Current lifestyles affecting Health

I have been always conscious of my health since the age of 12, when I started noticing myself on account of others teasing me saying a quite fat girl who looks 15 or 16. But I could never realize the reason behind it unless I started excavating the reasons of overweight. I started taking less chappatis and rice. But the problem with me was, I was very much and in fact was and am still addicted to eating varieties of food and love eating delicious food. Hence after a week or so I would think I'll do it from next week. Next week comes and eat less for a day or so and the same excuse, I'll eat less next week. The result, I could not reduce my weight. But I could overcome this lethargic attitude during my college days, when I realized that mere less eating will not suffice and a long walk or some sort of physical exercise is mandatory for a good health.

A variety of lifestyle or health related habits (behavioural factors),material factors (such as the environment and living standards),and psychosocial factors (for example, stress and risk taking) can have a major impact on a person’s health.
Being overweight can contribute or lead to a range of health conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, indigestion and some cancers. Young people should eat the five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. But very rarely this is followed. This results into increased rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes in the later age.Many parents don’t recognize the long-term health problems of overweight children. Parents are often disengaged from their children’s eating habits. The resulting trend is a generation of children with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Many of us have no idea of our own nutritional status, weight, or diet.
Inactivity increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, and obesity. Research studies have linked from 14 percent to 23 percent of deaths from major chronic diseases to sedentary lifestyles.Obesity increases the risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoporosis, respiratory problems, and some cancers. Obese older adults are more likely to be severely disabled and to suffer from chronic symptoms of illness than those who are not obese. They are also more likely to suffer from chronic symptoms such as fatigue.
Prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (42 percent), followed by whites (24 percent), and African Americans (22 percent). Smoking is the major cause of lung and esophageal cancer. Alcohol abuse is highest among adults aged 18-29 and lowest among older adults. Women become more impaired than men do by drinking the same amount of alcohol, even when the differences in body weight are taken into account. Also, alcohol dependence and related health problems such as brain, heart, and liver damage progress more rapidly in women than in men.
Healthy lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and regular exercise, often help to control, and may even help to prevent, high blood pressure, which is one of the leading causes of kidney failure.