Tag Archives: obesity

What I learned (observed) in the emerg yesterday

Posted on November 28, 2012 | 9 Comments

So this germaphobe spent yesterday in the emergency room…makes me shiver just saying that, you should’ve seen me sitting there.

My son was sick and he had gotten worse over night. We went to the walk in clinic in the morning, they sent us directly over to the hospital.

He is on the mend and he was very patient with his germaphobic mother. He kept saying that we could leave because he knew I was so uncomfortable, bless his little heart.

There were a few moments that I wasn’t all consumed with the fact I was surrounded by sick people. In those few moments, there were many glaring observations I was able to make.

The ER was packed-PACKED. The health care system is busting at the seams. Why is it busting at the seams?  A couple of reasons…because people are abusing the system and people don’t give a dang about their health.

To take the load off of the ER-health care system one easy answer is PREVENTION.

In yesterday’s visit from the people who I saw, 80% would not be there if they had taken care of their health.

I will spare you the rant about how some of those people said their illness/issues weren’t obesity related.  Suffice to say that 20 extra pounds of fat around your heart is a big deal.

What is sad and maddening is that those people who are “ill” or are suffering don’t care. They are fine with taking 7 different kinds of medications, seeing the inside of an ER monthly but heaven forbid someone say to them, “Stop eating hot dogs drinking pop and start exercising.”

So many diseases can be prevented that’s the kicker.  

Ignore your health, keep eating the way you are and putting off getting fit is like getting a run in your pantyhose; it will just keeps getting worse.

What else did I see in the ER…

I saw someone come in with footie pajama’s….for the love…I can’t even begin to express what shock I was in. Yes, It was an adult!!! Being out in public in your PJs?  Come on. Listen, before you say anything, I know when you are sick and you don’t feel like getting dressed but footie pj’s…the dirt and germs….no shoes, just footie pj’s that they will likely walk around the house in when they get home….tracking in all of those sick germs–GAH!

Another eyebrow raise came when I saw half a dozen hospital staff working in the offices walking around in business attire and wearing shoes that they could not walk in. Trust me, I get wearing cute shoes…but when you walk in shoes that are too high or don’t fit…you just look crazy.  You look like you are walking an invisible tight rope. You lose that professional image in every teetering step!

It is an unspoken law that when you are sick, cough in your elbow or use a kleenex or even in your hand. I am not sure what turnip truck you fell off that you think it is ok to cough with your mouth wide open and not cover your germ spewing hole!!!  GAH!!!!

Being unhealthy is a choice….harsh, perhaps. If you live a healthy life, eat real food and exercise you have better chances of not being ill. If you are overweight, continue to abuse your body by neglecting it and eating food you know darn well isn’t food then you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit.

Prevention…so many obesity related diseases are preventable. If you think that the 20-30 pounds you have been carrying around for the last year is no big deal, think again.

You’re in the driver’s seat…if you are unfit and unhealthy…that’s all you. You and your excuses will get you another 20-30lbs

Yes, I’m fired up because I had to sit in the ER all day with a sick little one, when more than half of the people there should not have been there in the first place!

Happy with where you are?  You probably don’t want it bad enough.  Content with carrying extra weight?  Think about the people who love you.  The ones who don’t want to have to visit you in the hospital or who don’t want to dole out your medication.

Take care of yourself–be in control of your future.

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Posted in Exercise, Fitness

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Three cheers for the OMA and a FAT TAX!

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 5 Comments

For a long time I have been an advocate of healthier eating and exercise as a better way of life.  Not just for people who are overweight, but also for those who are struggling daily to maintain the weight they already have.

I haven’t been alone in my advocacy…far from it.  There are thousands of people who are just like me that spend countless hours trying to help others.  The problem is that all of us combined don’t have the money or the voice that a “food” product company with the weight of a multi-million dollar Madison Avenue advertising agency can put together.

Even governments are often against the voice of health advocacy at times by providing unbelievable benefits to “food” processors while leaving farmers and natural food producers out in the cold fighting to make a go of it against big corporations.

So, I can’t tell you how happy I was to see the Ontario Medical Association come out swinging…FINALLY against it all. Yes, finally. No one knows better the impact of an obese society than the medical profession.  Diabetes, heart attack, cancers, kidney disease, liver failure… can all be tracked to obesity and nutritional deficiencies.

Today, they delivered their opinion and hopefully governments will listen.  Who knows, they might actually listen since the OMA said the magic words… a new tax!!!!  Tax crappy food and reduce the tax on healthy foods! THAT IS A MASSIVE WIN-WIN.

