December 2013 Possible answers.
1. Fast Food. We think we are too busy to make healthy meals at home. So we opt for fast food. But fast foods compromise the quality of our diets. They are high in fat, low in fiber, and offer huge portion sizes—all of which lead to obesity.
2. Lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyles. All the conveniences in our lives have increased our likelihood to sit.
3. Emotional eating. “Emotional eating” is a term that refers to eating large quantities of food—junk food, in particular—in an attempt to mask such feelings as depression, anxiety or loneliness, instead of hunger. Much of our overeating is caused by emotion.
4. Task Snacking. Eating while doing something else such as sitting at computers, while driving or watching TV, talking on the phone, or standing at the kitchen counter.
5. Lack of Sleep. Sleep deprivation boosts an appetite-stimulating hormone and lowering an appetite suppressor.
6. Eating Too Fast. We have a fast-paced life, but eating fast results in eating too much before we’re aware that we’re full. The brain requires about 15 to 20 minutes before beginning to signal feelings of fullness.
7. Watching too much TV. People who watch lots of TV daily are much more likely to be overweight because when we watch the tube we’re essentially motionless; our heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rates decline, which means that we burn very few calories.
8. Cluelessness. Many are simply unaware of calories or fat content.
9. Our friends make us fat. If you’re putting on weight, you might consider who you’re hanging around with. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study suggesting that obesity may be “socially contagious.” The article concluded that having an overweight friend, sibling or spouse increased the risk of obesity by as much as 60 percent.
10. Credit card use. Visa studied 100,000 fast-food purchases and found that people who pay for their food with a credit card spend nearly one-third more than those who pay with cash. For the average person who eats fast food once a week and pays with plastic, the result is an extra approximately 17,000 calories—or five pounds a year!
Looking for help making some Lifestyle Changes? Call Janet Hunt, an ACE Certified Health Coach at 256-614-3530.
By: Janet Hunt
