The Overweight Dog

overweight
John Burns asked:

Many owners are surprised when they are told that their dog is overweight. The easiest way to tell is by feeling the ribcage. The ribs should be easily and clearly felt with little flesh between the fingers when you pinch the skin.

Although many breeders like to see a good covering of fat on breeds such as labrador retrievers, it is now accepted by leading experts in the field that a lean dog is not only a healthier dog, but tends to live a longer active life than one which is overweight (n.b A 14 year trial by a major US dog food company).

There’s no ideal weight chart for all dogs, but as a general rule of thumb, the following is offered as a guide:

* Too Thin: The dog’s ribs are highly visible.

* Ideal Body Condition: You can feel and see outline of ribs. The dog has a waist when viewed from above. It’s belly is tucked up when viewed from the side.

* Too Heavy: You cannot see a waist when viewed from above. Belly is rounded when viewed from the side.

Obesity is an accumulation of excess fat in the body as a result of an energy (calorie) intake which exceeds requirements.

“Why are 40 percent of dogs in the U.S. overweight or obese? The answer is simple: Too much food and too little exercise,” said Claudia A. Kirk, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Nutrition, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee.

Obesity tends to occur in the pet which is less active physically whereas the active pet will tend to discharge the excess.

Obesity is associated with shortened lifespan, disease of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, rheumatism and arthritis. The overweight pet cannot tolerate warm weather, is less able to exercise and will generally have less fun than a lean, healthy pet.

Specialist or Veterinary diets for weight control are usually high in fibre (cellulose which is indigestible plant material) to reduce the digestibility of the food. These foods are an expensive way of producing lots of faeces.

Burns High Oats Recipe, which is low in fat and protein, can be helpful as a dietetic food. Oats have a higher fibre than rice which means that the higher fibre level is due to the food ingredients themselves rather than an ‘additive’.

Vegetables (cooked and raw) can safely be included to help fill the dog if you think that is needed. It is important to check the weight regularly to ensure that the weight reduction programme is on course. It is better to lose weight slowly than rapidly - 1/2 lb per week for a small dog up to 2 lb a week for a large dog.

If your dog is overweight it could be that you are not getting enough exercise!

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Are You Ready to Have a Permanent Weight Loss? Are You Born Overweight?

overweight
Emily Koh asked:

In this modern world, overweight and obesity has become a very serious problem. 8 out of 10 people are facing this epidemic and uncontrollable. Why is that so? Are they not ready to have permanent weight loss? Is weight loss become not an easy to many people? Are you born overweight? Why are they having excess weight?

Ask ourselves, when we were born, we are not born overweight. But when years goes by, how come we not helping ourselves to have weight maintained instead, we are putting more excess weight into our body.

Unbalanced meals, incorrect intake of food and stress the major source of obesity because many overweight people will start to eat uncontrollable with the stress which starts the excess weight. And the results of overweight will cause many medical problems such as high blood pressure, bad cholesterol, and type II diabetes.

We can see that obesity is starting at a younger age. Children are not eating the right manner because many children are taking fast food and omitting the regular healthy food consists of fruits, vegetables and grains. As a results of eating of fast food, the sugar and salt level increases and when these increases, the body has react more and more intake of sugar and salt.

Many parents are worried that their children are not eating enough but they do not prepare the correct diet most parents are working and have no time to cook. Or they could be cooking, they are feeding their children with sausages and french fries which are the most easy to do.

Now we see that obesity does start at a young age. Slowly it will reach the adolescent then to the working world. As they are working, they are eating most of the time outside. Fast food is also another major food for working class people because they do not have the time to eat. The food intakes are relatively low of fruits and vegetables but high calories of food such as meat, oil intake. The lacking of exercise does make overweight easy to many working class people.

The balance nutritious food should consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, good oil, and correct amount of animal proteins. Home prepared food is definitely better than outside food. We prepared the food with less sugar, salt and using the right oil such as olive oil. Most of the outside food is cooked with cooking oil of lower grade which do consist of palm oil.

Correct food intake, diet and regular exercise will definitely help permanent weight loss. So if you are ready for permanent weight loss, do start with the correct diet and regular exercise and weight loss will definitely be permanent.

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What is Making You Overweight.it’s not Your Fault!

overweight
Ranae Zellar asked:

~Have you ever wondered why you are on so many medications?~

If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in a sorry state as are the souls who live under tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson

~ There are so many programs out there…But why so many overweight people? ~

There are overweight people everywhere in the world. America has the highest percentage for obese and overweight people. We have more weight loss programs, books, pills and diet food than ever before. Yet each year, the percentage of fat people keeps rising. In the 1940s only 10% of the population in america were considered fat…Today it’s at 80%. Why? Find out below!

