Question

A single man in his mid 20’s likes to socially drink. He frequently goes out with friends after work and exceeds the recommended 1-2 drinks per day for men. Sometimes he can’t remember how much he drank the night before. He has gained 10 pounds in 2 months and thinks he should cut carbohydrates from his diet to adjust for the calories from the beer.

Lately, he has not been feeling well, complaining that he may have a virus due to low energy, skin rashes, and nothing tastes good. He has a family history of chronic diseases, but he does not know which.

He has scheduled a doctor's appointment, as he has not gone in a few years. The nurse has the results of his blood panel for lipids and blood sugar, in addition to his blood pressure reading. What will the doctor want to discuss?

What nutrition-related chronic diseases is he most likely to develop? How and why? (This should already be established and obvious.) Which can he recover from? Which will he have to manage going forward? What does he need to do to improve his health status (diet and lifestyle)?

Answer 1

If we look at the drinking habit of the person and link it with the significant increase in his weight, it can be easy to understand that the person is suffering from obesity. In fact, low energy levels, skin rashes, and losing tastes buds are all symptoms of obesity. Now, the doctor will definitely tell him about the consequences of the situation if not taken care of right now. The doctor will tell him if he continue to live the same lifestyle, certainly he will develop several chronic diseases including heart problem, joint disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and even some kind of cancers in the near furture. When someone drinks a lot of alcohol every day, there develops a layer of fat in multiple folds in their body. These layers have the tendency to retain moisture which further attracts bacteria and fungi causing itching problem, skin rashes and other infection like intertrigo.

If these things happen later on, it would be very difficult for the person to recover from such life-threatening problems. He has to manage his preferences and life style from now onwards. The first and foremost thing he has to do is to get rid of the drinking habits and work on a diet plan. Cutting carbs from the whole day diet is good but compensating it with beer is foolish idea. Consumption of alcohol should be limited to 1-2 drinks per day. To reduce the extra weight he has gained, he must do some workouts daily and drink a lot of water. Obesity is directly linked to the increase in blood pressure as well as blood sugar level. So, time to time keeping an eye on these two things would be a good idea for him. Taking a nutritious diet and sufficient sleep will definitely enhance his metabolism and a healthy life style can keep him far away from hereditary chronic disease.