Key points for treating obesity, principles for selecting methods, and conditions for weight-loss foods.

95. What is the key to treating obesity?

The key to treating obesity lies in the patient's determination; it is the key to success or failure.

This involves factors such as the patient's preference for or aversion to obesity, the strength of their self-control, their level of cultural literacy, and the quality of their living and economic environment.

"Sincerity brings results."

To lose weight effectively and successfully, you need to completely change your lifestyle habits and stick to them.

Obesity is often influenced by external environmental factors, such as sedentary work, a fondness for sweets, a good appetite, a habit of eating high-fat, high-energy foods, a habit of staying up late and eating late-night snacks, or having an overly large dinner with alcohol consumption, resulting in less calorie consumption and excessive calorie storage.

In particular, infant obesity is often caused by parents not feeding their children according to scientific methods and indulging their preschool children's cravings for food. This leads to compensatory strengthening of the child's gastrointestinal function, making them prone to hunger during adolescence and developing bad eating habits. They also find it difficult to accept low-calorie diets. Furthermore, the excessive pampering by parents who only have one child makes weight loss even more difficult.

A good treatment environment is very important for obese adult patients, including a pleasant mood, a harmonious family, mutual support and supervision between spouses, mutual encouragement among friends, and of course, proper guidance from clinicians, so that obese people can gradually transform into a more ideal body shape.

96. How to choose a weight loss method?

The principles for choosing the right weight loss method can be summarized in eight words: according to the person, according to the time, according to the place, and according to the benefit.

Individualized approach: The weight loss method is selected based on the degree of obesity and whether the obese person has any comorbidities.

If you are only overweight or mildly obese and have a habit of overeating, you can choose dietary therapy and supplement it with appropriate exercise. After reaching a normal weight range, you should also adhere to the following: ① do not overeat, ② do not eat too much high-fat or high-energy food, ③ do not eat too much at dinner and do not eat late-night snacks.

In addition, you should maintain 3 to 4 physical activities per week, and take some mild laxative Chinese medicine 1 to 2 nights a week to ensure that your weight does not fluctuate.

For those with moderate to severe obesity, the best approach to weight loss is to combine three methods: ① adjust dietary structure and appropriately control calorie intake; ② drink a glass of cool boiled water on an empty stomach in the morning and engage in endurance physical exercise for 45 minutes to 1 hour; ③ supplement with traditional Chinese medicine for weight loss. For those with severe obesity who have increased appetite and difficulty in dietary treatment, surgical treatment may be performed in conjunction with weight loss medication to strive for rapid weight loss and improve cardiopulmonary function.

If you have diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hyperuricemia, you should restrict your intake of carbohydrates (sugars), fats (oils), and high-purine foods, respectively.

"Timely" has two meanings. One is the arrangement of time each day. It is best to exercise at relatively fixed times in the morning and evening. The air is fresh in the morning, and you feel great after exercising. In the evening, it helps with the digestion of dinner and helps with sleep at night.

If you are busy with work every day and don't have much time to exercise, you can take 10 to 15 minutes to do some physical training, such as gymnastics, aerobics, dance, boxing, sword, etc., 2 to 3 times a day, which will not interfere with business trips.

The second meaning is that no matter what age you start losing weight in your life, you should stick to it.

If you relax, you may fall back into the ranks of obese people.

Depending on the location: This refers to the treatment conditions in your place of residence. If there are activity venues such as gyms, swimming pools, sports fields, dance halls, park dance floors, or clubs, you can choose 1 to 2 places to participate in sports that you like and can adapt to.

If there are weight loss qigong classes, acupuncture clinics, saunas, etc., you can also choose a treatment point that suits you.

Patients living in mountainous areas can use mountain climbing as a form of exercise.

If the above conditions are not available, you can find any small flat area or indoors and design your own weight loss plan according to the environmental conditions, adapting to local conditions.

Due to economic conditions.

For obese patients, losing weight is a meaningful thing, both in terms of health and finances.

However, if you don't control your diet and exercise properly, and just fantasize that drugs can help you lose weight, you will lose money.

It's worth spending some money to participate in a sport that suits you, because proper exercise not only consumes physical energy but also trains the functions of many organs and tissues, making it a truly beneficial thing.

Relying solely on medication is not always effective; sometimes it can even have the opposite effect.

The most economical way is to control your diet, combine it with exercise, and use appropriate traditional Chinese medicine for weight loss.

In short, the principle of being both economical and effective should be followed.

97. What conditions must weight-loss foods meet to ensure they do not negatively impact health?

Obesity is more common among people with good living conditions and irregular eating habits. It can also be described as a disease of nutritional imbalance, mainly caused by overnutrition.

For obese patients, since their intake exceeds their output, they must ensure that their output exceeds their intake in order to lose weight. A low-calorie diet is the principle.

Therefore, apart from consistently and effectively reducing calorie intake and increasing energy expenditure, there are no other effective methods or medicines for weight loss.

Losing weight requires patience and determination; you must not rush it. You must develop good eating habits and stick to them in the long term. Correct and scientific weight loss will only benefit your health.

Sudden, unplanned dieting without medical guidance is detrimental to, or even harmful to, health.

(1) Dietary energy supply should be controlled in a reasonable and gradual manner. This means that weight loss should mainly reduce calorie intake, rather than reducing all nutrients.

The energy provided by the diet must be lower than the actual energy consumed by the body. Of course, the energy and nutrition in the diet should be reasonably arranged according to the stages of human growth, development, maturity and aging. Generally, it should not be less than 1000-1600 kcal, because these calories are the calories required to maintain the body's basic life activities such as heartbeat, blood pressure, respiration, and body temperature.

(2) A low-salt, light diet can reduce sodium and water retention, which is common in obese people, and can reduce appetite.

Obese people often suffer from coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, so it is best to reduce salt intake.

(3) It is best to eat a balanced diet, but the quantity should be slightly less.

In limiting energy intake, strictly restrict sucrose, fructose, coffee, animal fats, and alcohol. For those with moderate to severe obesity, carbohydrate intake can be restricted.

(4) Ensure the body has essential nutrients, such as protein (animal and plant) which is an important component of body tissues and cells, iron which is the raw material for hematopoiesis, calcium which is the main component of bones, and vitamins which regulate the body's metabolism and physiological functions.

(5) The diet should be rich in fiber to promote normal gastrointestinal motility, reduce calorie absorption, but not cause hunger. It can also help to expel toxic substances from the body as soon as possible.

(6) It should be as compatible as possible with the tastes, eating habits and economic affordability of dieters, and meet their personal preferences and diverse life needs. It should not be overly restrictive so that it can be widely accepted by obese people.