Obesity in Wichita is a term that gets used a lot when health science comes up in the news. However, a lot of people don’t have an understanding of the word’s meaning or why it is of any significance. Obesity is officially defined as a disease by the American Medical Association. To be more specific, a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30 is considered obese. This a tricky and somewhat deceptive way of defining obese. The issue is that BMI only looks at overall weight and totally ignores body composition. It may be better to look to the ratios that exist inside the body to define whether or not a person has obesity. High body fat would be a more accurate way of talking about the symptom of a dysfunctioning body.

Overcoming Obesity in Wichita

At Optimal Wellness we use a highly sophisticated tool called the InBody. This machine is able to measure overall weight, skeletal muscle mass, and body fat percentage. The Inbody gives the user the ability to look at what the overall weight is made of. This helps you avoid feeling defeated when the number on the scale alone doesn’t shift very much after putting in a ton of effort. Rather, you can see a composition shift from high fat, low muscle to lower fat and higher muscle.

Now that you have an accurate look at what obesity is, it’s important to consider why it matters. What does this information mean to you? “Obesity is a disease that affects more than one-third of the U.S. adult population (approximately 78.6 million Americans). According to the CDC, an estimated 112,000 excess deaths per year are associated with obesity. Obesity puts individuals at risk for more than 30 chronic health conditions.” Obesity Those are very lofty numbers that can seem intangible. In order to give you a better frame of reference, you would want to look at your own body to see if you or a loved one might be part of these statics. The best way to evaluate your risk factors is to have comprehensive blood tests run. Optimal Wellness in Wichita provides patients with the convenience of having blood drawn in the office. The tests that are performed are specifically to assess your risks of obesity related diseases. Once you have had bloodwork done, you can start executing a precise plan of action that will target any deficiencies you might have.

Adding specific supplements that support the overall function of your body can make a big difference in reducing BMI when combined with good nutrition practices and exercise. With blood work form Boston Heart Lab we can see specifically what may need to be supplemented.

Your body needs a diverse profile of nutrients in order to operate at its highest potential. Generally speaking, there are two supplements that we consistently see lacking.  The first are omega- 3 fatty acids. Omega-3's are considered essential to health and the body does not make them.Every cell in your body requires Omega-3's to function properly. Higher levels of Omega 3's have been shown to reduce triglycerides, improve heart health, joint health, and immune responses. It also has been shown to improve mood in people suffering from depression and anxiety. The second supplement is Vitamin D3. Most people know that Vitamin D is important for the absorption of calcium and helps with maintaining  strong bones. “Vitamin D is important to the body in many other ways as well. Muscles need it to move, for example, nerves need it to carry messages between the brain and every body part, and the immune system needs vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses. Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis. Vitamin D is found in cells throughout the body.” Vitamin D . Nutrient deficiencies are only one type of deficiency that can exist when obesity is present. Lack of activity is another deficiency that is almost always present with obesity..

Activity seems to also take on many different meanings. When we think of activity, many of us instantly imagine themselves wasting away spending hours at a time on a treadmill. This type of torturous activity is only effective for a few things, pounding on joints until they become sawdust is one of them. At Optimal Wellness in Wichita we like to take a more knowledgeable approach to exercise. Strength training is often overlooked and underutilized when considering longevity and quality of life. More specific to obesity, HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is hugely effective. This is largely due to the fact that HIIT can help maintain muscle mass, and burn more fat than traditional cardio in which a person maintains a steady pace. In fact, studies have shown that even just three twenty second all out sprints help a person burn more calories in a 24 hour period than an hour worth of steady state cardio.

All of the ends in out of dealing with obesity can often lead people to working with many different doctors, specialists, and support individuals. This can lead to a communication breakdown and problems with you meeting your goals and building new habits. In order to eliminate the gaps in care, Optimal Wellness offers a comprehensive lifestyle transformation program called 8 Weeks to Wellness. 8 Weeks to Wellness provides a framework that incorporates chiropractic treatment, nutrition coaching, functional fitness training, mindfulness and massage therapy. This approach addresses the diverse aspects of our needs as a human. As you work through 8 Weeks to Wellness you will experience transformation on many levels and having a knowledgeable and supportive team in your corner gives you the tools you need to change the predictable outcome that obesity leads to.