Article Contents
Being overweight or even worse obese has many devastating effects on health from your sex life to brain health and even risk of cancers. In a recent CDC recent report says that obesity increases cancer risk.
Although the new rate of cancers has decreased, cancer cases related to obesity and being overweight increased. During 2014, around 630,000 American individuals were diagnosed with cancers linked with excess body weight.
During a review of 1,000 studies by the United Nation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, researchers find that absence of excess body fat reduces risk of the following cancers;
- colon and rectum
- esophagus (adenocarcinoma)
- kidney (renal cell carcinoma)
- breast in postmenopausal women
- endometrium of the uterus
How Obesity Increases Cancer Risk?
The fat in the belly affects hormones as well as causes inflammation to the body, which promotes fatty liver disease, a pre-cancerous condition.
How To Protect Yourself Against It?
If you’re overweight or obese, the best way to protect yourself against cancer is maintaining a healthy weight. The CDC and NHS offer a healthy weight calculator to make it easy for you to determine your ideal weight.
Moreover, Rush University Medical Center offers both a healthy weight calculator and a chart. All of these are good references during your weight loss journey.
Additionally, if you’re struggling to lose weight no matter what you do, some factors might be affecting your effort.
When it comes to food, make sure you increase your intake of whole foods such as fruits and vegetables. Whole foods promote and nurture a healthy gut, which is vital for losing and eventually maintaining ideal weight.
Exercise and Nutrition
Both regular exercise and sticking to a good nutrition plan are both vital for health.
However, if you’re overweight or worse obese, put more attention on good nutrition. As you eat healthier able to maintain it, you will lose weight even with minimal exercise.
As you go through this process, losing more weight through healthy eating results in an increase of energy. The more you have energy, the more motivated you become to exercise and keep moving.
Most people focus on exercise when they’re trying to lose weight. And, yet, they don’t bother checking what they are eating. Regardless you’re exercising for an hour a day or even 2 hours and you’re not eating clean and healthy, you’ll end-up with disappointments.
Hence, when it comes to choosing between exercise and nutrition, don’t choose. Instead, use both to your advantage.
Always remember, pay more attention to nutrition as this helps your body switch from fat storing to fat burning.
And, what about exercise, should you do rigorous daily workouts? Well, if you can walk daily, it’s all you need. Of course, if you can do yoga, HIIT and weight lifting, the better.
But if you’re uncertain how to get started when it comes to exercise, walking offers many health benefits.