It is widely assumed that those who are overweight as children are destined for a lifetime of fatness and its accompanying medical problems. But being overweight in the preteen years is not always associated with adult obesity.
The study found that adults who were overweight as children or teenagers did not have a higher risk of health problems than adults who were thin in their youth.
However, children who were obese by the age of 13 were five to nine times more likely to become obese adults than the thinnest children.
Being very fat as a teenager probably does carry increased health risks but lesser overweight does not. But thinness in childhood did not guarantee a lifetime of fitness and good health. Nearly 80% of those who ranked in the top quartile for body fat at the age of 50 had been below the 90th percentile for body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height, at the age of 13.
What's more, middle-aged women who were very thin as children were found to have more health problems than their chubby peers, including higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels, putting them at increased risk for heart disease and stroke.
British Medical Journal December 1, 2001;323:1280-1284
Weight loss is an amazingly complex issue for most of us. If it were easy, why would half of us be overweight?
The above study highlights a number of interesting points. The first, and obvious one, is that acquired environmental influences will clearly contribute to obesity. They can be present in childhood, but can clearly be acquired later in life.
Fortunately there is a solution to the problem.
Overweight people usually have the problem due to a variety of stresses and comfort zones that have been created by previous emotional input.
Willpower rarely is consistently effective for these issues.
Dr. Atkins diet has helped people lose millions of pounds, but few have kept the weight off because no attention is given to the underlying reason why the weight was gained to begin with.
Fortunately, we now have EFT. There are a number of brilliant clinicians who have developed successful programs using EFT techniques that result in permanent weight loss.
We are prototyping this approach and my chief therapist, Jody Stevens, will be having a series of 6 four hour classes at St. Alexius Hospital starting on January 5, 2002.
The cost of the course will be $95 per session. The classes will be held at the local medical center:
St. Alexius Hospital 1555 N. Barrington Road Hoffman Estates, IL 60194 Room number not yet available.
St. Alexius Hospital 1555 N. Barrington Road Hoffman Estates, IL 60194
Room number not yet available.