Want Your Future Baby to Thank You?Published on April 13, 2019The first group of organs impacted by excess body fat is the reproductive system. For men, being overweight or obese most often leads to low sperm count, less fertile sperm and definitely a lower motility in the sperm, with greater difficulty penetrating the egg. For women, too much body fat wreaks havoc [Read more...]
Don’t Let Your Friends Make You FatPublished on April 6, 2019Although obesity can’t actually spread like an infectious disease, contact with other obese people does influence the likelihood of becoming overweight or obese yourself. This is because not only do friends spend a lot of time together, and more often than not eat similar foods and engage in the same physical (or lack thereof) [Read more...]
Fat by ChoicePublished on March 16, 2019Recently, a question was posed to me on Quora: Do you believe most fat people are fat by choice or is it something not everyone can control? The short answer: Yes. There are, of course, significant causes of obesity, such as those with mental health issues who use food to self-medicate [Read more...]
Too Wide to Ride?Published on February 9, 2019𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠? In my opinion, yes, they should. 📌 There’s weight criteria for our checked luggage. If we’re over, we are charged for it at check-in. Baggage weight is taken very seriously by the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2003, the [Read more...]
Hefty with HemorrhoidsPublished on November 17, 2018Why does being overweight increase your chances of getting hemorrhoids? People who are obese are more likely to get hemorrhoids because excessive weight puts pressure on the veins of the rectum and anus, which can lead to swelling and inflammation. In addition, people who are obese are more likely to be sedentary [Read more...]
Fat Owners, Fat PetsPublished on November 10, 2018How did so many of our pets get so overweight? Recently, (August 2018) a woman named Susan Jenks of the New York Times published a story entitled “Our Fat Pets.” She shared statistics that 60% of cats and 56% of dogs in America are at unhealthy weights. She quoted the Association for Pet [Read more...]
Stop the PC Crap: Obesity is NOT BeautifulPublished on October 23, 2018These days, western culture is immersed in the pandemic of political correctness and group think. It’s the extraordinary arrogance of the p.c. movement that seeks to impose on people what is right, okay, fair, or acceptable to think and say. It’s positively Orwellian and, in my opinion, should be resisted by anyone who considers [Read more...]
#HimToo: Fat and Male Breast CancerPublished on October 16, 2018While rare compared to female breast cancer, the incidence of male breast cancer (MBC) has increased in the last few decades, no doubt coincident with the ever-growing obesity epidemic. It has long been known that obesity and the risk of many types of cancer are linked, and although obesity is not considered an [Read more...]
Is FAT the New “F” Word?Published on June 1, 2018In his article, There’s No Such Thing as “Fat Shaming” — It’s Just Advertising,” Elliott Haworth writes: “I take issue with the Vicariously Offended; the virtuous who take up the mantle of oppression, regardless of whether they are personally affected, at every given opportunity.” I agree. These days the “shaming” label [Read more...]
How Does Obesity Affect Your Risk of Cancer?Published on March 17, 2018Over a decade ago, an international team of researchers reported that excess weight was linked to higher risks of 5 cancers: colon, esophagus, kidney, breast and uterus. Then, in August of 2016 that same group of researchers, in the New England Journal of Medicine, expanded that list significantly by identifying 8 additional cancers [Read more...]
Liposuction for Weight Loss is a Losing PropositionPublished on March 10, 2018About a year ago, I had a phone inquiry with a woman who, conservatively, had to lose 75 pounds. I say “conservatively,” because I guesstimated at that number based on what she told me her weight and height was over the phone. From my many years experience, it’s safe to say that almost 99% [Read more...]
Obesity in the O.R.—A Weighty Problem for AnesthesiologistsPublished on February 11, 2018We know that obese patients can expect longer surgery times. Just getting through the fat layers takes more time; obesity can often double the length of surgery. However, the longer the surgery proceeds, the longer the patient will need to be asleep, and the more anesthesia is necessary. What many people don’t [Read more...]
Have a Healthy ChanukahPublished on December 10, 2017The festival of Chanukah is one of the best loved holidays in the Jewish calendar. The powerful images of the miracles of the Jewish victory over the Selucid Greeks in the 2nd Century BCE and the miracle of the one-day supply of oil burning eight days in the re-dedication of the Temple are an [Read more...]
