Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes

After an exhausting week of jam-packed sessions at the 3rd Canadian Obesity Summit last week, it is time to look back at some of the initiatives and projects presented at the Summit.

One particular exciting event was a cooking demonstration by SuperChefs of the Universe hosted by the Starwoods Group in its Westin Bayshore kitchen.

This Vancouver-based initiative that is rapidly turning into a global movement describes itself as follows:

“SuperChefs Entertainment Inc. is a company dedicated to teaching kids invaluable cooking skills and promoting healthy eating habits by focusing our animated characters, the SuperChefs of the Universe, on entertaining and educating young children, in all forms of media, about the power and the fun that comes from the joy of cooking, eating nutritious foods and daily exercise and the lifelong impact they can have on their lives.”

SuperChefs kids and Executive Chefs, including Chef Andrew George (World Culinary Gold Olympian), Chef Victor Bongo (Awarded Top Ten Chefs in Canada and soon to be seen on Chopped!), and Dr. Greg Chang (Founder/Creator SuperChefs Cookery for Kids).

A young SuperChef working with Chef Victor Bongo to prepare crepes

SuperChefs checking out Dr. William Dietz’s (former Director of the US Centre for Disease Control) crepe flipping skills

Dr. Hasan Hutchinson, Director General of the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion within the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada, trying his hand at flipping crepes

For more on the SuperChefs – check out their website and activities.

AMS
Vancouver, BC

The following is a short op-ed that appeared yesterday in Longwoods.com:

Despite the evidence that Canada, like virtually all industrialized nations, is in the grip of an obesity epidemic, attempts to address this issue with effective prevention and treatment efforts appear to have barely made a dent in the problem.

Cynics may point out that the reason for this is rather simple — irrespective of whether your industry is part of the problem or part of the solution, obesity can be good for business.

On the causal side, whether you are selling products or services that ultimately increase calorie intake or help decrease energy expenditure, countless large and small businesses directly profit from an increasingly obese and sedentary population that needs more calories and even more labour-saving gadgets.

On the solution side, we have a multibillion dollar industry that promises weight loss, be it through the latest fad diets, supplements or “super foods.” For those hoping to simply burn off excess calories, an entire “sports-industrial complex” offers its products and services, from fashionable wrist-band activity monitors to the latest in customized personal training in Pilates, yoga, Zumba or any other fitness craze that optimistically promises to help you shed pounds from problem zones forever. The insatiable voyeuristic appeal of weight-loss “success stories” continues to sell magazines and TV shows, as well.

In the health sector, the obesity epidemic promises almost limitless opportunity for growth. Whether you are selling the latest in diabetes medications, hip prosthetics or cancer treatments, any real solution to obesity will only cut into your business. What we lack in treatments for obesity we make up for in treatments for obesity related health problems.

Even the health promotion arena is not immune — the obesity epidemic creates and secures countless jobs at public health organizations. And obesity researchers (I add myself to this lot) are secretly grateful for the epidemic, too – after all, why would anyone fund our pet projects if not for the promise of solutions that they offer?

Of course, some of these products and services work; many do not, and few are effective over the long term. Much of the research under way in Canada is important and necessary, and many public health programs are in fact well designed.

So, why do we still have a serious problem with excess weight in this country? Because all of the players who can make a difference tend to work within their own silos. Because there is not enough meaningful, open dialogue across disciplines, or between science, policy and industry. Because there is no real consensus on how to prevent and treat obesity to such a level that there is no longer an epidemic of excess weight in Canada.

That’s why the Canadian Obesity Network (with almost 9,000 members, the largest network of obesity professionals in the world) launched the Canadian Obesity Summit six years ago. This biennial event attracts more than 1,000 health professionals, researchers, policy makers and industry representatives, and provides a unique opportunity to connect and discuss the very latest in scientific research and how these can be translated into solutions.

If obesity is of relevance to your sector – whether you are part of the problem or part of the solution –  the Canadian Obesity Summit is your “cannot-miss” event for 2013. I hope to meet you there

Early bird registration for the Summit ends on April 19, 2013

A full version of the program is available here.

