Can Being Overweight Be Normal?

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As with many medical conditions & risk factors, obesity seems to have a genetic basis.  Many individuals look at their family and say that since they come from a family that is “big-boned” or that have “more fat cells” being obese is “normal” for them.  While it may be their genetic tendency, it doesn’t make it any less of a problem from a health standpoint.  Family history is a risk factor for obesity, but it does not make obesity any less a risk factor for diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease.   It is important to understand this point.  If you understand the additional risk and are willing to take that risk, by all means, live your life as you please at whatever weight you prefer.  Just don’t be deluded into thinking that with a family history of obesity, you have no additional health risk if you yourself are overweight or obese.

Also consider that if you want to maintain your size, there are other risk factors that you can lower to minimize your health risks.  For example, focus on your activity level to lower your heart disease risk.  Increase your activity to at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week.  Not only that, those 30 minutes don’t have to be done all at once.  As long as you do at least 10 minutes at a session and those sessions total at least 30 minutes, you’ll get the same benefit as if you exercised 30 minutes all at once.  Of course, if you stay overweight or obese, you still have an added risk due to that, but you may be able to lower your overall risk a bit in other ways.  Talk with your doctor about it.  It’s your body & your decision.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts!

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Happiness Comes From Who You Are, Not How Much You Weigh

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In the last post I talked about how the percentage of children who are overweight or obese is increasing in the United States and how school furniture now comes in larger sizes.  We also hear stories about an increase in bullying in our schools and overweight children, among other groups of children who are considered different, often experience the pain of being teased and embarrassed.  At a vulnerable time they become the center of unwanted and hateful attention. Meanwhile, health professionals are also concerned about their size, but from the perspective of higher risk to their health.

An important message for everyone, but especially children & teenagers, is to be happy about who you are inside and out.  That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to improve yourself where you see an opportunity, but it’s important to do it for the right reasons.  You should love yourself for who you are and who you will be!  From my perspective, the main reason to try to slim down to a more normal weight and BMI is to lower your health risks.  Our children need to always know we are on their side!

Please share your thoughts.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Impact Of Childhood Obesity

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I just read an article by Madison Park updated on February 15, 2012 on www.CNN.com which is the third in a series on childhood obesity in the United States.  It stated that because of the increasing number of children who are overweight and obese, schools need to get larger desks to accommodate them.  This is done not only to enable them to fit in a desk, but also to try to lessen their embarrassment.  This just validates the findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that a third of the children in the USA are overweight or obese and seventeen percent are obese.  It impacts the effectiveness of children’s car safety seats as well.  I urge you to read the article, “Obese children outgrowing kids’ clothing and furniture.”

What do you think?  Historically, has this always been a problem for some children and was just ignored until recently?  For those of you who were overweight during childhood, how were you treated by your classmates & how did you react?  Please share your comments and experiences.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Part 4 – Get The Best Care When You Need Elective Surgery!

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When you need elective surgery, make sure you evaluate your treatment options.

This includes not only how you will be treated, but also where you will receive the treatment and by whom.  Here’s how I viewed my situation – In my case with my multinodular thyroid with an especially large nodule on the right, I was given the option of just having the right side of the thyroid removed.  In that case there was a good possibility I would not have to take daily thyroid hormone replacement, but there was also a small possibility that there might be a cancer in the remaining thyroid.  However, most thyroid cancers are very slow growing.  If I kept the left half of my thyroid, I’d need periodic thyroid ultrasounds and follow-up.  At some point in the future I might need the left side to be removed as well.  Realistically with my cardiac history and advancing age I figured that my risk for surgery will only get worse as time goes by, so I chose to have the whole gland removed.  This way, I will know definitively if this is any cancer in any of the thyroid.  The only downside is that I now have to take thyroid medicine every day, but, since I already take daily medications for my blood pressure, that didn’t seem like such a negative.  Your potential treating physician should be able to help you understand the pros and cons of your treatment options.

Just as important, especially if you are having surgery is how much experience has your surgeon had with the procedure as well as the outcomes of the hospital for that kind of procedure.  I was initially evaluated by specialists at a local community hospital about 20 minutes away from my home.  I considered having my surgery there until I learned that the surgeon does only about 25 of these procedures a year and the hospital had a higher mortality with this kind of surgery than average.  Fortunately I live only 30 minutes away from a national center which also participates in my health insurance network.  Their mortality is better than average, and I had surgery by the chair of the department who does 300 of these a year.  Often your health plan will have some quality information about the hospitals and physicians in their network.  I used the information compiled on www.health.usnews.com to help me make my decision.

I hope these last four posts will prove useful if you are faced with new symptoms that might require surgery.  Please share your experiences with us!

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Part 3 – When You Need Elective Surgery – Think Ahead!

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When you go to your doctor for some new symptom, realize that there will be a clinical process for your workup that could involve many steps, so think ahead!

I’m not suggesting that you will know exactly what tests will be necessary to evaluate your condition, but you can still think ahead.  In many instances, your PCP will have a pretty good idea what kind of treatment your symptoms will require.  In most cases, the tests he orders are done to confirm his suspicions.  With that in mind, if surgery is a strong possibility and you have a history of a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease, you may wish to schedule a pre-op evaluation by the specialist who cares for you for that condition.  Why?  Because these doctors are often very busy and you may have a long delay to get such an appointment.  At the very least check with the receptionist how quickly you can be seen if you need clearance before surgery.  In my case because of my heart history I knew I needed to be cleared by my cardiologist.  I also knew because I hadn’t had a recent stress test, he would probably want me to have that done prior to his giving me clearance. I was correct & getting these done added about two weeks to the process.

Next time I’ll discuss evaluating your treatment options to make sure you get the best care you can!

For Your Health – Dr. Bob