"Globesity"

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Carolla

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Read this word today - Globesity - it's new to me, but descriptive of the growing global epidemic of obesity. It's something I am dealing with more and more in my work in health care, and that we're all dealing with as a society.

There is lots of complexity to understand about obesity - it's definitely not so simple as "eat less, exercise more" - and much of the information we get is piecemeal & simplistic, and so it is ineffective in terms of obesity management or prevention. And there is so much stigma too, which can be really heartbreaking.

So it was interesting to read in this U of T magazine on Food about new initiatives to bring together researchers from many disciplines to work cooperatively, and to learn also from people who live with obesity. I'm also aware of a new programme at my own hospital for children (and their families) who are in the obesity range.

Here's a link to the magazine - there are many articles of interest (at least to me!) - http://www.medicine.utoronto.ca/magazine/Winter 2015

What's your take on it? Can we talk about it?
 
The article I was specifically reading - re Globesity - is Obesity: Have we lost the war? - if you click on the magazine cover graphic you will be directed there.
 
Very interesting observation I've read a couple of times over the years. HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), present in most of our foods, makes rats fatter, even if they consume the same # of calories as rats fed plain sucrose.
 
If nutrition is misunderstood in the desire to not know what you are eating can you be sucked into the Eire of gobs**te ... globules of soma as looked at from the small perspective ... humble view of human healing from improper consumption ...

If people don't understand they won't be turned off by the interruption in eating just what they wile ... without thought ... a void of wisdom?
 
Very interesting observation I've read a couple of times over the years. HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), present in most of our foods, makes rats fatter, even if they consume the same # of calories as rats fed plain sucrose.

The solution is simple though. Eat less prepared foods. That's what we do. There is very little in our cupboards that contains that stuff (or any added sugar for that matter given my diabetes).
 
Very interesting observation I've read a couple of times over the years. HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), present in most of our foods, makes rats fatter, even if they consume the same # of calories as rats fed plain sucrose.
That's been in the media quite a lot lately. As Mendalla says - eating whole foods is an improvement - something that used to happen more than it does these days in many households.

A bit from the article - on causes -
.... many factors that have come together over the past 30 years for the first time in human history.

Among them: the 24/7 availability of inexpensive, quick food; relentless marketing; socioeconomic inequities that leave poorer people unable to access or afford healthy food; our natural human attraction to fatty, sweet and salty tastes; our shared human evolutionary heritage, which like many mammals gives us bodies designed to store fat easily (particularly if we went hungry as children); a drop in home cooking and corresponding jump in processed foods and restaurants; supersized portions; sugar added to previously unsweetened products such as bottled pasta sauce; a move from physical jobs to sedentary ones; a proliferation of screen-based entertainment; hormonal disruption from too little sleep or shift work; side effects of medication, medical conditions and disability; babies born to overweight or smoking mothers; and excessive weight gain in infancy.
As I'm reading through it, I'm mentally ticking them off on the list ... yup, yup, yup, agree, have seen that too ... no wonder obesity it becoming so much more common. How could it not be?
 
I don't think we need more studies. We need free programs available to all which involves a network of foodbanks, free cooking classes, dieticians, personal trainers and peer support groups. people have to find the lifestyle that is just right for them. A lot of people plainly just never learned to cook other than KD. Or to plan. In the present health system, a dietician consult just involves information. We all know the i formation- eat less sugar, fat and salt and more vegetables. Only the well off people who have education and a mind set to make change can afford personal trainers- and also invest the time to go to appointments, take courses etc.
 
I was a thin child, could eat anything, did eat anything, I was much like my mother and brother.
When I was 15, I spent months in hospital and the treatment for many weeks for IV antibiotics. (When your body oozes the smell of ampicillin from so much meds)
After that period of treatment, I started to put on weight...and by my mid 20's was attending my first weight watchers.

I often said that that illness affected my metabolism.

I watched a tv show the other evening on the Nature of Things and it appears that I may have been on the right track.
Now, obviously, it hasn't been helped by my work life, food eating, sedentary life., but. still interesting

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/it-takes-guts
 
When one begins to be cognizant that all things connect ... through acrylic kinship that can break down to suites thro' a step in the corn ... be moderate ... remember people don't wish to know ... especially with men who deny their mother's parts!

Thus dominating needs to think not ...

Otherwise your mother genre will get yah ... genre being an essence of the story ... a literary device ... mist for literalists?
 
