Obesity in America
In August the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) released their latest report on obesity
indicating that again, as in recent years, a third of American adults are
obese. Worldwide, obesity has more than
doubled since 1980. Medical science
links a number of diseases to obesity including heart disease, stroke,
diabetes, and cancer.
What does poverty have to do with it?
Obesity is stated as a condition of
excess body fat. The term obese conjures
up pictures of people eating more than is useful for their body condition. And certainly, we Americans in this fast food
nation eat lots. (Notice the NYC ban
on large sugary drinks.) However,
obesity seems as related to too little as well as too much. Poverty and obesity are linked.
Poverty is a lack of something
desired or needed. It may be seen as a
lack of financial support and the great preponderance of obesity occurs where
income is low or absent.
“Part of this [obesity] is due to
lower incomes and education, which … also reflects lower public investment in
education, public transportation, and recreational facilities. The bottom line: cheap, unhealthy foods mixed
with a sedentary lifestyle has made obesity the new normal in America
Poverty may alternatively be a lack
of hope or purpose such as in the story of Jennifer
Bonner. Following an accident
involving her brother, Bonner relates a sense of hopelessness. She compensated for a lack of fulfillment
with heavy eating. From 334 pounds she got herself to a
sustainable weight in the 100’s. The
change, in short, was that she fought back against transferring her weighty
practices to her newly born daughter.
She found her joie de vivre anew.
Healthy thinking and living are connected.
The need to fight back
"It will take time and
resources to win in the fight against obesity," said Dr. William Dietz,
director of CDC's Division of
Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. "This epidemic is complex
and we must continue to change the environments that make it hard to eat
healthy, and make it hard for people to be active. By doing this, we not only
help today's adults, we also invest in our children and grandchildren, so they
won't have to endure this serious and costly health burden."
Healthcare or disease-care?
As reported in webmd.com,
“Dietz believes that beating obesity may even require a recasting of our entire
healthcare system, since obesity needs to be prevented rather than treated
after it happens. ‘We can't afford to treat obesity and its consequences,’
Dietz says. ‘So this begs the question whether it's time to move from a
disease-care system to a real healthcare system.’"
Is the fight with obesity one to be
addressed by added resources or are there other approaches? Isn’t the thought that there are insufficient
resources to fight obesity another kind of belief in poverty?
It’s interesting to contemplate
what could be meant by a real healthcare
system as distinct from a disease-care system.
The disease-care system is familiar.
It starts with disease as a fact and manages it, such that disease is
always present until or unless the disease is cured. By contrast, a healthcare system or wellness
system could be one that starts and stays with health, preventing disease. The focus is not so much on the body as on
useful, fulfilling activity.
Models of whole health care are
found in communities today in which attention is not so much on health as on
caring for each other and the environment.
Although these models may not be the direction of a healthcare system we
will see developed, they provide useful insight into alternative ways of
thinking about health.
Dan Buettner in his book The Blue
Zones illustrates how communities composed of individuals having a
sense of purpose and a spiritual connection have a longer than average life
span where obesity is not an issue.
Individuals so occupied have a more fulfilling engagement with life and
little focus on the physical body. The
result, at least in the communities his team studied, was longer, healthier,
happier life.
Buettner also identified diet as a
factor. Yet, the foods taken were more
of what was available than selections of items specifically chosen for
health. Diet was not a prime consideration
about being healthy, but was generally a result of engagement with the
environment and culture.
The individual picture
Let’s narrow the focus from the
community to the individual. What is the
picture of the ideal? The model in a
magazine ad? A star athlete? Even if I admire the appearance of these
individuals, appearance is all I get unless I get to know them. If I know them, their physical appearance
becomes of less importance to me than our relationship. The individual is more than a biological
specimen.
To me the ideal is the man of God’s
creation, namely “the image and likeness of God,” from Genesis 1, verses 26
& 27 in the
Bible. I am not suggesting of thinking
of God as having a physical body in a human form and then imagining man as
having the same form. Quite the opposite,
I am referring to man with spiritual qualities of goodness such as beauty,
strength, liveliness, intelligence, honesty, integrity and spiritual purpose. Whatever illustrates those qualities is
Godlike to me. The beauty of a happy
smile can be more engaging than a statuesque body. Intelligence solves problems.
Are these qualities in each
individual and can they be uncovered if hidden?
I have found that, just as a rose in my garden responds to sunlight,
virtually everyone responds to respect and the kind of love that recognizes
their inherent good qualities. I have
found that response in prisons, hospitals, workplaces and family life. To me this Godlike picture or package of good
qualities is not just a distant or future possibility but the reality of the
individual now.
Plunging beneath the external
picture to find the core value is like finding a treasure.
I ask myself whether I can look at
every individual and find elements of value that transcend the labels attached
to them, whether it is race, body condition, religion, wealth or something
else. That may be hard if they are
culturally diverse from my experience or have practices that I have been taught
are undesirable. Yet, if I am able to
look beyond the label to see the fundamental value, the items being labeled
become less prominent. Years ago I
worked as an engineer in Puerto Rico with a young woman
who would have been labeled obese. Women
were not easily accepted in engineering at that time in the ‘70s and it was not
an easy road for her. However, as her
manager at the time, I was able to assign her to teams working out some of the
toughest problems. Her competence as an
engineer and a team contributor brought about solutions. When new teams formed, she was among the most
requested talent. As the labels of sex
identity and size became less noticed, her size reduced. She eventually left the firm to join a Silicon
Valley software firm of national prominence where her stature as
an engineer grew.
Knowing that each adult and child
has something precious to contribute to the whole is a useful way to think of
whole health. Those individual
contributions make a purposeful community that fosters good life.
For me, starting with God and
Godlike qualities in His creation is far more helpful than starting with an
unhealthy picture.
