Obesity is a global health concern that extends far beyond its effects on appearance. Defined by the excessive accumulation of body fat, obesity is associated with a number of serious health conditions and can significantly reduce both quality of life and lifespan.
One of the main dangers of obesity is its strong association with cardiovascular disease. Excess body fat can lead to high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and heart failure, making obesity a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Obesity is also closely linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. The condition is characterized by insulin resistance, which leads to high blood sugar levels and the onset of diabetes. In addition, obesity increases the risk of many types of cancer, including breast, colon, and pancreatic cancer. This increased risk is thought to be due to the chronic low-grade inflammation and hormonal imbalances associated with obesity.
Obesity is also an important risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders, particularly osteoarthritis. Excess weight puts increased pressure on the joints, leading to pain, stiffness and reduced mobility. In addition to these physical health risks, obesity is linked to various mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. The social stigma surrounding obesity can also lead to discrimination and further exacerbate these mental health issues.
Find out why your patients aren’t losing weight despite conventional advice and use this information to turn your patients’ health around. It turns out that the CICO (Calories In, Calories Out) obesity model we’ve been using for years may be wrong. CICO argues that weight gain is primarily determined by the balance between calories consumed (through food and drink) and calories expended (through metabolism and physical activity). In this model, if someone consumes more calories than they expend, they will gain weight and vice versa. But starving yourself and exercising more doesn’t work for weight loss, because we end up starving and adjusting our metabolism to compensate.
On the other hand, the insulin model of obesity focuses on the role of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas in regulating blood sugar levels. According to this model, excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates and sugars leads to elevated insulin levels, which promote fat storage and inhibit fat breakdown. This results in weight gain and difficulty losing weight, regardless of calorie intake. But by changing what and when we eat, rather than focusing on how much we eat, calorie intake naturally decreases and weight loss occurs without hunger and the associated drop in basal metabolic rate.
For medical professionals and healthcare associates, we offer a self-paced online training course called Obesity Education: Risk & Reversal Training. Providing you with valuable insights into the management and reversal of obesity and related conditions. This training explores the risks associated with obesity and how Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction (TCR) and keto nutrition can be used in clinical practice to effectively manage and reverse obesity.
What’s in store for you?
- Access downloadable, subject-specific resources.
- Access our carefully curated list of high quality low carb and keto research.
- Exclusive access to our Community Forum for networking and knowledge sharing.
“Obesity is a slow and insidious expression of the human body’s struggle to cope with overnutrition and, in many cases, undernutrition. Perhaps because there seems to be no way to reverse it in the long term, it has been accepted, often with great dismay and shame, and has been wrongly associated with ill will.” says Dr. Hassina Kajee, MD and Medical Director of the Nutrition Network.
Obesity: Risk & Reversal brings together industry experts and includes lectures from Professors Tim Noakes, Dr Frank Lipman, Dr Brian Lenzkes, Dr Robert Cywes, Dr Holden MacRae and Dr Hassina Kajee, to name but a few.
“Obesity and diabetes are inextricably linked. It is so important, as physicians, to understand the mechanisms (and politics) behind the causes of both obesity and diabetes. This section explores them in more depth than I remember learning, even when I was doing a postgraduate degree in diabetes. It helps dispel the myth that it’s all about the calories, but rather deals with how the quality of food matters and that food can be medicine to treat these twin problems.” says Dr Neville Wellington, diabetes specialist and medical director of the Nutrition Network.
In an extract from his lecture ‘Obesity and Nutrition: An Introduction’, Professor Tim Noakes says: ‘Understanding the nuances of our own biology puts food industry business plans in a very different light. What did we expect to happen when this industry started a highly profitable business model that made foods high in sugar, fat and salt widely available? they predicted we would associate their products with positive feelings. and created environments that foster these positive associations?’
In his lecture, Dr. Frank Lipman, a leader in functional and integrative medicine and best-selling author, discusses the many lifestyle factors that play a role in obesity. Dr. Lipman discusses obesity and its causes, stating that it is a multifactorial condition, with no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. He discusses the need for physicians to consider a number of factors throughout the life cycle of a patient or client and the value that health coaches bring to the medical profession as critical to helping patients implement lasting change.
Exercise Science Professor Dr Holden MacRae discusses the role of exercise in the treatment and management of obesity. In his lecture, Dr MacRae addresses existing exercise recommendations and guidelines for adults and how they have not been updated in recent years. It also goes on to explain a number of misconceptions related to exercise.
Key topics and speakers,
The training includes a wide range of lectures and discussions led by renowned experts in the field:
- Obesity & Nutrition by Professor Tim Noakes
- White adipose tissue as an endocrine organ: The focal role of obesity in the etiology of metabolic diseases by Dr. Hassina Kajee
- The Clinical Associations of Obesity by Dr. Brian Lenzkes
- NAFLD: Pathophysiology & Clinical Manifestations by Dr. Robert Cywes
- Addressing Obesity in the Food System by Sonia Mountford
- Obesity & Lifestyle: Functional Medicine Models (good aging and immune resilience) Interview style by Dr. Frank Lipman
- Exercise & Obesity by Professor Holden MacRae
- Debating obesity: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. A model for rebuilding health structures by the team including the Nutrition Network & Dr. boards. Robert Lustig
- Prevention & Management of Childhood Obesity by Tamzyn Murphy, RD, MSc
- Reversing the obesity epidemic: South Africa’s Eat Better model by Jayne Bullen
- Diabetes & Obesity by Dr. Neville Wellington
- Using wild animals as models to study human disease by Professor Tertius Kohn
By understanding the risks of obesity and implementing evidence-based strategies, healthcare professionals can work to combat this global epidemic and improve the health and well-being of their patients.
Did you know we have a research directory? Click here to go to Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses and other Obesity/Weight Loss reviews.
Reference list
- World Health Organisation. (2022). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Health effects of overweight and obesity. Retrieved from
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2022). Overweight & Obesity Statistics. Retrieved from