~ The most common solution to lose weight… Check this out!~

The most common myth to losing weight and keeping it off is eat less and exercise more. Not true! All of our food is controlled by the government. The reason we all have a tendancy to snack and have contant hunger is because manufacturers are making food with a purpose of creating a physical chemical addiction to what we eat. The directives are to increase hunger and lower your metabolism to make people get fatter.

~ Don’t be controlled…Take control!!!~

The reason they do this, is to increase their profits. If they can put unhealthy chemicals in our food and make it addicting, what’s that going to do? You see…The government is in control of more than you may know. There are approximately 300 families that control the pharmaceutical industry who also control publicly traded food producers and manufacturers. If they can figure out a way to make food addicting, that will cause more people to become overweight…thus making them buy weight loss products.

~ Are you suffing from any of these…After this you won’t be!!!~

It’s all connected…You see, It’s not your fault you are fat! The food you eat has been altered not only to be addicting but with chemicals to cause diabetes, high blood pressure, pain, cholesterol, weight issues, etc. Why is this? If you eat the food that was manufactured from the food industry, you are eating food that was made to give you problems so the pharmaceutical industry can prescribe you medication to not only supposably correct the problem you got from eating their food but to give you more problems by formulating them to have side affects…which causes you to do what? Buy more medications to correct those problems too! It’s all one big money making circle. But how do you avoid this? Let me show you!

~10 guaranteed benefits that you’ve been looking for…Take a look!!!

Click now to view my report!!! It’s free for this month only…

http://www.livewithnutrition.com

I promise you will find what you have been looking for!!!

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Is it healthier to be overweight or underweight?

overweight
SwimloverA asked:

I have always wondered wether it is healthier to be under or overweight. I always hear that overweight people are really unhealthy, but are underweight people just as un healthy?

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How to Avoid Being Denied Health Insurance Coverage For Being Overweight

overweight
Christopher Beard asked:

During the past 10 years there has been a dramatic upturn in Obesity and overweight adults in America and as you can imagine it has had a serious cost impact on the U.S. healthcare system. While many consumers who are denied health insurance coverage for being overweight or rated with a “fat tax” may feel that they are being jilted by the insurance underwriting system. Fair or not treatment for health issues associated with overweight and obese individuals does have significant reprocussions on the economy and the overall cost of healthcare.

The underwriters use a system for determining your height and weight calculations to determine acceptable ranges. The correlation of the two defines a number called the BMI or ” body mass index” and gives the underwriters an estimate of bodyfat. According to the department of human health services a BMI of 30 is considered obese and 25 to 29.9 is overweight. If your BMI is higher than 43 you will not likely qualify for traditional health insurance coverage. If your BMI is between 29-43, a health insurer may choose to offer you health insurance with a rated up premium. If you have pre-existing health issues in relation to your weight, such as diabetes, hypertension or heart disease, a health insurer may deny you coverage altogether, even if your BMI is within range. In addition to the BMI the belly fat or waist circumference is a good indicator of future health problems associated with excess weight such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Overweight inactive individuals with a propensity to store excess stomach fat will eventually experience insulin resistance, and or other heart health issues. When underwriters review an application and see that an applicant has a combination of these pre-existing conditions a red flag is immediately raised regarding the application. Underwriters have certain risk criteria they use when combining your BMI with other risk factors such as smoking, and the health issues previously mentioned that might be exacerbated when combined together. Certain combinations of these will result in a decline for health coverage.

Excess Weight Affect Your Health and Cost of Healthcare?

While many overweight individuals may feel they are being railroaded by the insurers, the conclusion is that between 2 and 7% of all health care cost are associated with overweight and obesity, which resulted from health issues associated with the treatment of the overweight factors such as hypertension, insulin resistance or diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiac conditions, certain forms of cancer, respiratory issues, inactivity, absenteeism from work, mortality cost, and loss of family income from premature death.

What You can Do to Obtain Approval For A Health Insurance Policy

If you believe you may be overweight and may not qualify for individual or family health coverage, you can take a few precautions prior to submitting a health application. You should find a qualified health insurance broker who offers more than one carrier’s products and is knowledgeable about some of the underwriting requirements or is able to research the best plan for you. You can complete a prescreen application which will allow the broker to communicate with underwriters the issues prior to submitting the application and improve your chances of approval and avoid a potential decline. A decline can really be detrimental to obtaining creditable coverage. You should also review the BMI tables while not all tables are the same this will give you an idea of how close or far you are from current healthy body mass index levels for your height. Lastly consider improving your health for your own benefit by starting some basic exercise like walking 30 minutes a day, educating yourself about nutritious foods, eliminating empty calories like sugar and saturated fats and creating a lifestyle that makes you feel good, makes you productive, make you look great, reverse some health problems altogether and extend your life and most of all affords you quality health insurance.

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