Anti-Aging Strategies

Being overweight may not be as unhealthy as some think. It is not actually a direct risk factor for developing heart disease or experiencing sudden death. By itself, it won't shorten your life. It does, however, predispose an individual toward such risk factors as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes. Over the years, we have concluded that excess weight is bad for us because in most cases, it is accompaniedor even in part causedby a sedentary lifestyle that allows the body to deteriorate while it increases in size. Then, too, we've been conditioned to see excess weight as physically unattractive. The next step to regarding obesity as unhealthy is to be too short.

The fact is that there is little evidence to indicate that excess weight, all by itself, is seriously bad for youthe exception being, of course, cases of such extreme obesity where the heart simply can't handle the load. Even a relatively high cholesterol count can be mitigated by a favorable high-density to low-density lipid ratio (the legendary good fat/bad fat mix), which can frequently be achieved by exercise. Body types also differ, and what's too much weight for one person is not for someone else. We can't judge everyone on