‘Tis the Season . . . for DepressionPublished on November 12, 2017Many people who are overweight or obese suffer with depression. Of those, for many who suffer from even mild depression, the extra burden of being overweight during the year-end holiday season only makes things worse. As I wrote in another article, in my experiences with clients,the larger one gets the smaller their world [Read more...]
Obese Face Higher RadiationPublished on August 1, 2017Radiology plays an important role in medical care, but the imaging process becomes more difficult for obese patients. Exams considered simple to perform on average sized patients need to be adapted in order to obtain quality images of obese individuals. Given the alarming trend of obesity and the long list of associated health [Read more...]
The Big Boned TheoryPublished on July 9, 2017“I’m not really that overweight; I’m big boned!” If I had a couple of bucks for every client that has said that to me over the years, I could have retired years ago! There is such a thing as being big boned—but it’s not a medical term, and it’s never used [Read more...]
More Fat, More RadiationPublished on May 28, 2017Given the alarming trend of obesity and the long list of associated health risks, it is no surprise that over the past few decades there’s been an increasing prevalence of obese individuals presenting themselves at hospital emergency rooms and entering radiology clinics in need of medical imaging for acute and chronic conditions.Radiology plays an [Read more...]
Obesity-Cholesterol-Alzheimer’s ConnectionPublished on April 13, 2017As obesity numbers rise, so do the numbers of those with high cholesterol. Roughly one quarter of the cholesterol in our bodies resides in our brains. Researchers have found that patients with high levels of “bad” cholesterol in their blood tended to have more harmful tangles of protein inside their brain cells. [Read more...]
Obesity and Iron DeficiencyPublished on March 30, 2017Iron is a mineral that’s vital to our health, our metabolism and survival. All of our cells contain some iron, but most of the iron in our bodies is in our red blood cellswhich transport oxygen from our lungs to the organs and tissues throughout our bodies. However, inflammation associated with excess body weight [Read more...]
Obesity and Gum DiseasePublished on January 28, 2017What’s the connection between being overweight and gum disease? Most research suggests that fat cells produce many chemical signals and hormones that can increase inflammation in the body, decrease the effectiveness of your immune system, and increase your susceptibility to periodontal disease. Other research points to the possible eating habits of overweight [Read more...]
“Healthy Obesity” is Seriously FunnyPublished on September 17, 2016The term “healthy obesity” has gained some traction over the last several years, and I want to put that oxymoron to rest.When I hear it, I always ask, “What does that mean? . . . that you haven’t had a stroke or heart attack yet?” . . . that the ticking time bomb hasn’t [Read more...]
Do You Waddle When You Walk?Published on September 13, 2016Our feet are small compared to the rest of our body; yet, the amount of pressure we put on them is great when we’re just standing.When we walk or run, however, it’s tremendous . . . and the bigger we are, the more our feet are asked to bear. Many problems that occur [Read more...]
Obesity and OsteoporosisPublished on January 11, 2016Osteoarthritis develops when the cushioning material between the joints, known as cartilage, wears away, eventually allowing the bones to painfully rub or grind together. Obesity is an important risk factor for osteoarthritis sufferers. This is because high amounts of fat around the liver, muscle tissues and in the blood is more likely [Read more...]
Obesity in Men: Unhealthy and UnmanlyPublished on October 12, 2015While obesity affects both women and men, it’s women who more often, in my experience, will eventually seek professional assistance of some kind to lose weight, or do one quick-fix gimmick after another. Men, on the other hand, again in my experience and going by what they tell me when we meet for [Read more...]
Obesity and Fall Risk for SeniorsPublished on April 21, 2015Over the pastseveral years, while obesity rates have increased in most age groups in the United States, the biggest rise has been in older adults. According to a Syracuse University research study done a fewyears ago and conducted over an 8-year period with 10,000 seniors, obese seniors were found to be 50% more [Read more...]
Obesity and Cancer RiskPublished on March 10, 2015In recent years, numerous studies and reviews bear out the relationship between obesity and cancer risk, treatment outcome and recurrence. More recently, however, two articles are worthy of special mention: In the winter 2016 issue of Your Weight Matters (the magazine of the Obesity Action Coalition) in an article titled, The Link [Read more...]
Obesity and Pulmonary DiseasePublished on December 3, 2014Exposure to air contaminants, such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, are known to be respiratory irritants that can cause illnesses such as asthma and other pulmonary diseases. Did you know that overweight and obese adults breathe in up to 50% more air every day, compared with adults of normal weight? [Read more...]
