Having missed the majority of the second episode, I’ve just caught up on ITV’s “Weight Loss Ward”; a two-part documentary about the specialist weight loss ward of the Sunderland Royal Hospital. I watched with mixed feelings of empathy, anger and sadness as a “conveyor belt” of morbidly obese individuals struggle to reduce their body mass index to a level that they hope will then give them the opportunity to be added to the expanding list of those awaiting bariatric surgery.
The first question that comes to mind, and was actually voiced by one
of those taking part, is how the hell did they get like that in the first
place; those presenting at the clinic don’t just have a few pounds to lose, often
they need to lose the weight equivalent to two “normal” sized individuals. Before you answer this question … pause for a
second and reserve judgement. None of us are immune from this obesity-epidemic,
although we like to think we are; the stone they effortlessly gained over six
months, turned easily into two a year, became four in two years and so on and
so forth – sound familiar? I demonstrated
the rapidity of how body composition can change with my own personal experience,
detailed in the blog post of the 7th of December – it’s very easy
and once control is lost, the downward spiral escalates and becomes increasingly
difficult to resolve; 4 lbs to lose is achievable - 4+ stone can be daunting!
I do understand that when someone gains so much weight, they
simply don’t know where to begin and surgery may be the only way to even get
them mobile; it may well be the only choice they feel they have, their last
chance before obesity-related diseases seriously affect or cut short their
lives, but my anger rises when I know that education is undoubtedly the answer to
prevent this from happening in the first place!
When will the powers that be
realise that nutrition education needs to begin in schools to prevent future generations befalling the
same fate and be available at other life stages through colleges, children's centres and adult education; with no disrespect, it’s a fact that the majority of people know
absolutely nothing about nutrition – if they did, then the country wouldn’t be
in this state in the first place – prevention, prevention, prevention!! I’m
sure that those featured on the programme would agree that if they had been given
help, information and education about nutrition and exercise earlier in their lives,
they would have been able to make more informed choices. Help that includes demonstrating how to prepare
quick and simple, nutritious food; we are inundated with TV cookery programmes,
but we’re not all chefs (me included) and often don’t want, or have time, to
spend hours in the kitchen; I can put a healthy, nutritious and inexpensive meal
together for myself in very little time.
Information and education that explains why a diet high in saturated
fat, salt and sugar will not only help pile on the pounds, year after year, but
will also promote pro-inflammatory diseases such as cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, arthritis and possibly even cancer – all delivered in a way people
can understand and relate to - simple but effective guidance; the absence of
which is leading to an obesity epidemic, with people literally becoming trapped
within their own bodies, unable to enjoy the simple things in life and
requiring a cocktail of drugs to manage the diseases that accompany it.
One patient, having undergone surgery, failed to lose any weight
whatsoever; why – because she simply carried on doing what she had always done –
eating energy dense foods, only in smaller portions, more frequently! The dieticians at the hospital obviously do
their best to provide nutritional information, but you can’t change someone’s eating
patterns and re-educate them in 15 minutes and there are simply too many people
for them to deal with. If the Government
doesn’t begin to invest in those of us who are qualified and passionate about slowing the progression of this epidemic by supporting, financing and allowing us the opportunity to create
programmes to educate the next generation, then this situation can’t and won’t change
and specialist obesity wards will be needed in each and every hospital throughout the country; without action, the UK
will undoubtedly reach and possibly exceed predictions that a staggering 55%
of adults will be clinically obese in not too many years from now! Since qualifying I've approached several
schools with a view to providing nutritional education programmes, but the
effort has come to nothing because there isn’t a provision
within current curriculums and no funding is available – although I’m sure this
has to be more economical than the estimated annual £5 billion cost of dealing
with obesity, as quoted in the recent study published by the Royal College of Physicians; I’ve written and presented sessions for free on several occasions which
simply isn’t sustainable, but as Martha Stipanuk rightly states in her book on
human nutrition, “the knowledge and science of nutrition is only of academic
interest unless it can be applied to the improvement of the health and
well-being of individuals and populations”.
I notice that we are being bombarded with TV adverts about weight
loss -as if that’s all that matters; I want to shout from the rooftops that is isn’t
just about weight, it’s about body composition, it’s about eating nutritious
food, abundant in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, it’s about moving our bodies
to work our cardiovascular system, which in turn promotes good mental
health, optimum bone health and boosts self-esteem and gives us a sense of achievement. Nutrition isn’t about deprivation and not
being able to have the foods we consider “bad”, it’s about helping people to
understand what a diet comprised mainly of these foods can do to our long-term
health and armed with this knowledge they can then decide to make healthier alternative,
empowering, informed choices.
OK, enough, I’ll step down now and pray that my passion persuades!
“There are, in effect, two things: to know and to believe one
knows. To know is science. To believe one knows is ignorance”
HippocratesCathy x
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