Have you ever wondered what the word 'BLOATED' actually means?

Here are some definitions:

Swollen or distended beyond normal size by fluid or gaseous material.

Bloating is any abnormal general swelling, or increase in diameter of the abdominal area. As a symptom, the patient feels a full and tight abdomen.


Well I'd like to suggest to you that all overweight/obesity is caused by distension/swelling because of fluid retention - rather than by eating too many calories.

Dieting, by which I mean eating less food/fewer calories than the body requires in the mistaken belief that this will reduce obesity, is EXTREMELY HARMFUL. - The skin gets very much thinner very much faster, and the blood vessel walls get very much thinner very much faster too. - This obviously causes the blood vessel walls to be overstretched and stressed and much weaker, which results in them becoming distended (fluid retention) with extra fluid, so causing WEIGHT GAIN, NOT WEIGHT LOSS.

To reduce excess weight you need to reduce the fluid retention that has caused the weight gain. - So you need to avoid dieting/'slimming' and instead concentrate on avoiding salt and salty food, because that extra fluid in the veins is extra sodium and water, and to lose some of it you need to reduce your sodium intake.

When people whose blood vessels are weaker than the norm eat salt, the result is weight gain and obesity (because of excess sodium and water held in the blood vessels and elsewhere). This condition is also known as sodium retention, water retention, fluid retention, salt sensitivity or oedema. If these people reduce their salt intake they lose some of the excess sodium and water, and so lose weight, and if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables they lose weight faster, because the potassium in the fruit and vegetables displaces some of the excess sodium from the body.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods and

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

Examples of Steroid Victims in the UK - Example Number 3.

Examples of Steroid Victims in the UK - Example Number 3.

'Jay' had always been slim and smart. He went with pain and other symptoms to his GP in 2000. The GP recognised the seriousness of the signs and symptoms and arranged a prompt appointment with a specialist, who confirmed that it was cancer of the colon. 'Jay' was treated with both radiotherapy and chemotherapy and also had a resection. The excellent treatment he received must, I suppose, have saved his life. He is still alive and the cancer is in remission.

During one of his spells in hospital I was speaking to him on his mobile phone and he told me he had been put onto steroids. Agitatedly I implored him not to eat salt while he was taking the steroids. Anyone who has any dealings at all with me becomes well versed in my views about salt and so he assured me he was not eating salt. - What he meant was that he was not sprinkling salt onto his food. I was unable, sadly, to persuade him not to eat bacon, etc. while he was taking the steroids. I believe things would have been even worse if he had not known from me about salt and steroids, because then he might have been adding sprinkled salt as well to what he ate. As it is, although he took steroids for only about 7 weeks, his weight went from 12 stone to 14 and a half stone - a gain of 35 pounds in 7 weeks! a lot of the added weight being on his abdomen. Of course the response to his weight gain has been for people to point out to him that he is not getting enough exercise!

He now restricts his salt intake but this only ensures that he gains no more weight. He has not been able to lose more than between half a stone and a stone by sodium restriction because he does not follow, and does not feel able to follow, as strict a regimen as I do.

So you see how quickly sodium and fluid retention can cause weight gain! - Only 7 weeks in this case.

'Jay's cancer was expertly dealt with, but what a shame that while he was in hospital - taking prescribed steroids - he was not protected from the sodium and water retention. - If only he had been served low sodium meals for those 7 weeks! - He would then not have gained the weight. - The weight gain now seems intractable because the blood vessel walls have obviously been permanently compromised/weakened/overstretched. - He has also developed the serious complication that sodium and water retention often cause, namely, diabetes...)o:

Many drugs carry warnings not to drive or operate machinery while taking them. Some warn against mixing them with alcohol. I recommend that packs of steroids and packs of HRT and certain other drugs which cause fluid retention/weight gain, be labelled WARNING: DO NOT EAT SALT, OR FOODS WHICH CONTAIN SALT, WHILE TAKING THIS MEDICATION. Without this warning, morbid obesity and its associated health problems - diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, etc, will be the frequent consequence...)o:

Read more on my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/