Obesity Strikes the Disabled More than the Common Man

Do Whatever is Possible to the Best of your Ability

The Type of your Disability can Restrict Physical Activity Greatly

Every soul living in this world suffers from some disability during his/her life which hinders the person’s growth temporarily or rarely, permanently. It might be a fractured leg that prevents the person from walking for some time or it might be loss of vision since birth which is a permanent disability. Impairments or disability prevent people from performing their day-to-day actions with ease and many even need the help of another person for this. In between all this comes the ill effects of obesity on disabled people.
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Obesity is a worldwide epidemic which countries around the globe are concerned about. This epidemic has affected the health quality of individuals and deteriorated their quality of life greatly. Increased weight is more problematic for people with disabilities than the common man. Research shows that such people are likelier to become obese compared to the rest of the population (due to very low activity levels) but still not much efforts have been taken to curb this.

A Life Sautéed & Cooked with Problems at Every Stage
In general, people with disabilities face problems in eating healthy food, exercising and controlling their weight due to:

• Restrictions in physical movement which affect the person’s ability to exercise
• Medications taken that can impact weight changes (weight gain or loss) and modify appetite too
• Economical problems and absence of resources such as vehicles and people (family members, friends or well-wishers)
• Lacking the energy required to stay active
• Facing difficulties with chewing, swallowing or tasting food
• Constant pain that prevents the person from focusing on other activities
  
  

Intellectual Obesity & Disability
People with intellectual obesity are likelier to be obese comparatively due to a combination of behavioral, environmental and biological factors. Genetic diseases such as Prader-Willi syndrome and Down’s syndrome increase the risk of obesity greatly and also use of medications relating to such diseases cause weight gain.

Research shows that people with emotional, physical and sensory disabilities are at a greater risk of overweight/obesity compared to the general population. When its difficult for the normal individual to diet, exercise and lose weight there are no second opinions that weight loss is a tough journey for the disabled population. Some ways in which the obese disabled individual can be helped in his/her journey of weight loss include:

1. Planning a diet chart considering the individual’s food choices. Meeting registered dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com can help an individual lose weight in a healthy way.
2. Scheduling exercises and planning workouts based on the individual’s restrictions and physical health
3. Propagating the benefits of a healthy life, encouraging individuals to take up health-related tasks seriously and perform them without fail to lead a better quality of life.
4. Providing a helping hand to individuals when they need guidance and support in some aspect of weight loss such as deciding on a place to work out, preparing nutritious food or picking the right vegetables and fruits to plan meals and snacks.

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