Yes, you heard me.  Now what do I mean by that exactly?  It seems to me that Ms. Deen has been eating a little too much of the bad stuff – and by bad stuff I mean things that happen to be white.  Sugar, salt, lard and flour – all white and all not good for you.  In fact, this is a problem that I see happening all across America; people have way too much white in their lives and not enough color.

How many times have you heard me saying that we need more color in our lives?  Now since I tend to speak in as many broad terms as I do specific, this can mean anything from adding colorful experiences to your life, colorful relationships, perspectives – what have you.  But today, I’m talking about adding color to your diet.

As a doctor, I am always telling people to eat fruits and vegetables (these end up replacing sugar for the most part), move to sea salt, get excited about eating quality whole grains and turn to good fats like avocados, nuts or olive oil.  I’m human though and of course there are times when I want to have some sugar.  That’s when making the choice to have raw (turbinado) sugar or stevia makes sense.  Sea salt naturally helps your release excess water – who needs water retention – AND it has higher mineral content.  Quinoa is a food that is so undervalued yet it has amazing properties.  Not only does it taste great, but it is high in protein so when you have pasta made from quinoa, you end up loading up on the healthiest of proteins while scaling back on all the white, processed junk from typical white flour or rice pasta.  Good fats like those that come from coconut or olive oil, nuts and avocados actually taste better than lard, which should only be used as a skin moisturizer and not as a food, mind you.

Here’s what I have to say to Paula: We all love tasty food.  In fact, I enjoy comfort food whenever I end up having it – probably once a year around Thanksgiving. But take it from someone that has a lot of color in her life; make the simple switch to natural products.  You need to get out of that southern mentality at least when it comes to the ingredients in your delicious southern foods – and start infusing a LOT more color into them.

I feel bad that Paula is sitting on top of worldwide scrutiny after signing on with a drug company as their spokesperson almost days after revealing to the world she has diabetes.  But how much of this is really her fault?  What could be worse than having to share your personal plight with a totally preventable disease, than to have an international pharmaceutical company pounce all over you while only considering what’s in it for them? Shame on the selfish company Novo Nordisk (the maker of the diabetes drug Victoza) for taking advantage of Paula at a time like this!

Pouncing on her vulnerability in this situation was not cool.  Here she is, a woman that has clearly made some bad choices – choices that have landed her in this spot where she now has to completely do a 180 to adjust her lifestyle. But I know she can do it.

Paula’s goal should be to get off of Victoza and get on the track of a healthy lifestyle that addresses the problem of a deficiency of healthy nutrients rather than a drug deficiency.  I trust that her doctors are treating her in the best way that they know how, with this magic little pill to “make it all go away”.  But it’s only a temporary fix and the next time Paula is in the news, I want to read about how she turned the tables around, aligned herself with quality, complementary healthcare practitioners and methods (Chinese acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, etc.) and reversed the clock on years of making bad choices.  I want to be able to flip the channel over to Food Network and see a smiling, happy, chirping Paula that epitomizes good health, healthy cooking where she is an even bigger celebrity for figuring out how to make delicious southern-style food that is actually good for you.

If I were her doctor, this is the advice I’d have given Paula: Take a few pills for now but don’t for one second imagine that they are the magic cure for this condition – and live the ultimate goal of being able to live and enjoy life with healthy food, holistic living and all-around wellness.

For years, we have all been taught to believe (whether it was a scientifically-derived thought or otherwise) that if you were a fat baby, chances are you would grow up to be an obese adult.  Not surprisingly – or surprisingly if you are one of those people that was successfully conditioned to believe those rumors – baby fat has nothing to do with an individual’s weight configuration later in life.

A new study published in The Journal of Pediatrics last month reveals that regardless of a shifting trend toward larger babies, adult obesity levels are unchanged based on that fact.  Conducted at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, data from an 82-year period was used to follow the birth weights and beyond of babies born in the southwestern region of the state of Ohio.  Right around the 1970s babies began to get progressively larger, registering at approximately a pound heavier than those born in previous years.  The newer babies’ lengths were also recorded at about a half-inch longer.

But here is where it gets interesting:  at one year of age, all babies averaged out to be the same weight – regardless of whether they were of the older days’ variety with lower birth weights or the newer generations when the typical weight at birth was significantly higher.  What this shows is that somehow during that first year of life, nature balances things out and the infants end up weighing in at a healthy weight either way.

