By Dr David Delvin

Are you a bit overweight?

If so, join the club! Millions of us Brits are carrying too much poundage - and that includes me I'm afraid. I've been struggling to get my weight down before my summer holiday - and very difficult it is too!!

But healthwise, it really is worth it, as we'll see in a moment.

WHY IS BEING OVERWEIGHT BAD FOR YOU?

But WHY is it a bad thing to be overweight? Does it really matter if you're carrying too much fat? Unfortunately, it does.

You see, the sad fact is that if you're overweight, your life is likely to be shorter than the life of someone who is slim. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's true. After all, how many overweight 90 year olds do you know?

Excess weight makes us more liable to the following things:

· HEART ATTACK
· ARTHRITIS
· DIABETES
· GALL STONES
· HERNIAS
· STROKES
· HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
· SERIOUS ACCIDENTS
· FRACTURES
· IMPOTENCE
· BACK ACHE
· HIGH CHOLESTEROL

Whew! After writing that list, I immediately refused to have another biscuit with my morning coffee …..

However, the great thing to remember is that if you CAN manage to lose a bit of weight, you will improve your health prospects. It's never too late.

For instance, only last month new research from Southampton University showed that arthritis of the knee can often be dramatically improved if the person can just manage to lose a bit of weight - and get him/herself down into the normal range.

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WHAT SHOULD YOU WEIGH?

But what IS the normal range? What should you weigh?

First thing to get clear is that your ideal weight does not depend on your AGE. You should NOT be putting on weight, as you get older. A lot of retired people have got it wrong about this, because a generation or two ago, it was considered that a person OUGHT to put on weight as the years go by! That's now known to be nonsense.

In reality, your idea weight depends on only two things: your HEIGHT, and whether you have a big, small or medium 'frame' (body build). So have a look at these ideal weight tables, and see how you measure up:

Incidentally, you will note that all the measurements are given in stones and pounds. This is because I've found that - no matter how much the authorities promote the metric system - barely one British adult in 50 knows what his / her weight is in kilogrammes!

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WOMEN 

  
MEN: 

By the way, if the above tables show that you're NOT overweight, then please DON'T start slimming! You've no need to.

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WHY DO SOME PEOPLE PUT ON WEIGHT?

Isn't it infuriating that some people put on weight - while others don't! We all know folk who can get stuck into the cream cakes - yet never get fat. Yet many of us (including me) have only to LOOK at an ice cream, and their weight shoots up ……

This is all very unfair, but that's how it is. The explanation is simple. Different people 'burn' food at different rates. It's just like cars using up petrol at different rates. If you're a person whose body burns up food very fast, you will not put on weight unless you eat really HUGE quantities. But if you're a man or woman who burns food slowly, then quite small amounts of grub will make you put on poundage. So your only way of getting slim is to eat pretty small amounts of food.

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BUT CAN'T YOUR GLANDS MAKE YOU FAT?

Lots of people think that they can't help putting on weight because they must have some 'trouble with their glands'. But this is very unlikely.

In fact, there's only ONE common gland disorder which makes people put on weight - despite not eating a lot - and that is UNDER-ACTIVE THYROID (also known as hypothyroidism or; myxoedema). In this condition, the person's metabolism (that is, the rate of burning of food) is so slow that even if they eat very, very little, they'll inevitably put on weight.

Other symptoms of this condition include:

· Feeling the COLD very badly.
· Developing coarse SKIN - particularly on the face.
· Developing coarse HAIR.
· Becoming SLOW mentally.

If you think you might be putting on weight because of an underactive thyroid, then make an appointment with your doc. She'll examine you and - if she thinks there's any chance that this might be the diagnosis - she will order a blood test to check your thyroid function.

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IS EXCESS WEIGHT REALLY CAUSED BY FOOD?

Some people still think that body fat doesn't come from FOOD. They puff their way into the surgery and say: 'Oh, I don't eat much, doctor. So all these extra pounds can't be coming from my food'.

Well, the fact is that there's nowhere else it CAN come from. Body fat isn't formed from the air we breathe, or the sunlight that shines on us! So the only possible source is the food (and drink) which we ingest.

The proof of this is that if somebody really DOES starve (say, in a hunger strike, or after a shipwreck), they always lose dramatic amounts of weight.

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WHAT TYPES OF FOOD ARE WORSE?

So, if you really do stick to a good slimming diet with enough determination, you cannot help losing weight.

But which foods should you avoid? There's a simple scientific rule which tells you this. Here it is:

FATS CONTAIN MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY CALORIES AS OTHER TYPES OF FOOD.

In that sentence is the secret of successful slimming. Yet very few slimmer's understand this vital point!

