Obesity

Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, is increased to a point where it is associated with certain health conditions or increased mortality. Obesity is both an individual clinical condition and is increasingly viewed as a serious public health problem. Excessive body weight has been shown to predispose to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis.

Obesity is an important risk factor for the "metabolic syndrome", the clustering of a number of diseases and risk factors that heavily predispose for cardiovascular disease. These are diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. An inflammatory state is present, which — together with the above — has been implicated in the high prevalence of atherosclerosis, and a prothrombotic state may further worsen cardiovascular risk.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• American Obesity Association
• US National Library of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Obesity

• Losing Weight Mon, September 17, 2007 - [view]
  My weight has always been higher then everyone elses. In elementary school, I always had energy, and I was always going and going. That going never got me any skinnier then what I was. By the time middle school hit, I grew a few inches upwards which seemed to stretch the weight out...just long enough to gain some self-confidence...and then my weight caught back up to me in the 8th grade. Highschool was ruined for me. I never wanted to go anywhere or do anything outside of my little circle of friends. Don't get me wrong, I cheered for the basketball team, I had tons of friends, and I've always been outgoing, but my weight just seemed to be holding me back from so much more then just what I was experiencing. During the Christmas break of my Senior year, I started the South Beach D...