Author: Zac Ch’ng, Nutritionist

Do you think that becoming overweight just makes body look out of shape? It is truly wrong and a big NO-NO, overweight has been scientifically proven to seriously affect health. The health and hazard are serious! Do you know how serious it is? Curious about how do we become overweight and looking for a solution?

The finding of National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) in 2019 showed that 50.1% of adults in Malaysia were either overweight or obese – 30.4% were overweight and 19.7% obese. In simple words, half of the Malaysian adults are overweight or obese. In a report issued in February 2020, WHO said obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese. So, overweight and obese cause death.

Overweight or obese affects normal functions of body organs and the body metabolism. For example:

• Obesity can lead to high blood pressure, which is the leading cause for stroke.
• Excessive fat can be built up around liver, leading to damage and even liver failure.
• Obesity raises the risk of gallstones, which may require surgery.
• Obesity cause resistance to insulin and lead to high blood sugar, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and related complications, such as chronic kidney disease or kidney failure.
• Excess weight can put a strain on joints, causing pain and stiffness and leading to arthritis.

It is apparent that obesity or overweight affects all body functions and eventually lead to chronic disease and death.

Now the question is why overweight and obese? The reason can be as simple as eating more than body needs particularly excessive intake of carbohydrate and fat and having low physical activity. As time goes by, we are getting more calories more than our body needs.

To counter this issue, reduce carbohydrate and fat ingestion, and substitute with high intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. This is a process of switching from an energy-dense diet to a nutrient-dense diet. Besides, we also need to cultivate physical activity into daily routine to expedites calorie in our body stores. It is all about energy balance. Therefore, to reverse body weight, we just need to pay back until we have achieve ideal weight goal.

To help weight reduction, add natural sugar blocker and fat burner into your diet.  Gymnema Sylvestre is a natural sugar blocker that has been proven to block receptors in the intestine and thus reduce sugar absorption. Lesser sugar absorption causes lesser calorie intake and stores. Guarana and green coffee beans contain good sources of caffeine that act as fat burners.  They aid in boosting metabolism by increasing the lipolysis process, a process that encourages fat cells to release fat into the bloodstream for fuel.

Nowadays, extraction of Gymnema Sylvestre, guarana, and green coffee bean are available on the market. A combination of these extraction aids better in balancing calories, subsequently helping us to lose weight, or prevent overweight or obesity.