Here and Now - Obesity in Arizona

Dr. Roust; We have had great success working with obese adults and children in schools and the workplace. However, no matter how much proof we provide we still find it a challenge for Health Insurance Cos. to reimburse our clients for the cost of our program. Our clients are requesting reimbursement ONLY if they shed 10% of the body weight in 6 month or less. Thus, they are requesting reimbursement for RESULTS vs. participation. Can you explain why this may be?

Happy Birthday Dr. Roust!

Thank you for addressing this topic. I am a Nutrition student at Arizona State University. I believe obesity is a growing problem especially in Arizona an feel that educating the general public on how to make healthier decisions in life is crucial.

As a graduate of the UofA College of Public Health, I'm wondering what the panel has to say regarding policies that influence the type of foods we eat... For example, taxes on fast foods, trans fats, sugary foods and banning vending machines in schools...

Do they feel these policies will impact health choices and what will be the impact on lower income families?

It's about lifestyle.



It's about our local Culture...


Not only food/calorie intake but the Urban (non) planning that here in Scottsdale eliminated Public Transportation choices as recently as 8 weeks ago.


My neighbors (chubby - round) drive 2 blocks to the "gym" or to the Sunflower market. This is the status-quo.


The idea is that walking is seen as "strange".

Public transportation is sporadic and not reliable. Cities like Portland and Boulder +Denver encourage more activity through bike trails, sidewalks and great public transportation.


Add this to the obvious food choices and we here in Maricopa county live in a culture of low activity and fast food.

In order to address this issue we must address all areas, food, environment, physical activity, and policy.
My question is what responsibility does the food industry bear? Imposing higher taxes on the manufacturers of unhealthy food could supplement health education and physical activity interventions shown to be effective.

As a PE teacher in a local high school, I see the obesity issue first hand on a daily basis. Many of our students are overweight or obese and have multiple health issues as a result. They also have a lot of mis-information concerning health, nutrition, and exercise. We began a program to address these issues and with the assistance of a local company called Iron90 that helped us develop a program using heart rate monitors, progressive training, nutrition education, incentives and strength training, we have seen a lot of very positive changes in body weight, as well as a increased knowledge of nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices.
Many kids do not have a working knowledge of this subject and the results can be major. When things do change, we have seen a lot of very positive changes

What about medications, such as pain meds and all medications? How much of an impact can they have on weight gain or affect difficulty in losing weight. Thanks, Kathy

I am very concerned about the food choices that our children are getting in school. We live in and attend the Madison School District in Phoenix. This year they have chosen to offer "snacks" for sale at meal time for our students. They have sent home info that discusses how healthful they choices of snack are and it is just not true. They are chips, pretzels, juice"bags" etc. I am disgusted. I help in the cafeteria on a regular basis and see that the choices our children are given are mostly sugar. One child might purchase chocolate milk, a muffin and cheese stick, a box of juice - all at one sitting ! On top of this my children are inundated with snacks being brought into the school for birthdays, parties, and just because ! What can we do to educate the school systems on better and proper nutrition for the youngest of us ?

I am a pharmacist. Everyday, I see patients who have very serious chronic diseases who must take many medications. Most of these chronic illnesses can be avoided by maintaining a healthy weight. Medication costs are horribly high. Please comment

While listening to the show one thing that comes to mind is the balance in the experts presentation between the generalities of the topic and the specifics of the science. For example, exercise has always been an important component to weight loss but it has been usually linked directly as a calorie burning affect. My readings say that you what you should really be doing is exercising for the purpose of increasing the mitocondria which are the subcells that metabolize the "food energy." When you excercise you increase the size and the number of of these subcells which not only "burns" fats, etc but changes your metabolism which improves ones health. Can your guests discuss this?

I lost weight and kept it off when I did 3 things: stopped drinking alcohol, dealt with the emotional component of my compulsive over-eating and stopped dieting. I also found out that I am allergic to gluten and started to follow a gluten free diet. Now I'm very fit and don't even weigh myself. I wear a size 4. I used to be a size 12. Everytime I went on a diet and I went on thousands, I would lose the weight and then gain it all back. Now I just eat when I'm hungry. I eat tons of fruits and vegetables and oily fish and dairy.

Thank you for discussing this issue. My concern personally is the future. I have maintained a healthy weight until now (I am 27 years old) but will soon begin my family. I am concerned with how I am supposed to lose my pregnancy weight & keep it off while having fibromyalgia, degenerative joint disease, & chronic fatigue issues. Every time I exercise, my pain is increased three fold & takes a long time to dissipate, even with consistent exercise. It is very disheartening for me to think of a life of obesity vs a life of worsened pain & a healthy weight. Thank you.

Question for panel: What is considered a healthy amount of weight to lose per week? What about those diets like Optifast where they claim you lose 2-5 lbs. per week. Is that healthy or dangerous?

Question for panel: What is considered a healthy amount of weight to lose per week? What about those diets like Optifast where they claim you lose 2-5 lbs. per week. Is that healthy or dangerous?

Isn't it true that alcohol consumption will slow down weight loss on a diet? I read that your liver prorietizes tasks and will clean the blood of alcohol before it clears away metabolized fat. Is this true?

What about the food that our schools are feeding our children (at least one meal a day for most kids)? Couldn't we tap into local food sources? It seems as thought this would not only benefit our children's health but would cut down on truckloads of carbon emissions from nationwide deliveries as well as keep the money spent with local farmers and food producers circulating in our own economy

Maybe it's one's just desserts!

I came to the US in the mid-90's [after a life as an expat Brit. so have been exposed to many lifestyles]. What is it with the urge here to have desserts after a meal?

I can enjoy a dessert but most of the time it doesn't occur to me. I have American family and friends who don't feel dinner is complete without a dessert.

Thanks and I have to go a run on South Mountain now :)

Iain

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch/about/

I eat well and work very hard at the gym. All of my friends and family do the same. If my friends gain weight from eating poorly or missing the visit to the gym, then they know that the extra weight comes from the bad habits that THEY are executing. I DON"T LIKE OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE THAT COMPLAIN AND CRY ABOUT THEIR WEIGHT. Get to the gym. Stop being lazy!!!! Seriously. Big people bring it upon themselves. Get over all of this.

When an entire populations "normal" weight increases, environmental factors are typically the primary driver. While individual choices are important, the most important factor is societal. We need to drive change in the food industry to make fewer processed, refined and manufactured foods available. We need the restaurant industry to offer more reasonable portion sizes. We need to give people the opportunity to take time eating and preparing meals. The professionals on the program deal with the systems rather than the root causes.

The issue of obesity has been one for my maternal family, my sister and to a lesser extent myself for generations. My maternal family has an extensive history of Type II Diabetes as a result. I am Hypo-glycemic (25 years now) and must eat several 'mini' meals daily to sustain my blood sugar. This has served me so well as I never get really hungry, and I tend not to eat more than a snack rather than large portions at a sitting.

Please comment on the value of mini-meals toward weight management and health.

What happened to personal responsibility. Why take away the food for the skinny people just because heavy, lazy people can not controle themselves. Overweight people SHOULD be riddiculed, it will help them get back into shape.

I just wanted to thank those you you called in and posted comments on our blog. We will follow up with more specific discussions on the issue of obesity. So please let us know what you'd like us to look at.

Thanks,
Paul