5 Unexpected Benefits of Achieving a Healthy Weight
Though weight loss is not necessarily synonymous with better health, many people need to take off some pounds in order to meet a healthy body mass goal. Achieving a healthy weight by shedding extra pounds is a complex, and often individualized process. It is often not enough to simply eat better, exercise more, or buy naltrexone. You may need a plan that involves a combination of these and other techniques to meet the healthy weight goal that you and your doctor have set for yourself.
You probably already know that achieving a healthy weight can help you avoid disease. However, there are benefits of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight that you might not expect.
1. Taste Your Food Better
Ironically, research shows that people who are overweight may not taste their food as well as people who are not. It is not entirely clear why, but the study suggests two theories. Weight loss may involve a hormonal shift that alters the communication between the brain and the taste receptors. Another possibility is that overuse dulls the taste buds. Whatever the reason, people who have lost weight report a change in the way they perceive food.
2. Improve Arthritis Pain
Carrying around excess weight puts unnecessary strain on your joints. This can cause them to become inflamed, leading to arthritis pain. You don’t necessarily have to lose a lot of weight to see the benefit: You could relieve 40 pounds of pressure on your knees merely by dropping 10 pounds.
3. Avoid Asthma
The risk of asthma increases with a higher body mass index. Again, the cause-and-effect relationship is not entirely clear, but one theory is that your lung volume reduces the more weight you carry in your midsection.
4. Regulate Estrogen Production
It is not only the reproductive organs that can produce the hormone estrogen. Fat cells release it as well. The excess estrogen causes some women not to ovulate regularly. Losing weight may help these women have more regular periods by stabilizing estrogen production.
5. Improve Memory
Research involving MRI scans of the brain demonstrated that people who lost weight over a course of six months showed altered activity in the memory centers of the brain. Another study showed significant memory improvement in people who lost weight following bariatric surgery. There are many variables still to test for, but the available evidence suggests that losing excess weight may have a positive effect on memory.