One thing that has changed from back then is mothers’ health outlook. In terms of size, 18% of mothers in decades past when babies were recorded as being born at lower weights had a body mass index indicating obesity.  More recently, the average maternal obesity rate has been about 48%.  This is the main reason that there has been talk in the medical field that amounts to “obese mother = obese baby = obese adult” and the new research performed to refute that speculation concluded that these factors cannot be linked or correlated.

To prove earlier reports wrong, researchers tracked 620 babies’ weights for a three-year period of time, beginning from birth. The only real variance in data was the birth weights – proven related to maternal health.  But as soon as the babies grew and as they reached toddler stage, it was apparent that it all evened out at the end of the day.

What’s the takeaway point with this research?  The basic fact is this:  bigger babies do not automatically result in the outcome of obese adults, like some people may have you believe.  Researcher and one of the authors of the study, Dr. Ellen Demerath says, “You don’t need infant weight gain to end up with an obesity problem.”  In fact, a Harvard Medical School professor who warns against predicting anyone’s overall growth at an early age because it can hardly be accurate corroborates this.

What, then, could be the reason for an obesity epidemic in America – and the rest of the world?  The answer is a simple one.  Lack of education is the biggest contributor to obesity.  Education is paramount in order for people to be able to ward off early signs and indications of living adulthood as obese individuals.  We need to see to it that proper nutrition counseling is made mandatory for each and every school-going child and his or her parent(s).  You can’t blame fast food chains for your gaining weight when it is you that drives up and orders the 800-calorie monstrosity that will take years to burn off, if it ever gets burned off.  It’s not anyone else’s fault if someone does not go to the gym and work out regularly, despite warnings from their doctors.  The truth is that it all boils down to self-control, self-esteem and self-reliance.  And none of these things are remotely possible without the basic education needed to support these important building blocks of health, something I try to teach daily during my practice as an expert of Social Media Medicine. What better way than to spread this message virally?   Virtually viral, that is.

I welcome and invite schools across the nation to make it a part of everyday education in our children’s curriculums, to teach the basics of eating healthy while exercising and taking care of the mind — and at the same time, teach the accountability for it all.  We really can obliterate obesity from our future – if we try hard enough.

There are a lot of things that have been said and many age-old adages exist that hold true to this day.  Despite tons of research and changing news and views on many areas of our lives based on new findings, some things never change.  Healthy eating and strong nutritional habits is one of those things.  No matter how we cut it, diets that are low in fat and cholesterol, incorporate a significant amount of leafy greens, fruits and other vegetables plus lean meats – remain the best and most balanced nutrition possible.  So it’s no surprise that researchers report that salt cravings begin at very early ages and stages.

We know that the formative years of an individual creates that person’s nutritional habits for life, for the most part.  But how early does it start?  Now that researchers from the non-profit Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have studied babies’ reaction to salt water versus water with no salt or higher concentrations, the answer is clear.  The slate seemed fairly clean at age 2 months, when the babies in the study were given two different solutions – one of plain water and one salty.  At that age, babies were either indifferent to or did not like the salt water.  Dr. Leslie Stein, PhD and colleagues reported that four months later the babies leaned toward the salty water, after having been exposed to table foods with higher starch content like mashed potatoes with milk and margarine or infant cereals.

The bottom line:  the more exposure to salty foods in the time frame between age 2 months and 6 months, the more likeness for salty foods was present in children.

So my question is this:  if babies can perceive the tastes they like or dislike as early as 2 months old, shaping how they develop just a few short months later – why can’t we go one step further back and prevent this disposition to unhealthy salty foods before they are even born?  It is a known fact that while in utero the foods that mother eats are passed on to babies.  Whether that means that they can taste it or if they just develop a natural inclination to the mother’s choices is not the point.  The idea that prior to birth babies can and do develop tastes to certain foods means that it is all-important for the mother to watch what she eats during pregnancy.

Continuing with this concept, I strongly believe that the same should carry on during the breastfeeding stage.  We know that tastes are transferred through breast milk, providing the infant and toddler with myriad variance of tastes.  So, if it is in our hands to control how we shape our children’s palates and if we can do it to help teach early on the difference between liking healthy food versus not-so-healthy foods, what’s stopping us?

Now that we have this research to back up what I have been saying for years, I will further make it a point to advocate fostering early strong nutrition habits in toddler, infant and in-utero stages.  And as I come across thousands of people through my practice as a Social Media Medicine expert, I hope to further this message to anyone and everyone that will listen.

