This morning I was reading an article in the BBC which stated, “Obesity rate in developing countries has increased 4 fold.” This is not only a developed world problem. It is a worldwide problem that most of us have ignored or tried to explain away through excuses for far too long. Government intervention has recently surfaced from NYC's former mayor in an attempt to ban enormous sugar drink sizes to the FDA indicating an intention to ban Trans Fats, and has not surprisingly but disappointingly faced much backlash. Yet, the rise of health care costs is affecting everyone one of us whether through the newly started Affordable Care Act or from your state's tax dollars that get funneled into health care at public/county hospitals. This isn't a forest fire but it is time people take responsibility for their actions and future repercussions, and hopefully those reading this will share this valuable message to others.
As it should be with my profession, I must first disclose if I have any external factors that may contribute towards the information I will be presenting in this blog.
Legal Disclosure: Those with health ailments or disease should first see their primary physician, or better yet a PM&R Physician (yes this is my biased opinion as it is my field of medicine) if they would like to become healthier individuals.
Personal Disclosure: I have nothing to disclose, and actually anyone listening or heeding this advice will cause the health industry to crumble upon itself as chronic diseases and problems such as Cardiovascular disease, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Depression, Sleep Apnea, Anxiety, Osteoarthritis and a plethora of other diseases and disorders can be better treated and cured in some cases if you and your family members simply follow this method of treatment.
For this section I want everyone to take a nice deep breath in and back out and leave your mind open to this suggestion. We, as an organism, are inevitability looking towards conserving energy. This may be done emotionally or physically. Emotionally we may ignore the fact that we are overweight or that a loved one continues to live an unhealthy lifestyle. Physicians may not reiterate that a patient is overweight and patients may ignore our words or most often provide us with prevaricated goals of future endeavors. This all leads to us physically conserving energy as fat or emotionally as guilt.
So, what are the excuses that people make for themselves and others? “It must be a thyroid problem” -- that’s one of the most popular. Let me include that Hypothyroidism is a real disease that affects 4.6% of the population, women more than men and is clinically evident in 0.3% of the population per the Cleveland Clinic. So for those overweight, obese or morbidly obese who think it is hypothyroidism, 99.7% of you are wrong.
As many friends have claimed they have lost weight with the Atkins Diet, Low Carb Diet, 5:2 Diet and even the Cabbage Soup diet. Is this so? Is it actually possible lose weight with these diets? The answer is a resounding YES! So doc, what is the best diet for me to follow and which one will make me lose it with the least amount of effort possible? That answer is an even easier one -- whatever diet you think you will actually be able to follow. WebMd agrees with me on this particular point. The reason is quite simple why every and any diet you partake in will work, it is all based on an input and output algorithm. It takes about 3000 kcal to gain or lose a pound of adipose tissue (fat). If your body, just to make the number easy, can maintain its current body weight without any form of exercise or movement on 2000 kcal per day, then reducing your dietary intake to 1800 kcal per day will cause you to lose 1 pound in 15 days. Any diet, no matter what the content of it being, from organic to toxin laden will cause you to lose weight depending on how much lower your calorie intake is compared to your normal metabolic rate. Don't know yours, then check Here.
Other excuses: “I don’t have time to exercise” or “I don’t like exercise.” The American College of Sports Medicine, NIH and other bodies of medicine recommend that children above 6 years of age perform 60 minutes of exercise per day, while adults perform 150 minutes of exercise per week or 5 days of 30 minute workouts per day at a moderate intensity. If you're not tired, sweating, or have an increased heart rate after 10 minutes working out you probably are not at a moderate intensity. Pick your favorite activity, from cycling, running, swimming, dancing, rowing, wrestling, boxing or whatever gets your heart rate up and do that for at least 30 minutes and you will burn calories. Unless you have a health ailment, are elderly or are in the category of obese to morbidly obese, walking will most likely be an unsatisfactory form of exercise.
Why, should you exercise besides the benefits I eluded to earlier? Not only will this enhance your level of happiness, alertness, confidence and perception of things in the world, it will reduce your healthcare costs, food costs, stress, anxiety, and provide you with coping skills for future ailments and challenges. I say this from my own experience when I lost my baseball career my senior year of college to an injury and gained 40+ pounds thanks to not exercising, drinking and feeling down. When I started medical school in 2006, I couldn't cycle 12 miles without taking a few breaks, let alone run a 5k. Was it easy to have now completed a couple half marathons and 7 years later to still have a personal best in a 5K.....No. Was it worth it? Yep, it was worth all the headaches, vomiting, pain, aches, tears and tribulations that are now fond memories.
The biggest failure people can make is to think that when monitoring their diet and exercising that they "deserve" a treat, cheat or break from that habit. This failure is not fatal as long as the treat or break is done in moderation. Dessert after every meal or dinner is not a treat, it is a habit, and should be modulated. Every time you increase your caloric intake or fail to exercise is another day in which you have taken a step backwards and though this may be warranted and per some data can help in preventing your bodies mechanisms from ascertaining a new metabolic rate, it is vital that these treat and rest days are few and far between. And if you can, choose greek yogurt with fresh fruit over a milkshake.
For those nitty gritty folks who will want the data necessary to plug it into their Fitbits, MyfitnessPal, or any of the other various websites that exist. Here is the individualized plan that can help you lose weight and attain greatness: 6-10g/kg/day of Carbohydrates, 1.2-1.7g/kg/day of protein and 20-30% of your diet should be from fats. If you're not used to calculating your weight in kilograms then simply divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 and you will have how many kilograms you weigh. Now I must say I didn't do any of this research myself and the numbers and additional information can be found at my the American College of Sports Medicine website. That's the direct link to the full article which is full of many treasures including some information on the magical gems that can be found about vitamins and minerals.
So we all in some way are muses, advisers and consultants to friends, family members and our associates. You may even feel fearful of starting the conversation with someone and feel as if it will hurt their feelings or strain the relationship. The sad part is if you really care about your neighbor, country or the future in general you will heed some of this advice and make a change now -- not next week or when you can easily forget it -- to either become a healthier individual or alert a friend and try and help them out.
I'm very adamant about this message, so if you or your friends want help or advice on the matter, email me at Ronald.Baptiste@phhs.org and I will personally answer the questions I receive.
Till Then.
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