What a great batch of information offered in that link. Thanks Carolla. I have dreamed (and tried to get some action) about what I consider 'better' ways to spend health care dollars. We know that many people are overweight/obese. We know that many factors are involved in this situation. We know that 'everyone knows the basic facts'. We know that many of us don't succeed in keeping our weight down to a healthy level.

I'd like to see our health care system offering regular exercise and support programmes. Ours offers 'heart surgery recovery support' that is well attended and enjoyed. It has created some new friendships and hobbies for those who attend. The requirement to attend at a certain time and place with a trained facilitator gives the participants the incentive to get there! It cuts through any sense of isolation during the convalescent stage that many rave about.

I want it to be expanded - COPD, obesity for no particular known cause, MS, diabetes, arthritis, lack of exercise triggered by depression, - the list is endless. Surely it would be cheaper (and more enjoyable) to get these people into compatible groups to encourage each other and enjoy occasional relevant information from experts.

My biggest barrier to regular exercise includes a sense of loneliness when walking around the neighbourhood 'because I ought to'. Somehow it is different from having fun doing something that moves my body like canoeing or going for a picnic with the family. This is coupled with a need to avoid wind and temperatures that are too high or low for my personal health conditions. The available exercise groups and activities are just way too energetic for my level of health.
 
In health are all illnesses connected? Consider nutrition of body, mind and spirit ... and yet if we don't know (lack of soul) would there be a flaw through which powers could feed us all kinds of irrelevant marketing fertilizer as gilde ð 'irds ? Moor eis 4th coming ...

Allows myth to carry on ... indeterminately ...
 
Thanks for that link pinga - I'll get to it on the weekend as it's a bit long for this hour of night. Metabolism most certainly can be affected by illness ... I agree.
 
Do you see obesity as an illness? It's a big question - because how we view or define something affects how we respond to it.
 
I don't think we need more studies. We need free programs available to all which involves a network of foodbanks, free cooking classes, dieticians, personal trainers and peer support groups. people have to find the lifestyle that is just right for them. A lot of people plainly just never learned to cook other than KD. Or to plan. In the present health system, a dietician consult just involves information. We all know the i formation- eat less sugar, fat and salt and more vegetables. Only the well off people who have education and a mind set to make change can afford personal trainers- and also invest the time to go to appointments, take courses etc.
A lot of these things are really important - and I agree that some people have never learned basics of cooking etc. I wonder ... is this sort of thing a role churches could play in providing for the community? Healthy body, healthy spirit kind of thing? Might tie in with some of Kay's comments too re feeling lonely when out walking. There is a senior's exercise group at our church attendees pay a small amount to the instructor, church provides the space, people from the wider community also attend not just people from our church.
 
We have a very similar program, carolla. Not billed as necessarily for seniors, but that's who comes. The fee is minimal and I'm sure it's waived if necessary. About the price of a coffee, I think.
 
Do you see obesity as an illness? It's a big question - because how we view or define something affects how we respond to it.
Hmm, I think we treat health issues often associated with obesity as illness, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues.
I feel we should review obesity as a deviation from the norm to determine if intervention is called for and if so, what intervention. I have a friend who makes me look small and yet has no health issues, her family is also large.
 
Yes, I have a friend at work who can out lift, out exercise, out run most women her age or half that, yet she'd qualify as morbidly obese. Big lady from a big family, married a big guy, has enormous children.
 
In the past BMI (Body Mass Index) was the measure of obesity. It's been more recently realized that this is not a measure of health, just of size. so now there is a newer model - EOSS - Edmonton Obesity Staging Scale that is a much better reflection of current state - it looks not just at size, but also at the presence/absence of co-existing medical conditions, and presence/absence of functional/mobility/quality of life issues. It's a much better - i.e more accurate - measure, IMO.

Cdn Medical Assoc, American Medical Assoc, World Health Org, and Cdn Obesity Network now refer to obesity as a chronic illness. In a sense, perhaps recognizing it as an illness might help to, over time, remove some of the horrible social stigma & discrimination related to it. I hope so anyway.
 
It's a recent thing pinga - just learned of it myself in the past couple of months! I'm working on an informal project with an interprofessional group of colleagues to develop improved care for people living with obesity when they come into hospital, and into our inpatient rehab units. So I've been doing lots more learning in this area of practice. Such complexity.
 
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