This is the main cause of obesity today
In our increasingly modern, technological, and in a sense faster-paced life, there is one single thing becoming more sedentary: humans!
It is a basic law of physics: "Energy is never lost." Energy is in a state of dynamic transformation.
The energy of wind turns into electricity; the kinetic energy of water turns into power… And unused energy turns into matter. My aim is not to tire you out with too many rules of physics and chemistry; what I mean is that when the excess energy (calories) we take in through food (beyond our needs) cannot be expended, it turns into fat (matter).
This is the main cause of obesity today!
What I've said applies more to large and modern city life, but in the battle against obesity and weight, it is again more of an obsession for people living in big cities. In a city like Istanbul, we wake up early in the morning and drive our cars right up to the door of our workplace. Either we have desk jobs and spend our day on top of a chair, or we again reach the places we need to go during the day with our cars that bring us right to our door. When it's time to return home in the evening, we again get in our cars, park as close to the elevator as possible, and take the elevator right up to our front door.
We probably end these and similar sedentary days with high-calorie meals eaten late at night. Lifestyles, circumstances, habits, preferences, obligations — almost every point in this brief example is actually a separate topic of discussion.
But there is one fact: if we consistently take in more calories than our basal energy needed to sustain our vital functions plus the energy we expend, we regularly gain weight in parallel with aging. And these phrases settle into our conversations: "I used to eat this much, even more, but I never gained weight," or "Nothing has changed in my life, but I'm gaining weight." Weight gain and obesity are a very broad topic, one of the topics in which psychology perhaps plays the largest role.
Within the topic of obesity, there are also many factors — which I will discuss in my later articles — such as gut flora imbalance, the presence of intestinal fungus, and heavy metal burden, that are overlooked by modern medicine.
GET MOVING
When the excess energy (calories) we take in through food (beyond our needs) cannot be expended, it turns into fat (matter). This is the main cause of obesity today!
In this article, as an extension of a basic physical law, and as a doctor, I want to underline the following in the simplest way possible.
Get moving!
We have basic needs for a healthy life: eating healthily and in a balanced way, drinking plenty of water, sleeping healthily, and exercising regularly. We recommend regular exercise at least three days a week. Of course, not everyone may be in a position to go to a gym or a swimming pool. But I believe everyone has the opportunity to walk. I'm talking about walking for at least half an hour a day. But I mean walking done in sportswear with the goal of a healthy life. And in my view, this walk should be done every day of the week. Because I believe, and recommend, that all of us should have at least half an hour to devote to ourselves within our dedicated and hectic lives. Come on, if you can't even manage that, at least try to break free from a car-dependent life. Park your car a little further from your workplace, or get off the bus one stop earlier, park in a spot far from the entrance, and try to walk to your appointments during the day… We cannot be healthy by staying seated and eating as we please…