Not much on the telly tonight, so I ended up watching "My 600 lb. Life" --- the show where folks go to Houston for bariatric surgery… some successful, some not so much.
After watching a couple episodes, I'm left with some mixed feelings.
Is super morbid obesity:
1) a disease along the same lines as alcoholism and drug addiction?
2) a lifestyle issue (poor food choices, lack of exercise, laziness)?
3) a mental health issue (poor self esteem, depression, etc.)?
What have you seen in your practice re: number of super morbidly obese admissions, bariatric surgeries, disease processes related to super morbid obesity, difficulty caring for super morbidly obese patients.
If you are trying to convert people from less healthy processed food to more healthy food, more than cost is involved. Convenience foods require less work. Switching to real homemade food requires more food prep, cooking and cleaning up. For a person used to the salty/sweet/fatty tastes of processed food, the healthy food can be an acquired taste; the kids are sure to complain.
Healty foods require time, work, cooking knowledge and skills as well.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
It is terrific that so many AN posters have excellent access to healthy and fresh foods and who believe that they are not more costly for people in general..
I think you're trying to make a statement that we nurses are in a better financial situation than many struggling families. I agree that is at least part of the problem. Money is a factor in healthy eating.
But I also think that a lack of education is a key part of the problem. People don't know how to 1) cook and prepare meals from scratch 2) they also don't know what nutrition is, and I don't think our govt is the best source. 3) they don't know how to budget their money, calories and therefore calculate cost per unit.
I used to be poor, er, "on a budget". But I was never academically challenged. My old school food stamps (from the 1990s) had info on how to calculate cost per unit in order to stretch my food dollars. I still use these calculations while grocery shopping. My dad also taught me how to stretch food dollars.
I think there are many reasons why people eat unhealthy and I think the cost of food only 1 part of that problem.
I clearly am of the school of thought that obesity as a modern problem for humans is not a simple equation.
Yes, access to fresh fruits and vegetables plays a part for some people.
Yes, access to actual grocery stores plays a part for some people.
Yes, utilization of processed and convenience "foods" is a part of the problem for some people.
Yes, knowledge deficit about basic nutrition or food preparation is part of the problem for some.
Yes, income and budget are issues and part of the problem for some people.
Yes, sedentary lifestyles may complicate the obesity epidemic for many.
The reality is that there is an alarming rise in cases of obesity not just here in the USA, but in Europe as well. It is not as easy as declaring someone lazy and irresponsible. In fact, that approach and attitude will solve NOTHING and only serves to make the person adopting that attitude appear shallow and uniformed (IMV). The reality is that obesity is a complex and marginally understood condition. Any attempt to merely pass it off as a matter of personal responsibility is putting "feelings and beliefs" before evidence and compassion.
There seems to be no shortage of nurses who readily communicate dislike, disdain, and even disgust for those struggling with issues of obesity, addiction, and mental health.
I'm still a little surprised at the thought of overweight cheerleaders. There were a ton of overweight kids in my high school, but none of them were allowed on the cheerleading team. I know that was a major thread derail, but seriously? These teams must be drastically lowering their standards to accommodate the "special snowflake" overweight kids who MUST be on the cheerleading team. A friend wanted to be on the team, got denied, and started eating more healthy foods and exercising so she could get in the next year, which she did. If nothing else, wanting to be on the team was a good motivator for kids to start exercising and thinking about the consequences of unhealthy eating.
I'm not advocating eating disorders and starvation diets, but at least kids had to work to lose the excess weight to be on a cheerleading team before. I graduated high school less than ten years ago; it's hard for me to believe things are that different now, but I guess they are. It's bad when even kids are told being overweight is perfectly okay. Cake and doughnuts taste much better than vegetables, and the kids get to be on the cheerleading team anyway no matter what they eat. Kids don't care about what their arteries are going to look like when they hit 40 if they're still allowed to be on the team right now.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Why would overweight cheerleaders be more surprising than overweight football or baseball players, or volley ball players, or bowlers, or skiers, or {fill in the blank}? The reality is that our chilren are growing in girth across age groups and many other factors. Approximately 16-18% of our children between 6 and 19 years of age are OBESE, not just overweight.
So I'm working with someone who is morbidly obese, young, intelligent, wonderful addition..
