Obesity is an increasingly common problem, because many modern lifestyles often promote eating excessive amounts of cheap, high-calorie food and spending a lot of time sitting at desks, on sofas or in cars. The environment where you spend most you time will influence the decision you make related to your health.

Obesity the Environmental Facts

Obesity is generally caused by consuming more calories – particularly those in fatty and sugary foods – than you burn off through physical activity. The excess energy is then stored by the body as fat.

The way communities, workplaces, and schools are structured has contributed to the country’s high rate of obesity.
Some of the changes seen in the past few decades include:
• Food (especially junk food) is now sold in places such as petrol stations and office supply stores that historically did not sell food. The end result is that food is available almost constantly.
• Food products and restaurants are marketed intensively on television, radio, online, and elsewhere.
• Most jobs present few opportunities for physical activity.
• Poor neighbourhoods are often “food deserts,” with no purveyors of fresh, healthy foods.
• There are many television shows dedicated to food, restaurants, and cooking that show no regard for the health consequences of the food being featured.

Stress

Stress contributes to obesity in a few ways:
• People who are stressed tend to make bad food choices and to eat too much.
• Stress causes the release of stress hormones including cortisol, which triggers the release of triglycerides (fatty acids) from storage and relocates them to fat cells deep in the abdomen. Cortisol also increases appetite.

Children

The Department of Health commissioned the evidence review from PHE following publication of the draft SACN report on Carbohydrates and Health in June 2014. PHE has since reviewed hundreds of studies from around the world. Some of the findings include:
• Children are exposed to a high volume of marketing and advertising in many forms.
• Marketing in all its many forms consistently influences food preference, choice and purchasing in children and adults. End of aisle displays, for example, leads to a 50% increase in purchases of fizzy drinks.
• Food promotions are more widespread in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, accounting for around 40% of all domestic food and drink spending. This increases the size of families shopping baskets by a fifth and means they are taking home 6% more sugar.
• A structured sugar reformulation programme could lead to a significant reduction in sugar consumption. The evidence showed if the sugar content of soft drinks was reduced by half, the sugar consumption of children under 10 and adults over 19 would decrease by 5g and for those in between, 11g.
• Increasing the price of high sugar food and drink, through taxation or a levy, is likely to reduce purchases of these products, at least in the short term.
• The public sector spends £2.4 billion a year on catering. Requiring caterers all to follow the government buying standards for food and catering services will ensure accountability for providing food meeting nutritional standards.

Alcohol

Alcohol consumption has increased in the past year due to marketing and trends. Heavy drinkers are at higher risk of obesity than moderate drinkers. Findings from the British Regional Heart Study, a prospective cohort study of British men, reported that heavy drinkers aged 40–59 had the highest prevalence of weight gain and obesity at five year follow-up. Further results from the same study also found heavy drinking to be associated with increased weight gain in men aged 60–79. Researchers found that the odds of overweight and obesity were significantly higher among binge drinkers and/or heavy drinkers (consuming four or more drinks per day) than among those who consumed the same amount of alcohol over multiple sessions

Facts:

• Many people are not aware of the calories contained in alcoholic drinks
  • An estimated 7.5 million people are unaware of the damage their drinking could be causing
  • More than 9 million people in England drink more than the recommended daily limits
  • The effects of alcohol on body weight may be more pronounced in overweight and obese people
  • Alcohol consumption can lead to an increase in food intake
  • Heavy, but less frequent drinkers seem to be at higher risk of obesity than moderate, frequent drinkers
  • The relationships between obesity and alcohol consumption differ between men and women
  • Excess body weight and alcohol consumption appear to act together to increase the risk of liver cirrhosis
  • There is emerging evidence of a link between familial risk of alcohol dependency and obesity in women

Those statistics are alarming and you can only take charge of your life.

Personal training

If you want support with your fitness plan, we offer a flexible 1 to 1 personal training service. This can be suitable for whether you’re beginner or an expert lifter, where we can also offer some nutritional advice to help you obtain your goals. We begin with an initial interview and carry out weekly check-in meetings to make sure you have ongoing support during your fitness journey.

Contact Us

Feel free to contact us for advice and fitness plan. Simply complete the online contact form, or you can alternatively call or text 07508531855 for more urgent enquiries and we will be happy to help you in any way we can.