How to lose weight? This is probably the question asked most often around you. The question could originate from cosmetic reason but more and more people are asking the question because of obesity. Increasing number of people are asking the question not only to get slim and look good but simply to survive. However, the way to weight loss is not clear yet. No one has ever proposed a complete weight loss cure because obesity itself isn't clearly understood yet. Nevertheless, there have been attempts to understand how obesity occurs and how to cure it. By looking at all these attempts, we can get a big picture of obesity. In this article, information on obesity as in Western Medicine will be presented.

The first thing to look at is the cause of obesity. Sadly, the cause can't be pinpointed. Rather, there are multiple causes. First and most well known cause of obesity is genes. Some genetic defects are known to make appetite control circuit malfunction. People who have such defects can't control their eating behaviour and will eat endlessly if not forced to stop. There is another theory that suggests a kind of maternal programming of fetus. Some researchers say that this maternal programming happens when an undernutrioned mother bears a child. The child adapts to this situation and develops some characteristcs that increase fat storage and food consumption.

Second but not less important cause of obesity is environment. Modern science brought some remarkable innovations to food market. One of them is the invention of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), which was used in anything that's sweet. It was later found that this new food additive is digested in a way that's very different from natural fructose; it's easier to be stored in form of fat. Other general innovations in agricultural area and food market made food cheaper and hence easier to reach.

Third cause of obeisty is personal behaviour. People are becoming more sedentary as more and more duties are performed by machines. Not just that, some people are being more generous to obesity, thinking that it's an inevitabilty that demands understanding. In contrast, in medieval times, gluttony and its resulting obesity were abhorred as devil's characteristics.

Obesity is itself a problem but it has many more serious complications. It could cause diabetes, gall stone formation, blindness, cardiovascular complication, kidny failure, oxygen deficiency, amnesia, cancer and etc. The most common of these complications is diabetes type 2, which is caued by insulin resistance developed by cells. It is in turn caused by obesity. High blood sugar level can cause other problems as it damages nerve terminals and cause arteriosclerosis. These eventually lead to festering of particular tissue. Obesity also puts immense pressure on lungs and cardiovascular system, cauing obesity patients to pant. It leads to oxygen deficiency and ultimately amnesia as such patients can't sleep due to constant panting during the night.

Obesity can be self diagnosed by some simple measurements and calculations developed by researcers. One of the most famous methods is BMI (Body Mass Index). It can be done by dividing your weight (in Pounds) by a sqaure of your height (in Inches), than times 703 to the result. If the result is between 25 to 30, it indicates overweight and results that are greater than 30 indicates obesity. However, BMI doesn't provide absolute information about your body, so the best thing to do is to consult a doctor who can give a professional diagnosis. Unlike diagnosis, treatements of obesity are so diverse that not a single treatment represents them all. Most well known and obvious treatment is regulation of eating while more direct methods such as surgery is available. Of course, the diversity of treatments is inevitable because obesity usually isn't caused by a single factor. As it often involves multiple causes, complex treatments are required.

Obesity is a disease so complex in its nature that it is baffling researchers and scientist all over the world. This is somewhat natural because Western Medicine always dissects a concept and tries to pinpoint causes. However, no disese can be completely understood in such a way. It's especially true in obesity which is not even a disease to be exact. It's rather a mixed result of various factors that must be understood as a whole. Korean Medicine, which provides a wholistic bird's eye view of obesity, could be a possible solution.