This person has been through personal issues similar to mine, but mine were 15-20 yrs ago. And then I just gained weight again at menopause. I doubt she ate proportionally more than I did. I gained 40 lbs the first time, 20 the second, she gained 230 lbs. She had no more mental illness than I did (anxiety and depression). She was no more addicted to food than me. What was the other characteristic? Anyway, whatever it was, she was no more than me.
I went low carb/paleoish, did a little exercise and was a size 4 in 9 months. At 50 yrs old.
By the grace of God and all that, I was born with skinny genetics. I'm not better, sounder, smarter, more disciplined or any other righteous adjective. I was just dealt a different set of cards and didn't suffer a severe consequence from my eating.
Re; Cheerleaders & athletes. I don't think their being told it's ok. I don't think it's being discussed. As more adults are obese and it's accepted, I think the issue is just not being addressed unfortunately.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
This is actually a really good discussion and many good points are being made. I am fascinated by how many intolerant and cruel people there are in the world. It's true that obesity is in essence a "Life Style" disease. I learned to eat at my mother's knee and learned all kinds of pathetically horrible eating habits in my youth. Still by the time someone has reached a truly unhealthy weight there were plenty of people along the way to see that the train was going off the rails. Case in point - while shopping today I watched a very obviously heavy child - maybe 3-4 years old throw a screaming fit because mom said no to a candy bar. She ultimately caved and bought it for him.
I can't tell you how many times I left a full cart at the store and physically carried my screaming toddler out of the store rather than give in to something I had said no to. Once he even bit me drawing blood. He's 13 now and I look back on that and laugh.
Nobody goes from a healthy weight to over 600 pounds overnight and there has to be a point where we recognize our responsibility for what we have become. For me that stop sign was 300 pounds. I have been on every restrictive diet known to mankind and I have very real medical problems that prevent me from doing aggressive exercise. Still I have finally latched on to something that seems to be working and I am happy and moving towards better health.
Inside every fat person is a healthy person who wants out - but in order to communicate healthy living strategies you have to present the message in a receivable way and shaming someone is rarely received well.
I am an alcoholic/addict /codependent in recovery and while I was deeply immersed in my disease process I was not able to take responsibility for the choices I was making. People who are morbidly obese are food addicts and need to be detoxed and rehabbed the same way any addict is. They are addicted to sugar and fat and their thought processes are often not rational.
I would be dead in a gutter today if I had not encountered kind compassionate medical professionals along the way! I don't usually make statements of Faith on these forums but Jesus did say "judge not lest you be judged." People remember kindness and when it sticks they are able to pay it forward and show kindness to others.
I used to be very angry person but found that it just took too much energy to maintain. If you are crazy fit I am happy for you - if you are 600 pounds I feel compassion for you.
Peace and Namaste
Hppy
THIS.^^
I also feel it's necessary to remind folks that food is the one "addiction" that can't be completely eliminated. You can give up drinking, smoking, drugs (and I've given up all three) but you have to eat to live. That doesn't mean that you have to eat huge amounts of unhealthy food, but you can't get away from food entirely. Just throwing that out there.
I have a BS in Foods and Nutrition and used to work as a WIC Nutritionist. I, too, would see the moms bring their babies with Kool-Aid in their bottles and powdered donuts tucked in the strollers...
...my private thoughts, universal to nurses, on this forum. All of the nurses that I have ever worked with have negative things to say about the amount of work it takes to care for an obese patient, unless the nurse is also obese.
I found your entire post offensive, but particularly this part. I do not share your beliefs, and I'm sure there are many other nurses that don't have the same "Universal" thoughts that they hate caring for obese patients. I don't complain about them, or the time it takes to care for them.
I care for my patients, no matter what disease has brought them into the hospital. It is not my place to judge patients; it's my job to help them and make them feel that can trust in the care they are being provided.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
I found your entire post offensive, but particularly this part. I do not share your beliefs, and I'm sure there are many other nurses that don't have the same "Universal" thoughts that they hate caring for obese patients. I don't complain about them, or the time it takes to care for them.
I care for my patients, no matter what disease has brought them into the hospital. It is not my place to judge patients; it's my job to help them and make them feel that can trust in the care they are being provided.
RNperdiem, RN
4,592 Posts
If you are trying to convert people from less healthy processed food to more healthy food, more than cost is involved. Convenience foods require less work. Switching to real homemade food requires more food prep, cooking and cleaning up. For a person used to the salty/sweet/fatty tastes of processed food, the healthy food can be an acquired taste; the kids are sure to complain.
Healty foods require time, work, cooking knowledge and skills as well.