n Atlanta physician has written a guide to help people prune obesity before its effects get out of hand.Dr. Marcus Wells is author of "Lifestyles For the 21st Century: A New Quality of Life" with
the goal of encouraging people to take a holistic approach toward life-long weight control.
"As an internist, I see all kinds of garden variety of disorders and disease and it always seems
to center around or be related to obesity," he said. "It seems that we have become a bigger society even as we have become more technology advanced. True, we consume less fat
calories but those calories are carbohydrates. We are also doing less work because activities that we would have taken for granted doing 20, 50, certainly 100 years ago, we now have
machines to do it for us."Wells said over 35 million Americans, or close to one-third of the population, is obese. The condition lends itself to exacerbating conditions such as gout,
hypertension and diabetes. In his book, Wells discusses be- havior modifi- cation, realistic weight loss goals and discipline to help fight obesity. He treats obesity by utilizing the
philosophy that weight control results from a lifestyle and attitude change In one chapter, Wells declares the first step to prevent obesity is love, noting a correlation between a lack of
physical stimula- tion and a desire to be thin, particularly in women. He says the hoopla about self and image affects women more profoundly than men, who see their bodies as a func-
tional machine while women view their bodies as ornamental Wells notes African American women tend to be more shielded from media messages that mandates thinness and that men
of African descent are more likely to accept heavier women than their European counterparts. Along with a healthier self-image, Wells also suggests people fight obesity by engaging in
low-impact exercise such as walking or aerobics rather than jogging or step aerobics, which put more stress on joints. He said high impact exercises may actually cause more problems.
"The only way to fight obesity to make healthy lifestyle changes," Wells said.
