How can we Tackle Obesity?

Obesity is now affecting more and more people through-out the world, with rates tripling in children and young adults. It’s though that 60% of people over the age of 18 are either overweight or obese, and alarmingly 15% of children are thought to be overweight too. Here are a set of points given by United Medical Education that they teach in their ACLS recertification course. The ACLS recertification online course teaches basic techniques on how to avoid and treat a heart attack.

lose weightHere are some ways we can all work to tackle obesity:

  1. Try to encourage your family to eat a healthier diet. If you cook most of the meals, try to add more vegetables to each dish and fry less food. You may also want to try cooking completely new healthy dishes too.
  2. Try to be a role model to your children. The healthier you eat and the more active you are, the more likely it is that your children will do the same.
  3. Restrict the amount of time you all spend on your computers and watching TV. Start getting more active and limit the time your family watches TV or goes online to 2 hours a day.
  4. Try to eat a lot more slowly. This will help you to feel fuller for longer.
  5. Don’t use food as a reward, if you do make sure it doesn’t happen very often. If you think you deserve to spoil yourself, treat yourself to something other than food.
  6. Make sure you don’t use withholding food as a form of punishment.
  7. Ensure you have a lot of fruit and vegetables in stock and fewer sugary and salty snacks.
  8. Try to ensure you have at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day. They will help you to stay fuller for longer and leave you less inclined to snack.
  9. Although sports drinks and soft drinks may be nice, they are often full of too much sugar. Water is better for you and you should all try to drink more.
  10. Think about eating whole grain foods as they contain more fibre, and will keep you fuller for longer. Wholemeal bread and brown rice are two examples of whole grain foods.
  11. Try to undertake some sort of physical activity at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes at a time. This will help to increase your heart rate and therefore burn fat.
  12. If you can walk or cycle rather than using your car, do. The more active you are the more fat you will burn.

Following the above 12 tips will help you to lose weight and get you on the road to a healthier and happier life.