“We are raising a generation of children that will suffer from devastating and wholly preventable diseases, overwhelm the health system, and die prematurely. We need immediate and strong legal action to address what Ontario’s doctors are now seeing in the diabetes clinics and the stroke centers, and on the operating table: a full-scale public health crisis.”

“The time for gentle admonitions has come and gone. We need to fight this problem with proven tools like tax incentives and graphic warnings. There is an enormous body of evidence that these measures work.”

Dr. Doug Weir
President
Ontario Medical Association

Dr. Weir didn’t sugar coat this and he sure didn’t pussy foot around the issue.  It is a “full scale public-health crisis.”

All our tax dollars collectively are funding a 2.2 Billion to 2.5 Billion dollar epidemic that can be fixed.  I don’t know about you but I think that funneling that money to things like education, social programs, infrastructure or any number of other big-ticket tax items would do all of society much more good than combatting preventable diseases.

Courtesy OMA

Highlights of the OMA’s suggestions are:

  •  Increasing taxes on junk food and decreasing tax on healthy foods;
  •  Restricting marketing of fatty and sugary foods to children;
  • Placement of graphic warning labels on pop and other high calorie foods with little to no nutritional value;
  • Retail displays of high-sugar, high-fat foods to have information prominently placed advising consumer of the health risks; and
  •  Restricting the availability of sugary, low-nutritional value foods in sports and other recreational facilities that are frequented by young people.

The recommendations put forward today build on the actions Ontario’s doctors have already called for including:

  • Legislation that would require calorie contents to be listed adjacent to the items on menus  and menu boards at chain restaurants and school cafeterias;
  • An education campaign to help inform Ontarians about the impact of caloric intake on weight and obesity; and
  • Making physical activity/education mandatory throughout high school. (uhm, how about grades K-12??)

    Courtesy OMA

This is a chance for all of you to show your support for the OMA and their common sense suggestions. Let your MPP know that you support the OMA and want to see real changes before it’s too late!

For the full press release click here.

Follow the OMA and President on Twitter: @OntariosDoctors and @WeirDoug and Facebook

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Posted in Nutrition

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Maybe governments do need to dictate

Posted on June 8, 2012 | 6 Comments

I usually like to do Friday Fitness Funnies but I saw a tweet yesterday that got me fired up, so you’ll have to wait for the funny, while I bring you the serious

The gist of the tweet was that government should have no business in having any say in what people eat.   It was actually 5 tweets in total because the tweeter could not summarize their thoughts, kind of lame in and of itself.  Perhaps, the person should have posted their little rant on Facebook.

A week ago Mayor Bloomberg of NYC laid out his plan to ban sugary sodas…( pop for us Canadians. )

Holy outrage…this created a media firestorm.

The outrage was stupid for lack of a better word.  If people actually read or listened to his position, it is not to ban soda/pop, it is to reduce the serving size….so buh-bye big gulps.  If you want a 32oz sugary soda at a restaurant, it will have to be served in 2 glasses.

Here is an interview he did:

People are DYING from obesity related diseases….you know heart disease, diabetes.
The government has to step in because obesity is costing US billions…billions with a B.
These are preventable diseases and the public is getting mad because they want to limit how much sugar you suck back.  Nanny state? Maybe, but when the people can’t, won’t don’t make decisions in their best interest that effect all of us, maybe the government does need to step in.
I don’t want to be taxed any more and I don’t want to pay for you and all of your tests because you are too lazy to get up and exercise everyday and I don’t want to pay for your laziness because you are too lazy to cook a meal.
People have the right to choose…..
McDonalds is not forcing people to eat at their restaurants….they are servicing the demand.  If people weren’t buying they would not be selling.

Rounder McDonald

Many people in society choose lazy.  Health and being healthy is not a concern to them.

Go out and lap them!

The stats should scare you straight but so many people are ignoring them.
The government has to step in because what is going on now is not working.
I know a few of you are saying “you can’t tell me what to eat.”
Well, someone has to because you are not making the right choices that are in your best interest, so I’m making a stand for what is in my best interest.  I would prefer my tax dollars to help the needy, not the lazy.  I want the money that goes to treating health care issues that are truly preventable to research the things that are not preventable.
IT IS JUST FLIPPIN’ FOOD….. that seems to have become a drug for many.
You have to exercise – end of discussion.  You have to eat right, healthy and for nutrition, not for your ‘fix’.
People have turned food which is fuel, into a drug as addicting as meth.
Food is the most widely ABUSED anti anxiety drug and exercise is the most  potent and under utilized anti-depressant.
Remember the quote from Austin Powers character, “I eat because I’m fat and I’m fat because I eat, it’s a vicious cycle.” Break the cycle, eat great food, nutritious food, healthy food.
STOP IT….food will not fix your emotional problems and any satisfaction you get from eating high fat food is temporary while the effects can be long term.

