Is obesity a disease?

​Obesity seems to be on the rise in most countries and it’s possible that The US and the United Kingdom have the steepest rise.
 It is now more or less a norm that we gain a little bit of weight every year and in a decade or so a person could go from being overweight to being obese and with time could face health problems.
 So when we gain weight over a period of time that means there is too much energy going in. Too many calories.
 We are actually meant to be able to control our calorie intake and balance it out. So if that was the case we would’t be gaining weight.
 So what is going on?
 Why are we eating and drinking too much?
 Part of the problem in ultra processed foods. They lack fibre, which would help us to feel fuller. It is therefore easy to over consume. In the UK more than half of what we eat is ultra processed.
 If we instead ate food from scratch( Single ingredient foods) we would be much less likely to over consume as the satiety signals kick in and prevent us from over consuming.
 Ultra processed foods also have additives that create taste sensations and some additives that create addictions.
 Another big problem now is accessibility of high calorie foods. We could basically just tap on the phone and a few minutes later we could have burgers delivered to our door.Before we would have to go for a walk/drive if we wanted burgers.
 So our ability to balance our food intake isn’t there anymore and now there are medications available that will help us to balance things out.
 One medicine which you can now get on the NHS is called Ozempic. Ozempic contains a substance called GOP-1. This substance was discovered in a Lizard. This Lizard would only eat twice a year.
 So if you go on a diet while taking Ozempic you are highly likely to be successful as you will be in better control of your satiety signals.
 Now the problem seems to be as soon as you come off the drug you will regain all the weight again. So it’s possible that you have to use the medication for life. There might be ways you can lower the dose or even take the medication for periods on and off.
 I believe that Ozempic is a good idea because if you lose weight you might stay off other medications. You take one medication and you stay off 3 others. It’s really a win win situation.This is assuming you do't get any side effects from this medical intervention.
There are so many benefits you get from losing weight, you could prevent diabetes lower your LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides.
 There are more and possibly even more effective medication in the pipeline awaiting approval. I have a feeling we could be on our way to reducing the obesity crises in the not to distant future.
By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton.