In these days of political correctness we can not call people fat and it is also frowned upon to call them sick.  YoNaturals feels that just being overweight should be viewed as an illness, the same goes even more so for obesity.

Why is being overweight a sickness?   Being overweight can cause heart diseae, diabetes and cancer.   A mere 10% increase above the ideal weight cam cause an approximate 6% increase in blood pressure.   Hypertension causes cardiovascular disease.

What about diabetes?   Well even a slightly overweight person is increasing their risk of diabetes by 100% and if you are carrying 60lb or more extra then you are 3000% more likely to become diabetic, 3000%!

The American Cancer Society did a 20 year study involving over a million Americans and found that both men and women who were 40% overweight had higher rates of cancer.

How do we treat this epidemic?   Unfortunately there is no magic pill that you can take to lose the weight, it is down to two things nutrition and exercise.   For some reason these two words seem to have the effect of swear words on people who want to bury their heads in the sand.

Exercise can be added into your life slowly from parking your car a block away from work and walking the rest of the way.   Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator.   Incidental exercise like this is a great way to start improving your fitness before starting a more serious program.   If you have not exercised for years, you do not have to go crazy, start walking 5 minutes twice a day.   Gradually increase this until you are walking for 20 mins a time.   Then you need to think what exercise you want to continue with.   You can continue to walk, or you can take up swimming, dancing or going to the gym.

Next we need to look at diet, the easiest way is to make little changes gradually.   You shouldn’t be trying to go on a “diet” rather you should be making lifestyle changes.   Increase more fruit and vegetables as well as whole grains.

Keeping a food diary is a good idea to see when you are finding yourself reaching for foods.   This way you can try to ensure you have healthy snacks available at the right time.   I find that I start wanting to snack at about 3pm, so I make sure that I have some carrot sticks or popcorn on hand, because otherwise I would be reaching for chocolates or potato chips.

If you add vegetables to your meal you can fill up on the fiber that they contain and reduce the amount of fatty food you may be having with them.   If you cannot resist stopping at McDonalds on the way home, order a salad to go with your burger and fries.   The next step is to eat the salad first so that you can fill up a bit before you start eating those fatty fries.  

The other way YoNaturals suggests to reduce the volume that you eat is to eat slowly, chew everything really well.   It is by chewing that your brain registers that you are eating and will send messages saying that you are full.

Try to start your day with a wholegrain breakfast such as oats and add fruit to this.   This is extremely healthy and will keep you full into the morning so that you do not feel the need to snack.

If you do want to snack then keep nuts and seeds on hand, along with dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetable sticks.

It is very important not to skip meals, otherwise your blood sugar levels will fluctuate and you will find yourself reaching for a quick fix of sugar.

Following these few steps offered by YoNaturals vending will help you to keep your weight under control and so lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.