It is important to note that though this research suggests the affinity toward salty foods to those exposed early on, the same concept can and most likely does apply to other food choices too.  I have seen mothers that ate nothing but junk food during their entire pregnancy and lo and behold – those same children to this day even as adults, lean toward junk food rather than make healthy eating choices.  The same holds true for processed carbohydrates (a pregnancy favorite for many moms), high sucrose, fructose and sugar items plus foods that have high cholesterol content.

Going back to the National Institute of Health-supported study that was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, to further corroborate their findings researchers studied a subset of the original 61 babies to see whether 26 of them at preschool age were still exhibiting the same preference for salty foods.  Based on reports by the preschoolers’ mothers, those that had been exposed to salty foods from age 2 months to 6 months were actively liking salt, even licking it from the surface of foods.  What this seems to indicate is that the older kids get, the stronger the cravings become which is not necessarily a good thing when we’re dealing with less-than-healthy foods.

The new findings provides good food for thought – if we all watched what we ate during that relatively short 9 months of pregnancy, just think how healthy we’d be overall as a society!

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Do friends influence the way we eat, or did we learn our good or bad eating habits from the dinner table during childhood? Experts disagree on which influence has the most pull, but in the meantime, the differing arguments have well researched reasoning. However, we can learn from the concept that weight loss or gain happens in numbers. How can we leverage this knowledge to ensure that we build healthy lifestyles within optimal weight limits?

Whether learned behavior from friends or family, eating habits are highly contagious. According to research from Harvard University and the University of California, “obesity may be passed like a virus from person to person via social networks, based on their analysis of research on more than 12,000 participants who were followed for 32 years.”

Opposing arguments say that weight is a product of family conditioning. Other researchers “developed their own mathematical model using adult and adolescent sibling data in an effort to better understand the role of genetic predisposition and habits formed during childhood on adult body weight.”

Whichever side of the argument you agree – or disagree – with, there is no denying that people today suffer from weight struggles. The irony is, very few people actually think they are fat. But the truth is that 2/3 of us are. Have you ever wondered why this is? If you come from a fat family, you will have a different view of what is fat and what is not. In certain communities where 80% of the population is overweight, the smaller people are considered thin in that culture but would be seen as obese outside that culture.

It seems that the old adage “love is blind” is actually preventing healthy living here.

This is a sticky subject since we shy away from saying anything negative about family members. When is the last time that a kid said, “Mom, you are fat.” Consider another awkward situation in which Dad would be bold enough to say something to his daughter about her weight. How many men have gotten in trouble by answering honestly when their wife asked them, “Honey, do I look fat in this dress?”

So, how do we fix this serious health problem? Given that what we learn when we are young is ideal weight, we need to give more strategies to parents to talk to their kids about health and wellness via discussing weight. Communicating openly about proper portions sizes is important in our society of gorging and over eating. Discussions about healthy snacking will allow kids to think carefully about reaching for the fruit snack packages infused with sugar, instead of eating real live fruit.

But even more so, we need to educate parents about their own health habits so that the attitude of wellness is passed to the kids. As these kids grow up with healthy eating habits, they will be able to better recognize poor eating habits and avoid them – or possibly even the friends who engage in them.

Reference: http://children.webmd.com/news/20111215/adult-obesity-may-be-all-in-family

What better way to prevent children from habitually consuming sugary beverages than to start in our schools, right? Today’s highly influenced kids don’t need more temptation right at their fingertips, after all the consumer advertising that soda manufacturers pour into their media campaigns. The best solution seems to be outlawing the soda machines at school. That should fix the problem and reduce childhood obesity.

Not so fast! Yes, eliminating easy-access to Coca-Cola and Pepsi products will encourage different beverage choices, but that doesn’t guarantee that those choices are necessarily better. Many schools who have made strides to ban soda machines think they’ve won a battle against sugar, but the war has just begun. Other vending machine favorites like juices and sports drinks boast an equally high calorie and sugar content as their caffeinated, carbonated soda counterparts.

A recent study showed that states which banned only soda in their schools, appeared to show almost no improvement on Middle School and Elementary School consumption of sugary drinks. Between 26-29% of students in these schools consumed suger-enhanced drinks. However, the states which instituted a policy banning all artificially sweetened beverages altogether showed noticeable improvement. “The numbers were lower, though, in states that banned all sugar-sweetened drinks, with 14.9 percentage points fewer students reporting access at school and 7.3 percentage points fewer reporting purchase over the prior week compared with those in states with no policy.”

