Which Came First... The Asthma or the Fat?

Oct. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- Which Came First… The Asthma or the Fat?

Recently I discovered that there has been a number of studies suggesting some sort of link between asthma and obesity. Experts have found that individuals with asthma have a greater chance of being overweight than someone who does not have asthma. The big question though, is what causes what? Does obesity lead to asthma? Or does asthma lead to obesity?

There are things we must consider when asking ourselves these questions. One thing we should think about is the fact that people with asthma are often likely to be less active than those who do not have asthma because of breathing problems. This alone would lead us to believe that perhaps asthma is what may lead to being overweight in certain individuals.

However, inflammation (a protective reaction of your body to what is perceived as a threat to your health.) is a common internal trait that occurs in both cases of asthma and obesity. Experts wonder if the inflammatory process can be linked somehow, and a study from the National Jewish Medical and Research center has led them to believe that obesity is a significant risk factor for asthma.

In the study physicians analyzed seven large studies that followed individuals who did not have asthma originally but who developed it later on. More than 300,000 people were involved in the seven studies reviewed. They found through the course of their analysis that people who are overweight were one-and-a-half times more likely to develop asthma as people whose weight is within a healthy range.

From this analysis we can see that obesity has severe effects on our breathing. You can determine whether or not you are overweight by calculating your BMI. A BMI that is 25 or over is a sign of being overweight. A BMI that is 30 or higher is a sign of obesity. There are various BMI calculators on the web. You can find them by typing in “BMI calculator” into the Google search engine.

A little bit on weight:

Weight is a tricky thing because most of us really love food and eating. If you’re anything like me you than eating is probably one of your favorite things to do. Let’s face it, food is fun! It’s tasty and it makes us feel good most of the time. What we have to understand though is that our diet is very important, what we put into our bodies is what matters. So, if you like to eat and you love food than that isn’t necessarily a problem. But if you only like to eat burgers and fries, fried chicken and chocolate, then you're at risk.

Eating healthy and getting the nutrients you need can be challenging at first, but once you get in the groove of things it becomes very easy and rewarding. Personally, I don’t LOVE to exercise, but I do LOVE listening to music. So, what do I do? I go for a fast paced 30 minute walk everyday while I listen to my IPOD. This alone probably helps me maintain a healthy weight of 135 lbs at 5’4.

I also eat healthy. This doesn’t mean that I don’t indulge once in a while, and it doesn’t mean that I hardly eat. It just means that I eat healthy portions, while making sure I’m eating what my body needs, not only what it wants. We all know how hard this stuff can be, we also need to know how important it is to be healthy.

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