OK, Friday Fitness Funny…but so true!

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Posted in Exercise, Nutrition

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Death, disease, disability, what are you waiting for?

Posted on June 1, 2012 | 5 Comments

Watch this

If you don’t think that carrying around extra weight is no big deal….well here’s your reality check, it is.
If you needed a wake up call, consider THIS IS IT!
Think that you can wait until your schedule changes or when the kids don’t have sports or on and on…..
You can’t.
The longer you wait to get your health in order the longer and harder it will be.  That’s a fact.  Aside from tighter clothes and feeling uncomfortable, are you really ok with having the associated diseases that come along with being overweight?
  • Diabetes
  • Cancer
  • High Cholesterol
  • Heart Disease & High Blood Pressure
  • Stroke
  • Sleep Apnea
  • Fatty Liver
  • Depression
  • Should I go on??

You don’t think that 25lbs of extra fat on your body is no big deal.  That is until the day you wake up and have a to start your daily routine of poking yourself with insulin needles to stay alive or you  have stroke or heart attack and can’t speak to tell your family you need help.

If nothing else, be a role model for your kids.
Growing up as an overweight child I can tell you how painful it is.  I BEG OF YOU to not let your kids suffer.  They will.  They might not say it.  They might not show it, but they will feel it.
You being overweight is on you.  You did it.  It’s time to fix it.  I’m here to help.

Is there a better reason?

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Posted in Exercise, Inspiration, Nutrition

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Lower Physical Activity Standards – FAIL!

Posted on January 5, 2011 | 11 Comments

“Canadians won’t have to sweat as much to meet national physical-activity standards after experts determined that health benefits can be achieved with less effort than demanded by the existing targets that few of us are meeting.” Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/canada-to-ease-physical-fitness-guidelines/article1857880/?cmpid=tgc

 

"I'm not fat...I'm just short for my weight"

The Canadian government sees fit – (not really) to lower our standards yet again. Reducing the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity to 150 minutes weekly.  I have one word for this, SAD.

 

That is a SAD failure on our government’s part.  The experts that weighed in on this see lowering the goal as a way to make the goal more easily achieved, in an attempt to get more people involved.  I have one word for this, DUMB.

The World Health Organization and now the Canadian government have lowered the bar yet again.  In the midst of a world-wide obesity epidemic-this is the time you batten down the hatches and get real with the issue…not get soft…literally soft!  We are succumbing to lazy. Excuses have won yet again.

The government’s position is that the standards are not being met.  So the solution is to lower the standard?  Essentially dumb it down, or just give up; which again goes back to succumbing to lazy.

This is the time we stand strong and support, encourage and put effort in.  Not pull back and throw our hands up.  Obesity kills and it is killing people each and every day.  Canadians should be raving mad about this.  Our taxes are so high and our healthcare system is so stressed because of obesity and obesity related diseases.

How can you expect different results, (i.e healthier population) when you wont support or enforce a standard?

I am shaking my head in disbelief….

This is an epidemic.  People would rather watch an hour of the biggest loser than get up and exercise for that hour.

Daily physical education and daily physical movement is necessary. Doing away with phys ed in the schools is shameful.  We are making it easier for people to stay unhealthy and out of shape.

Effort.  What happened to that?

Learning to read requires effort, but, if you can’t read you will still graduate…good luck after that though. (standards lowered there as well.)

We are teaching this generation and the next generation that goals are unnecessary or at the very least, if you can’t achieve your goals…don’t work harder, make your goal easier to attain.

This is what is definite, the body needs to move and it needs to move daily.

I’m not saying that the government should be responsible for the health of the people in this country.  I’m saying that the government endorsing a lower standard of health is making it easier for people to choose a sedentary lifestyle.  Although, if I were responsible for paying the medical expenses for people, I might make a demand that they increase their effort.  Guess it’s easier to pay the bills then demand accountability.

I hope everyone takes responsibility for his or her own health.  Protect yourself, be smart….exercise.

Also from the article:

The Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology, the central Canadian body for fitness research, will recommend on Jan. 24 that the physical activity guidelines for children, adults and older people in Canada be revised to harmonize with those set by the World Health Organization and other major developed countries like the United States, Australia and Britain

Lets see how these countries rank in world obesity rates by percentage of population:

#1 United States – 30.6%

# 6 Australia 21.7%

# 3 Britain – 23%

# 11 Canada – 14.3%

Figures from OECD Health Data

That’s my rant for today…not meant to offend, just to educate and raise attention to a growing problem.  Agree? Disagree? Let me know your feelings.

 

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