A person’s height and weight are connected. If your body mass index falls in the overweight or obese category, you are at a greater risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer (endometrial, breast and colon), high blood pressure, dyslipidemia (high blood cholesterol, high blood triglycerides), liver and gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, osteoarthritis and gynecological problems for women (infertility/abnormal menstrual periods).
Are You “At Risk”?
Being “at risk” means that you are more likely to get the disease or condition compared to a person who has a BMI in the normal weight range. There is no hard and fast rule that you will get the disease. BMI is a screening tool (Check out “A Foreword to Body Mass Index”) and not a decisive tool. Your health care provider will consider many other factors before concluding on your actual health risk. For instance, if your doctor feels that you might have a heart attack, he/she will question you on several things other than your BMI value:
- Do you have a family history of heart disease?
- Are you habituated to smoking?
- Do you involve yourself in any kind of physical activity?
- What is your fat, saturated fat and sodium consumption levels?
Your physician might even ask you to go for other lab tests along with blood pressure measurement. Only after collecting all these data and assessing them, he will come to a conclusion about your actual risk factors.
Lifestyle Modifications for a Better ‘You’
If your doctor feels that your BMI is above the normal range, he would suggest certain lifestyle modifications to lose weight and become fit. Your doctor might even ask you to meet a nutritionist/dietitian to help you with healthy diet changes to lose weight along with some physical exercise. Please visit the website www.firsteatright.com to get in touch with esteemed nutritionists/dietitians.
Such lifestyle modifications will make you healthier despite your weight. You may lose a few kilos or put on a few kilos in the slimming process. But the good thing is that, lifestyle changes immediately bring down the risk level for diseases and help you feel better.
