How Obesity Affects Your Health

How Obesity Affects Your Health Dr. Travis Stork: The extra weight on our body does so much damage. Take a look at this because when you have more weight on your body one of the first things that happens is your heart has to work so much harder. Your blood vessels work harder that you get high blood pressure. Your heart works more and the problem is you get fatty deposits in your arteries. So those arteries that lead to your heart can become blocked much like what we’re looking at there, you have a heart attack and not only that but your blood sugar levels go through the roof because your body rejects absorbing glucose and so what you're seeing there is these little white dots. That’s glucose. They don’t go into your cells so they hang on your blood stream and you end up with diabetes. And here is the thing a lot of people don’t realize, fat -- too much fat can increase your risk of cancer particularly in women. Dr. Lisa Masterson: Breast cancer. Dr. Travis Stork: Breast cancer. Dr. Lisa Masterson: Absolutely breast cancer because actually fat can be broken down into estrogen so you're really increasing your risk of breast cancer if you’re overweight. Dr. Travis Stork: So it’s wild to think of all the things that a little bit too much weight can cause. We didn’t mention arthritis. We didn’t mention a lot of the fact -- depression. Dr. Jim Sears: That’s one of the things with all that extra weight and that extra fat, it makes you not feel like exercising. Dr. Travis Stork: But that’s why we have new years. We have New Year’s resolutions because we can make a change, right? Dr. Jim Sears: Yes.