With Covid-19 in the rearview mirror (hopefully), it’s time to address its aftermath.One of them is a large number of people weight gain in the past two years.Many are forced to admit — possibly for the first time — that obesity puts them in a greater risk For health complications such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and polycystic ovary syndrome. The coronavirus may be waning, but the obesity pandemic and its effects are still relevant to us.
As an obesity medicine specialist, I find it frustrating that so many in the public eye are telling people they just need to go back to their pre-Covid bodies, or worse, take part in risky activities crash diet. Obesity is not like that. Obesity is a disease, and America’s health care providers and hospital system must be involved in changing the way we treat obesity. This means that many in our health ecosystem must revisit how we view overweight patients.
Encouraging physical acceptance is a positive balance against the relentless stigma that obese people face, but it cannot replace treatment. Thankfully, this is not an either-or situation.In doctors’ offices and hospitals, we should promote acceptance of both and Treatment; this effort begins by rejecting the false belief that obesity is simply a lifestyle issue or the result of a lack of willpower.fat people Do care about their health and Have Trying to lose weight (usually several times), but they hit a biological brick wall.
Losing weight is not as simple as many people think. Our bodies have evolved many mechanisms to resist and counteract any weight loss efforts, including hormonal and metabolic changes that desensitize the brain to normal appetite signals, increase food cravings, and store fat more tenaciously. These complex adaptations mean that most people with obesity cannot lose clinically significant weight on their own, no matter how much willpower they have.
That’s where obesity drugs come in.
A relatively new field, obesity medicine considers a wide range of factors that contribute to disease, including a person’s genetics, health conditions, medications, socioeconomic environment, sleep patterns, and weight loss experiences. The variety of causes means that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each individual’s situation is unique and requires an individualized treatment plan that comprehensively addresses all factors that contribute to weight gain or create barriers to weight loss.
The good news is that even a relatively small amount of weight loss (5 to 10 percent of body weight) can significantly improve long-term health. Success requires not only identifying lifestyle changes that work for everyone and can be maintained long-term (an unrestricted diet, enjoyable physical activity), but also addressing undiagnosed or untreated conditions, adjusting medications as needed, And provide a supportive multidisciplinary care team to keep patients on track and help overcome inevitable challenges and setbacks.
Most major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, designate obesity as a chronic disease, but there is still a huge care gap. Of the 130 million obese Americans, less than 2 percent are receiving evidence-based medical care, and 86 percent of people with diabetes are treated according to guidelines.
Most healthcare professionals have little to no specific training in managing obesity. As a result, they are often hesitant to initiate uncomfortable conversations about weight, or believe there is no intermediate treatment option between lifestyle-only interventions with limited effect and bariatric surgery.
To address America’s obesity epidemic, we need to treat it as a disease, not a moral slur. Obesity treatment needs to be integrated into the training of healthcare providers, especially in the hospital system. Physicians must be familiar with treatment guidelines, educational resources, and techniques for developing individualized care plans for patients.
Accepting your body starts with feeling good and healthy. If providers and patients are willing to accept and treat obesity like a disease, we can make progress in the fight against this epidemic. We can give people hope instead of leaving them alone to fight an uphill battle.
Photo: Push Mike