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta

Today’s post is a brief video clip which answers a question that I am very often asked, “How did you get into obesity?”

Sometimes, it only takes one question to prompt a whole new way of thinking – this is what happened to me.

E-mail subscribers will have to head to my website to watch.

Appreciate your comments,

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta

In today’s post, I would like to invite anyone interested in doing a post-doc in obesity research at the University of Alberta to send me their application.

The purpose of this fellowship is to participate in clinical research activities, which include:

1) Implementation and validation of tools to improve obesity management.
2) Clinical studies on cost-effectiveness of bariatric care.
3) Identification of predictors of health outcomes in bariatric management.

Qualifications and skills should include:

• Recent doctorate (PhD) in epidemiology, public health, medicine, clinical or medical sciences.
• Experience in obesity-related research is preferable but not required.
• Outstanding academic record and scientific productivity.
• Excellent written, analytical, interpersonal and oral communication skills.
• Experience writing grants and scientific communication is required.
• Proficiency in data management, basic statistical analysis and data interpretation is preferable
• Experience in clinical research is preferable.
• Undergrad training in health-care related areas (Nutrition, Nursing, MD, PT, Kinesiology, Psychology, etc) is preferable but not required.

A full copy of the posting is available here.

AMS
Edmonton, AB

As I often talk about in my lectures, many obese individuals appear to be waiting for their life to start – dreaming of all the things they will eventually do (next week, after their final exam, after Christmas, on January 1st, next Summer, etc.) after they finally get the weight off.

Canadian Obesity Network bootcamper Nicole Glenn, from the University of Alberta, has now published an exploration of just this issue in a paper titled, “Weight-ing: The Experience of Waiting on Weight Loss”, in the journal Qualitative Health Research.

In this phenomenological exploration of what it means to wait for weight loss, Nicole examines the weight wait through experiences gleaned from interviews, blogs and other sources.

As is typical for this type of work, the analysis is deeply personal and subjective and makes no claims to ‘saturation’ or universality of the interpretation or experience. Yet it provides deep insights into an issue that concerns millions of people living with excess weight.

“Phenomenological research aims for a certain effect, one that can lead us to suddenly see or grasp a human phenomenon in a way that enriches our understanding of everyday life experiences. Such seeing may transform our being and thus our practices”

As she writes,

“Waiting on weight loss shows itself through the promise of starting over, through repetition and resolution. The journey begins again, and again, and again. Or at the very least, the possibility of the wait for weight loss rebeginning is ever present.

‘It is January 2nd. I face the scale: Get on, get off. Repeat. I spend the rest of the day telling myself that I will do better, that things will change. Nevertheless I find myself cutting up the leftover ham, mindlessly stuffing the sweet, brown sugar goodness into my mouth. I can literally feel my rings tighten and ankles swell. I start to sob. I told myself last year I would not be in this position next year. In fact, I’ve made pretty much the same promise to myself for the past 20 years.’”

And yet, weight loss, even when it occurs is not the end of the wait – it may now be a wait (fear) for the weight to come back:

“I am somehow unsafe in this my new, thin body. Here I cannot let my guard down. I cannot dwell as I would in a place that is truly my home. So I am left to wonder if the waiting has really ended.”

As for the clinical implications of her findings, Nicole states:

“Recommendations for weight loss are commonplace in contemporary culture, with infomercials and commercials on television, and print and online advertising constantly offering up the newest ways to slim down…..I do not seek to confirm or refute the effectiveness of weight loss as a treatment, but instead strive to shift the focus to how such recommendations might manifest in an individual’s lived experience.”

As I have often said before, simply throwing out “weight loss recommendations” or even just linking numbers on the scale to “health” contains a message of “value” that is hurtful, damaging, and does harm.

Hopefully this paper will be read both by those interested in health promotion as well as everyone involved in obesity management.

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta

photo credit: openDemocracy via photopin cc

Glenn NM (2012). Weight-ing: The Experience of Waiting on Weight Loss. Qualitative health research PMID: 23202478

.