WEBVTT

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There are lots of factors that contribute to obesity,

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but at the end of the day you consume more calories

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than your body is able to burn up in energy.

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You will put on weight.

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What is interesting to note

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is in fact people's calorie intake 
hasn't gone up

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all that much over the last ten years.

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It's just that people are taking 
less and less and less exercise.

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Clearly there are a small percentage of people

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who do have perhaps have thyroid problems,

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or hormonal problems, or other reasons, genetic reasons

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why they may be predisposed to obesity.

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I would say less than a sixth of people

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that I see who are overweight actually  
have a genuine medical condition causing it.

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For the vast majority of people it's actually an issue

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about their relationship with food.

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People don’t know when they're full, 
and want to keep eating.

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People don't sit down at the table to eat together.

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People don't understand how to cook any more.

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The more people develop this bizarre relationship with food,

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then the more trouble they'll have 
having normal intake of healthy products.

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The most common medical conditions 
that arise from obesity

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are hypertension, so that's high blood pressure.

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This can lead to cardiovascular disease, 
strokes, heart attacks and diabetes.

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Particularly type 2 diabetes.

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We're now seeing that, even children 
in their early teens, which is pretty scary.

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There are a small number of medical professionals

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who will deny that obesity is a problem.

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I am very strongly of the opinion that if you are

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properly obese, you are going to run into medical problems

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and probably reduce your life span.

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I think people do tend to use the term obese loosely.

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If you're 5 foot tall and a you're a stone overweight,

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then you probably are obese.

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But if you're 6 foot tall and a stone overweight

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the you're probably slightly overweight.

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The press use obese as a catch-all term 
for someone who is overweight.

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Having said that, as a doctor I strongly believe

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that obesity is a genuine medical, 
national problem at the moment.