, but out of these 110 studies, only two were human studies, and the longest one was conducted for four days!
And, those animal studies reveal plenty of problems, such as:
- Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
- Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
- Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
- Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
- A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group
A recent study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health also found that Splenda:
- Reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent
- Increases the pH level in your intestines
- Affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you’re on certain medications
They also found unmistakable evidence that Splenda is absorbed by fat, contrary to previous claims.
It’s truly disturbing that Splenda can destroy up to 50 percent of your healthy intestinal bacteria, as these bacteria help maintain your body's overall balance of friendly versus unfriendly micro-organisms, and support your general health.
My site also contains a long list of personal case studies from readers who have been injured and suffered side effects from Splenda. In fact, we have more people on our site that have reported adverse reactions to Splenda than were formally studied in the research submitted for FDA approval!
The symptoms are so numerous I can’t include them all here, but the following are common symptoms, usually noticed within a 24-hour period following consumption of Splenda products:
- Skin -- Redness, itching, swelling, blistering, weeping, crusting, rash, eruptions, or hives (itchy bumps or welts). These are the most common allergic symptoms that people have.
- Lungs -- Wheezing, tightness, cough, or shortness of breath
- Head -- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, or throat; headaches and migraines (severe headaches)
- Nose -- Stuffy nose, runny nose (clear, thin discharge), sneezing
- Eyes -- Red (bloodshot), itchy, swollen, or watery
- Stomach -- Bloating, gas, pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea
- Heart -- Palpitations or fluttering
- Joints -- Joint pains or aches
- Neurological -- Anxiety, dizziness, spaced-out sensation, depression
Artificial Sweeteners Can Even Make You Gain Weight
Truth be told, most people opt for artificial sweeteners over regular sugar not because they taste so good but because they contain zero calories.
However, the belief that eating artificially sweetened foods and drinking artificially sweetened beverages will help you to lose weight is a carefully orchestrated deception. So if you are still opting for diet choices for this reason, you are being sorely misled.
In reality, these diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge. Unfortunately, most public health agencies and nutritionists in the United States recommend these toxic artificial sweeteners as an acceptable alternative to sugar, which is at best confusing and at worst harming the health of those who take their misguided advice.
The research clearly shows:
So when you add up all the evidence, there is really NO reason to be consuming these dangerous artificial substances.
Diet Tricks That Really Work According to Live Science, these diet tricks will actually help you keep off the pounds:
- Avoid corn syrup - Science shows that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is bad news. One study showed that rats who drank HFCS-sweetened beverages gained significantly more weight than rats consuming the same amount of calories in sugar.
- Keep away from junk food -- it's addictive - Junk food can affect your brain in ways similar to drug abuse.
- Structure meal times - Long stretches without food make people crave energy-dense snacks, which can make healthy choices difficult.
- Satisfy your body -- especially at breakfast - A protein-rich breakfast leaves you less hungry for the rest of the day. Some fat in the meal can help, too.
- Favor foods closer to nature - Favoring whole fresh foods over processed ones will naturally optimize the healthiness of your food choices.
- Change your environment - Altering your food environment -- whether this means using smaller plates or keeping seconds out of immediate reach -- can help you lose weight.
- Enjoy your food - Food that is eaten mindlessly is neglected food. When you pay attention, you are satisfied in a deeper way.
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