Without banning all sugar beverages completely, these state bans on soda only are ineffective. But I think it will take a lot more than some school bans to really demonstrate healthy consumption.

The study drew the same conclusion. “These results add to the growing body of evidence that school-based policy interventions must be comprehensive if they are to be effective, the researchers concluded… Simply replacing soda with sports drinks or other sugary drinks wouldn’t be expected to have much impact on obesity, because even 100% fruit juice has as many calories as other sugar-sweetened beverages, they noted.”

What needs to happen for children to kick the sugar addiction is this: parents have to help kids develop a preference for water and other helpful drinks like teas (unsweetened or naturally sweetened). When thirst develops there needs to be available viable alternatives to juices, sports drinks and sodas with high sugar content. Most important is parents leading by example in the beverages they consume. Otherwise, these kids will simply follow suit, and possibly end up fighting a lifelong battle against their sugar addiction, obesity, and in some cases diabetes.

For those who have there health and wellness in balance, there is little desire for constant sugary beverages. It’s the power of the addiction to sweet drinks that makes the soda ban in schools so ineffective. Addicts will always find a source to feed their addiction – especially children, who are easily adaptable to changes in their environment. The best prevention is to not develop an addiction in the first place so that when child sees soda they don’t always go for it.

Reference: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/29495

America is a beneficiary of some of the world’s most advanced medical technologies. Many of our country’s doctors work in state of the art facilities with unbeatable equipment. And the tools and resources are only becoming more advanced by the day! Laser surgeries that have perfected vision, artificial intelligence that has allowed invasive surgeries to become less dangerous, and monitoring systems that alert medical attention at the slightest concern of heart rate shift. We are truly lucky to live at the fingertips of such incredible medical practice. And the medicines themselves… medication treatments have also come a long way too, right? There are so many drugs available in today’s pharmaceutical marketplace, that there should be no reason for anyone to suffer pain or discomfort. Right…? Sounds pretty great, right?

Not so, says my recently featured radio talk show guests, KC Craichy and his wife Monica (former Miss Florida pageant winner). KC Craichy, author of The Super Health Diet claims that incorporating nutritious, wholesome super foods into your daily routine is the key to long term health… not today’s cheap vitamins, supplements and medical treatments. Craichy’s wife, Monica, became critically depressed after a series of life changes that left her sleep- and nutrient-deprived. After a concoction of medicines were offered to her, the couple finally said no to drugs! KC says that aside from some critically necessary medications for thyroid and diabetes conditions, “the truth is that drugs really seldom are the answer.” Pharmaceutical drugs, actually, are only a band-aid that patches the symptom of the real underlying problems from an unhealthy diet.

Rather than loading up on expensive medications to tame our body’s distress signals from malnourishment, KC suggests that the solution is to become better friends with the top most important super foods – those natural foods that are highest in the nutrients that our body needs to fight disease, depression and illnesses. When considering super food nutrition, KC says, “there are 50 plus essential nutrients that we know we have to have in our diet because our body can’t make those things.” His healthy food plan combines those nutrients with key super foods including, “broccoli, spinach, kale, spirulina, barley grass, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry,” then your body will get everything it needs to fight on its own without an alphabet soup of drugs to mask the symptoms of illness.

Basically, people, you cannot just eat crappy foods and take multivitamins and expect to still be fit! Healthy foods are the core basis of building your fitness, short term and long term. There is no secret ingredient – no quick fix – that will be your key to perfect health. Our overweight population is a result of our society of instant gratification. But, I’m here to tell you that just like my health-conscious colleagues like KC Craichy agree, you must take an educated approach to whole-body health. You may lose a few pounds, but more importantly, you might just save not only your life, but the life of those around you.

Okay, the most important bottom line is this: you do not have to let our pharmaceutically advanced marketplace dictate how you treat and prevent illness for your body and your loved ones’ bodies. When you are eating the foods and nutrients that your body needs, medical supplements and drug treatments are not necessary (aside from key medical conditions). Beauty and wellness radiates from the inside and flows through to your external beauty, so start with the right key nutrients and foods.

Resources:

www.livingfuel.com

Science is always right… right? Wrong! Recent scientific discoveries have been spun as a solution for our globe’s over-eating population, when in fact it’s a sad excuse for these folks to ignore the true path to health. According to an article written by Matthew Heller, and recently released in Fair Warning, a news source that reports on safety, health and corporate conduct, some British and Swiss genetic researchers have discovered that has implications for obesity-related health problems which as diabetes and heart disease. The researchers studied the relationship between a certain human gene that exists in fat tissue, and they claim that this gene could possibly act as a “master switch” for fat-storing behaviors in the human body.

