Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Overeating During Festive Season Could Be Bad For Health!

After a heavy Christmas dinner, it is not uncommon for one to take another slice of log cake or fruitcake and then followed by a can or two of soft drink. This is no big deal, right? After all, it is Christmas and people are supposed to eat, drink and be happy!

However, do you know that overindulging in food during festive season could be bad for our health? Why is that so?

Food and drink taken during festive season are usually high in fat, sugar and calories. People could have easily taken a significant amount of calories without even realizing it. This might cause a person to add about 2 kgs to 3 kgs of extra weight.

People will put on weight when the amount of calories consumed consistently exceeds the calories utilized. For example, when a person takes in an excess of 250 calories each day (this could easily found in 5 pieces of chocolate chip cookies or a slice of fruitcake) for 2 weeks, his or her weight might just be raised by half a kilogram.

The excess calories would not only make one’s waistline expanded but also cause problems like gastric discomfort or indigestion. More importantly, this could worsen chronic health conditions such as diabetes and high blood cholesterol.

People may argue that these chronic health problems would develop only after many years of being overweight or obese. Nevertheless, patients already diagnosed with diabetes, high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure often find their conditions worsen after a period of overeating. Bear in mind that these conditions could eventually lead to development of heart disease if they are not managed appropriately.

According to doctors, for people having pre-diabetes, which is a state when blood sugar is slightly elevated but not high enough to be classified as diabetes, a sudden weight gain and overindulgence in high calorie food would push them into full-blown diabetes.

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