You can eat reasonable amounts of the other two types of foods (which are carbohydrates and proteins), PROVIDED that you eat very little in the way of FAT. Fats are TROUBLE - which is why fried foods, butter, cream, cheese and other agreeable fatty things will stop you from losing weight.

Please bear in mind that the other 'high ranking' source of calories is ALCOHOL. Alcohol contains almost as many calories as fat - which makes it very difficult to diet successfully if you have a drink or two.

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GOING ON A DIET

If you want to lose weight, you need to do two things:

1. Take plenty of exercise - to burn up calories.
2. Go on a good, sensible diet.

Provided the diet has been drawn up by a competent professional, it really doesn't matter which one you go on. The important this is to STICK to it - which remarkably few people can do for very long!

EMOTIONAL HELP

You see, the big problem with dieting is keeping to the diet - and continuing to keep your calorie intake within reasonable limits for the rest of your life.

To achieve this difficult feat, it's useful to have some emotional back-up - for instance, the support provided by a friend who is slimming too, or by a GROUP. This is why Weight-Watchers are so successful.

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DRUG HELP

Unfortunately, the drugs which doctors prescribe for slimmer's have, over the years, all turned out to be pretty useless - and often very dangerous indeed. Fortunately, the days when tens of thousands of women were on addictive slimming pills (such as 'purple hearts') are now long gone.

However, in extreme cases - where a person really desperately needs to lose weight because her/his health or life is in danger, doctors can prescribe either of two newish drugs. These are:

· XENICAL (orlistat). A chemical which prevents the absorption of the fat which you have swallowed - so that you lose it down the toilet instead! Side effects include diarrhoea, wind, tummy pain, headache, tiredness, irregular periods and anxiety.

· REDUCTIL. Introduced in June 2001, this drug is supposed to act on your brain in order to make you feel satisfied with smaller portions of food. Doctors are only allowed to prescribe it with special precautions, and there are many contra-indications. Side-effects include palpitations, fast heart rate, raised blood pressure, constipation, nausea, light-headedness, insomnia, pins and needles, headache, sweating, anxiety, and something called 'taste perversion'.

Personally, I shall NOT be prescribing this drug till it has been more fully evaluated.

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SUMMING UP

If you want to slim, you can reap rich benefits healthwise. But it's difficult - and you need all the support you can get, from partner, family and friends.

Very good luck to you!

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Q. I've always found it awfully difficult to lose weight. Isn't this sort of thing FAMILIAL? If so, then presumably I must accept that there's nothing than can be done about it.
A. Just because something's familial, that doesn't mean that you can't do anything about it. It's true that there may be a hereditary tendency to put on weight - perhaps because everybody in the family 'burns' food slowly. But this doesn't alter the fact that if you burn more calories than you take in, you MUST lost weight. If you want a grim reminder of this, think about the fact that in concentration camps there were no fat people - no matter what family they came from.

Q. Why on earth is that FIBRE stuff considered to be good for dieting?
A. Fibre fills you up, and makes you feel full. But it gives you very few calories. That's why the F-Plan diet has been such an (entirely justified) success.

Q. Is it true that some types of MEAT are bad for slimming?
A. Any meat which has FAT on it is clearly going to sabotage a slimming diet. But lean meat is OK in reasonable quantities.

Q. A friend of mind told me that you can have a great slimming diet by going on GRAPES only - because they contain all the nutrients you need. Is this true?
A. No. I've heard this stated on the radio, but it's nonsense. Grapes do NOT contain all the nutrients you need. So living on them for very long would be a good way to make yourself ill.

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Q. My husband does like a large gin and tonic every night. Could this harm his liver?
A. No, ma'am. One G & T per night isn't going to harm anyone's health.

Q. I've become rather bald on top in recent years. My lady friend says I should put SUN CREAM on the top. Is she right?
A. Absolutely, sir. These days, few men wear hats. So doctors are seeing an increasing number of 60-plus men who have nasty lesions on the bald bits of their scalps. Follow your friend's advice, and slap on the old Factor 15.

Q. Is it true that there's a new alternative to Viagra?
A. Yes, it's called 'Uprima', and it was released in June. It will almost certainly help a lot of chaps who have erection difficulties. Unfortunately, at the time of writing doctors have still not received authorisation to prescribe it on the NHS. So we'll have to see what the Health Authorities say about it.

Q. Which is better for rheumatism - aspirin or paracetamol?
A. They're both equally good, sir. But aspirin can irritate the tummy - and sometimes cause internal bleeding. Paracetamol can be toxic to the liver - but is unlikely to do any harm if you keep to the recommended dose.

Q. My mother is now 70, and wants to go on taking HRT. Is this OK?
A. Yes, provided that she goes to her doctor or clinic every six months or so. She should practise regular breast checks - since the incidence of breast cancer is believed to be slightly increased in women who take HRT.

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