According to the article, “Even before the new study, the KLF14 gene had been linked to high cholesterol levels and Type 2 diabetes, which has approached epidemic levels worldwide amid a rise in obesity.” Now, nobody can argue that obesity is a problem in certain regions of our world. While some third world countries are full of families striving to find their next meal and suffering from malnourishment, much of our globe is populated by overfed families who – because of their poor diet and lack of physical activity – are suffering from diseases related to overconsumption of food. I’m talking about diabetes, heart disease and more.

Heller writes, “In the U.S., ABC News reports, obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of an estimated $147 billion a year in medical spending.” That’s a lot of people who are killing themselves with food, who are looking for an easy way out. Although this article does not confirm that the genetic research will lead to a magic weight loss pill or whether the gene KLF14 is “the gene that makes you fat,” the line of thinking is what really gets me going.

This scientific discovery could lead to more excuses for people to be unhealthy. The fact that the scientists are even interested in correlating this gene with body fat storage proves that our population really just wants a quick fix rather than a lifestyle change. If people could just turn their own KLF14 gene “off” like a switch, then they could proceed to eat crap and be a couch potato. No need to eat veggies and visit the gym multiple times per week. Why work hard at taking proper care of your body if we can genetically modify ourselves to do the job?

Science can be truly a pivotal part of health and wellness discoveries, but it is not always to be trusted. The motivation can often be skewed to meet the needs of our population’s consumer desires rather than what’s really good for our health. I encourage all readers to be wary of science that proposes you just wait for the medication to treat your weight-related medical problems, rather than kicking your physical activity up and avoiding the fast food dinners. Don’t use science as an excuse to adopt and/or continue unhealthful behaviors. Your body will thank you for it.

References:

www.fairwarning.org/2011/05/discovery-of-master-switch-gene-could-help-fight-obesity-diseases/

Our government is taking notice of our country’s need for a health overhaul, and this time, it appears that they might be tackling the problem instead of treating only a symptom. Rather than treating obesity, heart conditions and diabetes at health clinics, after these problems have been contracted, let’s promote healthy foods in our grocery stores that people shop in every day. The current budget (given the absence of any budget cuts) allots $400 million for a health promotion strategy called the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, in which our administration is funding development for new supermarkets in low income communities that do not currently have access to fresh foods.

An expert in the area of public health, Rupal Sanghvi, adds that the design of the actual grocery store plays a critical role in the ability for shoppers to make wise choices of the foods that they purchase. According to Sanghvi’s commentary, captured in a recently published article, “A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets,” grocery stores are arranged strategically to increase the purchases of their customers – the temperature is kept low to spur unnecessary purchases and colorful product placement sparks unplanned buying. The bakery and dairy counters are hosted in the back of the store to draw customers through the aisles for any possible food cravings to catch their eyes. What’s worse, these stores are only required to have about 5% of their store space designated for fresh produce… that’s 500 square feet in a 10,000 square foot store!

So how can the stores change to address our population’s waning health? According to Sanghvi, “The answer, in short, is that the supermarket becomes a platform for community engagement and social cohesion. She calls it ‘outcomes-based healthy supermarket design,’ and it could entail anything from microenterprise incubation to nutrition education to open space for recreation and entertainment. Her plan is to involve local communities in designing their own markets in order to ensure that their specific needs are met.”

What’s really important, however, in making this work is ensuring that the government guidelines are on the side of health – instead of profits, necessarily. To me, the reality should be that supermarkets in low income areas which comply with this new design for healthy store design, starting immediately, get tax breaks and offer tax and price breaks. The government should support our population in healthy eating habits, rather than unhealthy processed foods-eating. Not only should consumers see the benefit in their pocketbook, but so should the store business owners.

Furthermore, there should be a penalty assessed on stores that carry limited fresh foods. So the corner stores with only junk food, tobacco and soda should be penalized unless a certain percentage of their goods are fresh foods. How can our country promote the prevention of diet-related diseases without attacking the core of our eating problems? Monies should then be provided to help stores especially the small stores convert to healthy foods providers. If we all support our government in spending this $400 million properly, then our low income population will be guided to make the right decisions in their daily grocery store rather than falling into poor health and trying to treat their conditions in a clinic after the fact.

