Are you a kind of person who prefers a high amount of white bread, sugary drinks or fried and grilled food over a healthy diet?
Beware!
This diet of yours is promoting your weight gain and ultimately, making your body prone to chronic diseases.
Contents
Best Strategy To Avoid Chronic Diseases Caused By A High-Calorie Diet
Chronic diseases are long term, non-contagious, lifestyle-related illnesses that require constant medical attention and limitations on daily activities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic diseases are the ultimate cause of death among people who are more than 65 years of age in most countries.
This toll is expected to rise by 17% in the next ten years. Chronic diseases are not some conditions that can be fixed by medications or vaccines. You can prevent it from worsening with time.
Chronic diseases are mostly characterized by complex causes, many risk factors, prolonged illness, and disability. While some of them like diabetes has a more extended latency period, other chronic diseases like a stroke can be felt in the body a few minutes after it happens.
Even a stroke that is strong enough can kill a person. A few others like arthritis may persist through a person’s lifetime but doesn’t cause death.
What are the different Chronic Diseases?
Some of the major chronic diseases are Heart Diseases, Stroke, Lung Cancer, Colorectal cancer, Arthritis, Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma, Osteoporosis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Chronic kidney disease, Oral disease etc.
Chronic diseases are caused by excessive use of tobacco or alcohol, exposure to secondhand smoke, lack of physical activity and poor nutrition. Some infectious agents are also responsible for causing cervical and liver cancers.
Environmental factors like air pollution can also contribute to a range of chronic diseases like asthma
Genetic and Psychosocial factors are also responsible for chronic diseases up to some extent.
But, among all of them, low diet, especially consumption of a high-calorie diet, is the major contributor to the leading causes of chronic diseases.
According to the Acidaburn Reviews article from phdsc, A high-calorie diet consists of foods that are rich in carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, fat, and minerals. In this type of food, the calories can reach up to 5000 calories a day.
It is suggested for those people who suffer from certain diseases like cancer, malnutrition, HIV, and AIDS or have recently recovered from surgery or illness.
This extra calorie is necessary for them to gain weight and heal wounds. But, if a person with a healthy weight consumes a high amount of high-calorie food regularly, it can put him at risk for diabetes or host other diseases.
Now, We have to consider that one consumes not only calories, but also carbohydrates, fats, proteins, alcohol, and other nutrients. Thus, two people may consume the same amount of calories, but, their food can have a different amount of nutrients.
Also, suppose a person consuming a high amount of food every day burns it by leading an active lifestyle. In that case, he can reduce the chances of being vulnerable to the development of chronic diseases by many folds.
In other words, to establish a relation between the number of calories consumed and chances of getting a chronic illness, composition of the diet, activity levels and energy balance also play an essential role.
It also depends on age. The capacity of consuming calories by a teenager and adult also differs. Also, at certain stages of life, i.e., childhood, adolescence, it is necessary for them to gain weight.
A pregnant woman also needs to gain weight to keep her child healthy.
Also, it cannot be implied that an overweight person is only prone to these diseases.
According to ConsumerCompanion research, people who are much lighter or heavier than average are prone to several deaths and disabilities from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. But, most research is based on overweight people who have chronic diseases.
Until recently, ischemic stroke, Coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes, and some specific cancers were only common in high- income countries.
But, now, these diseases are a significant source of death and disability worldwide. It is estimated that six out of ten adults in the US have a chronic illness, and four out of ten have two or more.
In 2005, globally, out of approximately 58 million deaths, 35 million were the result of chronic diseases. In the medium and low-income countries, this percentage is increasing substantially.
Researchers have claimed that the primary determinant of these diseases is environmental factors, including lifestyle and diet.
After a prospective epidemiological study, some randomized prevention trials, and short-term studies of intermediate endpoints, they revealed that having a specific dietary and lifestyle that can cause significant chronic diseases.
Following are some of the best strategy one can follow to avoid chronic diseases caused by a high-calorie diet:
- One should consume at least 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. Fruits and Vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals and fibres and low in calories. These help in controlling body weight and blood pressure.
- Fish (preferably oily) should be consumed at least 23.5 ounces once a week. Omega 3 fatty acid ( salmon, trout, herring) can help in lowering the risk of death from coronary artery diseases.
- At least 31 ounces fibre-rich whole grains should be consumed once a week to lower the cholesterol and weight of the body.
- While the intake of Sodium must not exceed 1500mg per day, sugar( or sweetened beverages) must not be consumed more than 36 ounces a week.
- One must consume nuts, legumes and seeds at least four servings a week because they are the source of fibres and healthy fats.
- Saturated fat should always be consumed 7% of the total energy intake.
With modernization and increasing popularity of junk food culture, the number of people affected by chronic diseases has grown parabolically.
Now, Chronic diseases have become a serious concern for people of this world. So, we have to maintain a proper lifestyle and healthy diet to avoid these diseases.
Lilah Ty is an American biologist, professor of entomology and zoology. Her various works have influenced social and cultural values in the United States. She is also qualified to treat people for general health problems and can also help with mental health advice. Lilah Ty has specializations in the underlying mechanisms that govern the functioning of biological systems within fields such as health, technology and the environment. She started her career path with a four years’ Bachelor’s degree and two years of master’s degree. Also, she has a deep knowledge in microbiology, anthropology, biochemistry and molecular biology.
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