Nutrition and obesity are closely linked, since good nutrition plays a key role in preventing the health risks associated with obesity and being overweight.
How Is Nutrition Connected to Obesity?Overweight and obesity refer to a body weight that exceeds what’s medically considered healthy for a given height range. Obesity is considered a chronic disease with serious health consequences.
Among the main causes of being overweight is consuming foods and beverages high in salt, sugar, saturated fat, and trans fat.
Although there are various factors linked to obesity, the underlying cause of weight gain is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned.
To address obesity, nutritional treatment is essential. The goal is to adjust eating habits and increase physical activity.
Nutritional Treatments for ObesityFollowing a nutritional treatment plan is the primary way to lose weight. It’s common for people to have unhealthy eating habits or behaviors, sometimes without even realizing they aren’t healthy.
For this reason, it’s important to seek guidance from a nutritionist not just to eat better, but also to receive support and direction if medical care is needed to address other issues related to obesity.
ABC Medical Center offers support through personalized treatment plans, based on clinical guidelines and care protocols. It also provides access to specialists in nutrition, sports medicine, endocrinology, internal medicine, and psychology, and, for specific cases, offers bariatric surgery options such as gastric bypass or gastric sleeve surgery.
What Types of Diets Are Best Suited for People Who Are Overweight or Obese?While it’s common to hear about ready-made diets promising magical weight-loss results, the reality is that every person is different, and the circumstances that led to their current weight are unique to them.
In some cases, poor eating habits alone are responsible for obesity, but there are also cases where issues like hypothyroidism or medications needed to treat other conditions can lead to unhealthy weight gain.
To determine whether someone is overweight or obese, it’s important to see a nutritionist, who can measure body mass index (BMI), one of the most common methods for assessing a patient’s weight and evaluating health risks.
During this evaluation, the nutritionist may also measure waist circumference, perform a physical exam, and gather more information about the patient’s medical history, eating habits, and exercise routine.
With all of this information in hand, the nutritionist will create a personalized diet plan for each patient, designed to meet their nutritional needs, consider any other existing health conditions, and support healthy, sustainable weight loss.
At ABC Medical Center’s Nutrition and Obesity Center, we can provide you with specialized care and more information about nutrition and obesity. Contact us!
