World Obesity Day 2019 - 11th October

World Obesity Day is observed on 11th October every year. The main objectives are to promote solutions to obesity crisis, to raise awareness, to improve policies on obesity treatment and its prevention. Obesity can be described as the excessive fat accumulation in our body which causes a risk to health. Obesity causes significant health, social & economic burdens every year.

• At least 2.8 million people die every year as a result of being obese or overweight.
• Obesity is one of the leading causes of many chronic diseases including: heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, several types of cancers, and others.
• Obesity results from an imbalance between the calories he consumed and the calories he expended.
• Overweight and obesity are linked to more deaths than malnutrition.
• Women are more likely to have obesity than men.
• A healthy diet and physical activity such as walking helps prevent obesity.
• According to World Health Organization, 2.7 billion adults worldwide will suffer from overweight and obesity by 2025.

The most common cause of obesity is eating too much and moving very less. How much calories we consume in a day can also influence the risk of being obese. On an average, a physically active man requires around 2,500 calories and in woman about 2000 calories in a day to maintain a healthy weight, according to National Health Service. In order to avoid obesity, these calories should consume from natural, healthy and homemade food. Pizzas, burgers, fries, chips, pasta are all high-carb and high-calorie foods that can cause obesity.

Below are some lifestyle factors that can increase the risk of obesity:

• Poor diet: Intake of sugary drinks, eating out too often and regularly indulging in comfort eating may cause obesity.
• Lack of exercise and physical activity: Minimum of 150 minutes of medium-intensity exercise or 90 minutes of high-intensity exercise in a week is important for everyone to avoid obesity.
• Genetics: your genetics may also be responsible for cause of obesity. If you have family history of obesity, it might put you at risk of obesity.
• Underactive thyroid gland: Hypothyroidism is a disease condition caused by underactive thyroid gland which can also lead to obesity. The mail cause of hypothyroidism and obesity is Poor lifestyle.
• Excessive stress: Being chronically stressed can lead to unwanted weight gain and obesity. Stress can obstruct your weight loss goals and can make it more difficult for you to lose weight.

Goals of World Obesity Day are to:

• Increase knowledge & understanding of the main challenge of obesity, and what can and should be done to overcome this
• Encourage governments to take urgent action to meet their commitment to halt the increase in obesity by 2025
• Encourage member associations and supporters to get involved with advocacy and campaigning on obesity related issue
• Share national experiences of campaigning to enable the spread of best practices against obesity