Review of Related Literature

According to Dr. Kelly Brownell, PhD, an expert on American diet and health, a study was conducted with the Pima Indians who live both in Mexico and Arizona. It was found that those Pima Indians who live in Arizona have much higher rates of obesity than their counterparts in Mexico, even though both groups of people have the same genetic and ethnic background. This is also true for many migrants of the US who have a much higher obesity rate than their relatives back home .Americans have re-defined the word food. In the Webster's dictionary food is any nourishing substance eaten, drunk, orotherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc. In American society food is that which isfatty, tasty, processed, refined and contains no nutrients; asubstance detrimental to the body's functions, creating disease, and resulting in death. At no time in history have humans eaten such refined, processed and fatty food and at no time in history have humans had such an obesity epidemic. Out of necessity, many obese people suffering from various complications and diseases have learned to change their diet.8Those people, with determination and a will to survive, havesucceeded in becoming healthy once again. They have learned that cutting out meat products, processed foods, fast-foods, high sugar and high sodium foods, while incorporating whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes into the diet is the only way tore turn back to health. It is not easy to go against the strong current of an unhealthy society but it is a necessity

Review of Related Studies According to Rosalyn AllynG.Sy,obesity was barely recognized as a problem in the Philippines in the early part of the 90's; surely not because it is non-existent in this part of the world but because doctors & other health providers show not much interest in this issue. In 1994, the Philippine Association for the study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO) was organized to address the growing global problem of this condition which has been noted to affect the Filipino people.One of the projects of PASOO was to look into theprevalence of obesity in medical practice. Through the generous grant & support from Servier, Philippines, Dr Augusto D. Litonjua, president of PASOO, together with the officers and board of directors of the association was able toask the help of randomly selected 164 general practitioners nationwide to participate in our survey questionnaire & project. A total of 1220 patients wasincluded in the study which extended from April 1996 to Dec.1998.Using the IOTF-WHO classification of obesity, the study showed that the prevalence of obesity in medical practice in the10Philippines is 21%, while 25% of consulting patients areoverweight. Unfortunately, only 4 % of the subjects included consulted because of their weight problem & 96% consulted forother reasons. For those who recognized their weight problem,only 8 % of these subjects were doing something about it while 64% are not concerned and 28% did not give any answer PASOO had started this nationwide project to createawareness on the importance of this medical condit ion amongstour health care providers. To complement this project, PASOO had published some guidelines on weight management for its members and non-members & interested in the care of obese patients

Chapter III Methodology of the Study This chapter presents the method used in the study. Theresearcher used the descriptive method of research. She believes that this method is the appropriate way in treating the problem sin this study.Through thorough reading of books, encyclopedia,researching through internet an d other all printed materials,the researcher gather all data.