Stress, frustration, strain. Who hasn’t reached out for the antidote that is closest at hand – junk food that is as tasty as it is harmful to our health. Yet this fleeting sense of happiness causes more problems than you can see in the mirror.

Around 62 percent of Bulgarians are overweight. The number of people in the country who are overweight has trebled in the past 40 years. These data were made public by endocrinologist Prof. Zdravko Kamenov on the occasion of World Obesity Day, 4 March. With regard to this tendency Bulgaria is running ahead of European and world obesity tendencies, Prof. Zdravko Kamenov says. In these negative rankings Bulgaria is 5^th in Europe after Czechia, Greece, Malta and Great Britain. The main causes for this are a high-calorie diet and a low level of physical activity. But overindulgence in food often reveals the existence of emotional or psychological problems.

People who are depressed usually put on weight because they eat more and also because of what they eat, most of all sugar which makes them feel a bit better, says Prof. Zdravko Kamenov, head of the clinic of endocrinology and metabolic disorders at Alexandrovska Hospital. On the other hand with the stigma obesity brings, people who are overweight get depressed more often. So, it goes both ways with each of the two problems – obesity and depression – feeding the other. That is why we have to treat both. Ultimately, losing weight will lead to better self-confidence and more optimism which will, in turn, improve the psychological condition.

Obesity has been considered a disease since 1948 because it disrupts the bodily functions, causing symptoms and affecting different organs and systems adversely. People with excessive weight are susceptible to 200 more diseases like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and liver diseases, fertility disorders, cancer.

And the worst part of it is that once provoked these diseases start to interact. For example diabetes has a huge pathogenetic adverse spectrum, Prof. Kamenov comments.

An increase in weight is more than an aesthetic problem, it is more like gambling one’s health and even life away, people with a weight problem must take immediate action.

What we can all do right now is gradually increase physical exercise, Prof. Zdravko Kamenov says. But not start right off with rigorous training exercises because if people already have heart trouble such workouts can have an adverse effect. We need to do gentler movements with walking (10,000 steps per day), swimming, less strenuous exercises in the gym. As to diet, my advice is to cut supper by half, to have it no later than three hours before going to bed and to find the time for some kind of exercise afterwards.

Food as a substitute for happiness is but an illusion. We would all feel better if we devote time to our hobby or take some exercise, Prof. Kamenov adds.

Photos: Alimentazione Salute and Alexandrovska Hospital