Obesity: Poor diet & lack of physical activity Obesity is best defined as a medical condition where a person has so much extra body fat that it has become dangerous to his health.
This condition is so dangerous that it can eventually result in that person's lifespan being reduced.
Interestingly, obesity is mainly a problem of the western world where fattening yet cheap food is easily available at every corner (junk food).
What are the causes of obesity? Usually obesity is caused by several factors:

1. Overeating: Eating too much, particularly foods that provide a lot of calories.
   
2. Performing little or no physical activity.
   
3. Genetic vulnerability to this condition: some people's metabolism is simply slower than others.
   

How does one know he or she is clinically obese? The BMI indicator (Body Mass Index) can be used to determine whether one is obese.
It is a simple indicator that accurately determines the percentage of body fat in most people (though it is not very accurate for pregnant women or bodybuilders).
The BMI is a simple equation that takes into account the person's height and weight.
A person is considered obese when his BMI is greater than 30 kg/m.
Severely obese when the BMI is greater than 40.
Morbidly obese when the BMI is between 40 and 50, and super obese when the BMI is above 50.
What are the dangers of obesity? Obesity is linked with numerous types of diseases, including: cardiovascular diseases (heart disease), type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer.
Furthermore, it has been proven that obesity reduces one's lifespan.
In other words, if you are obese, you will live less! What are the treatments for obesity? There are several types of treatments:

1. Exercise: as everyone knows, by increasing the amount of physical activity a person performs he can lose weight.
   This is not only helpful towards losing weight but generally healthy.
   
2. Dieting: similarly, the concept of diet is known to all.
   By reducing the amount of calorie intake, fat intake, or carbohydrate intake (i.
   e.
   the Atkins diet) it is possible to lose weight.
   
3. Weight loss programs: these programs usually help a person change his lifestyle: this includes both exercise as well as dieting.
   In addition, they offer a support group which can be extremely helpful to one's motivation and commitment towards losing weight.
   
4. Medication: when the above 3 methods fail, it is possible to use anti-obesity drugs.
   Some, such as Orlistat (Xenical), reduce the ability of the body to absorb fat.
   Others, such as Sibutramine (Meridia) work by reducing one's appetite.
   There are additional drugs which were not approved by the FDA.
   
5. Surgery: in extreme cases, surgery can be used to treat obesity.
   These surgeries, such as gastric bypass surgery, either reduce the bowel length (thus, less food gets absorbed by the body), or work by placing a type of balloon in the patient's stomach and reduce its overall volume, and consequently, the amount of food that can be consumed.
   I even remember years ago reading about a type of surgery that literally prevented a person from opening his mouth to chew - this was extremely effective - but I doubt it is in use anymore.