References:

http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/05/a-better-way-to-fight-obesity-new-smarter-supermarkets/238813/

Recently, acclaimed news reports have shown that increasing numbers of grade schools are including children’s health statistics on their report cards that are sent home to parents. A recently published article in the Huffington Post, “More Schools Including Weight, BMI On Report Cards,” claimed that in fact, this “weight grade” is a growing trend in United States schools today.

According to the article, “These weight report cards at school are the latest weapon in the fight against the growing obesity epidemic in children — rates of high BMIs have tripled over the past three decades and close to one in three American children are now overweight or obese, sparking First Lady Michelle Obama to launch her Let’s Move campaign. The health effects of childhood obesity and high BMI are well-known: excess pounds can lead to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea, among other serious health problems in adulthood.”

Staggering statistics, right? This is horrible that our children are suffering these health conditions, and it should not be so. But, what’s more horrible is this approach to correcting the problem. Sending kids home with their weight score on a report card does nothing except make children and parents feel bad. Some kids will feel good is they can proudly declare, “I got and A in math and an A for my weight!” Alternatively, kids will be overwhelmed with feelings of failure if they received poor grades for their weight, even though they achieved excellent scores in all their academic classes. Even worse, how about the child who is already failing in his or her academic courses, and now they feel bad about their body in addition to their intellectual ability, or lack thereof?

And yet the proponents of this stand firm by its benefits, claiming that it’s a needed reality check for parents that are in denial: “A 2010 survey from Trust for America’s Health found that 84 percent of parents believe their children are at a healthy weight, even though almost one third of kids are actually overweight or obese.”

I say no! The reality of these report cards and likely outcome from this type of government initiative is more eating disorders – kids drowning in despair, who stop eating, and possibly going to the extreme of anorexia or bulimia. As more obese kids become discouraged by their BMI report, they may use food to cope with feeling bad about themselves, as they have no positive action plan for embarking on a healthier lifestyle. This could even possibly cause depression and suicide. If you know anyone with an eating disorder (whether it be anorexia or obesity), you will realize that they have severe underlying emotional challenges, many of which date back to childhood experience in and out of the family.

The bottom line? WEIGHT AND BMI ON THE REPORT CARD WILL INCREASE THE CHILDHOOD OBESITY RATE NOT LOWER IT!!!!!

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/bmi-schools_n_850776.html?ref=email_share

They say food can be a drug.  And now, with this recent study that came out, it makes even more sense.  Researchers studied a group of women and their brain activity as it corresponded with their neural activity while having a milkshake.  The results clearly show that the women’s brains behaved the same as addicts’ brains behave when on an addictive substance.

Why is this important?  Because if doctors and other health care providers take the problem of food addictions and obesity and consider it a serious medical concern (just like substance abuse is a medical concern) then they can develop specific treatment programs for the problem.  Not only that, this country badly needs to provide coverage of both physical/medical treatment AND the psychological counseling that is cornerstone to attacking the perils of substance abuse.  We all know that most eating issues come from emotional issues and until and unless those negative emotions are not resolved, how can we possibly expect to treat the ailment effectively?  Think of food as the substance being abused here.  The person who is addicted, in all honesty, can’t necessarily control their addiction.  Face it. They need our professional help as health practitioners.  It’s more than just sitting around in a group and talking about the problem.  Addiction is a neural issue and it needs to be dealt with in a number of ways.

Don’t get me wrong; I have a lot of respect for programs like Overeaters Anonymous and other 12-step systems.  But people who are suffering from major eating disorders (or even less major ones) need our help – and what I fail to understand is why the burden of treating those problems is any less important than if someone has suffered broken bones or is dealing with depression?  In fact, if you supplement the healing methods of the 12-step organizations with medical and psychological treatments, then you have a bona fide cure at hand rather than just leaving the healing process to each individual’s own healing capacity.

Another added benefit of taking this approach to obesity and obesity-related health problems is that there are corporate sponsors and accountability partners who then add an extra boost to the mix.  They come charging at the afflicted people with this product and or that service and end up opening a world of options for people who are otherwise ashamed of their eating problem.  The way I see it, the more (friendly and positive) pressure, the better chance they have at curing these problems.

The bottom line is this:  now that we have scientific evidence clearly stating brain activity is the same for substance abusers as it is for food addictive behaviors while “under the influence”, we can safely say it supports the notion that obesity should be approached on a multi-level platform.  And with the idea that it is an addiction, there should be some continuity in treatment options for all substance abusers alike – including food “substance” abuse.

Dr. Veronica

Wellness for the Real World