1 Overingestion of fat-producing foods
2 Omission of the proper amount of motion or exercise
3 Imperfect oxidation (breathing)
4 The overconsumption of fluids
Obesity caused by overeating
In every case of obesity, one or more of these causes are present. If one is blessed with good digestion and good assimilation, or, in other words, if all the nutriment taken into the body is absorbed into the tissues, then the quantity must be regulated by one's work or labor, otherwise any excess of fat-producing food is stored up by provident Nature, contemplating future use; and if it is not used, by actual work, the result is a gradual accumulation of fatty tissue. Again, if a quantity of food commensurate only with the requirements of mental labor be consumed, and only ordinary body-activity indulged in, there is likely to be a gradual decrease in weight, because a considerable percentage of energy is consumed by the mere carrying on of the vital processes.
Obesity caused by drinking malted liquors
The worst form of obesity, however, is that caused by overconsumption of fermented wines or malted liquors. This form of enlarged tissue contributes no strength whatever to its own support. It is as much of a dead weight as a hod of mortar, and much more useless; in fact, all forms of obesity are not only useless weight, but dangerous to life. The obese body is much more liable to contagious and infectious dis-eases, and when once affected, less able to defend itself than the normal body.
OBESITY—THE REMEDY
The control of body-weight rests upon three distinct and separate laws, the first and most important of which is nutrition, the second exercise, and the third oxidation.
The storing of fat regulated by labor or activity
While at the outset body-weight may be controlled by increasing the amount of activity sufficiently to use the surplus which Nature is storing away, if however, the activity ceases and the surplus is not used, then the storing process becomes chronic, and radical remedies both in regard to dietetics and activity must be applied in order to bring the body back to normal.