We all realize that it’s that time of year again – the beginning of the Holiday Season! We’re planning for Thanksgiving the day after tomorrow. Then, it’s a mad dash of shopping, cooking, eating, drinking, parties, family get togethers, religious events, perhaps traveling, and lots of joy (and possibly sadness depending on our circumstances) until after New Year’s Day. In other words we’ll be incredibly busy and have little time for ourselves, and, even worse, our daily routines will be disrupted for months! Despite this, the Holidays are a good thing. We just have to plan. This is not a time for thoughts such as “I’m not going to gain weight!”, or, “It’s impossible so I won’t even try!”, or, “I’ll wait until after the New Year!”, or “I’ll skip all those parties!”, or, whatever. The truth is we’ll all party and eat and drink – some of us will maintain our weight but most of us will gain at least a few pounds despite our best intentions. By planning, however, we can minimize the damage and enter the New Year healthier by doing a few simple things. We must be honest with ourselves because we know what’s going to happen otherwise. The first thing we must do is try to get at least and extra 30 cumulative minutes of physical activity each and every day. This can be simply walking while shopping or visiting. Next, since we are planning to snack and drink more, we should cut back on our regular meals and try to keep the accumulation of goodies in our homes and work spaces to a minimum by taking inventory and throwing them out daily if necessary. We all know what to do – we just have to do it. Thirdly, we should keep some type of record or diary of what we consume and where we’re going to go so we know what we’ve done and what we’ll probably soon do. This sounds too easy and it is, but, we’ll only do it if we begin now.
Archive for the ‘Disease and Lifestyle’ Category
The Holiday Season Need Not Cause Weight Problems: We Must Begin Planning for the New Year Now!
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011The Weight Loss Blues Affect Everyone – Even “Experts” Like Me!
Thursday, October 13th, 2011“Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing” a sage once said. This is the way my wife and I feel now. Since we’ve recently cut way back on our professional activities we’ve had much more time to travel. In fact, we’ve spent over four of the past eight weeks traveling – 31/2 weeks driving to Oregon and back and last week driving to northern Wisconsin for a blissful week in the gorgeous north woods. Even though we kept active – kayaking, swimming, hiking, horse back riding, etc. – we both gained around 4 – 5 lbs. which we are having a devil of a time taking off. This despite our knowing what to do and being very knowledgeable in calorie counting. I get on the scale frequently and know how my patients feel when dieting. It’s frustrating! However, why we gained the weight isn’t a secret if we think about it. Firstly, although we were active on our trips, the physical activity was more intermittent and not as constant during the day. Secondly, we were, of necessity, eating out a lot and our food choices were not the best for weight control. Thirdly, we usually eat only two meals a day – a late breakfast or early lunch and a dinner later in the day. When traveling, the norm is, more often than not, that we eat three meals a day plus snacks which are more difficult to control when away from home. So, our problem was not one of ignorance or lack of knowledge of what we should have done, but one of our not planning and anticipating what would happen to us. Because of this lack of preparation, we blew it. Even the old cliche “Eat, it’s OK you’re on vacation,” doesn’t change the outcome. We now have to lose those pounds! It would have been better to not have gained weight by planning and applying the principles we know so well. Until we do this we will be forever flumoxed by our weight management.
To show how much I haven’t changed, I reread my previous post of January 20, 2010 where I lament my new year’s weight gain as well as my post on February 9, 2010. You should read these too.
My Reflections on “Health” and “Health Care” as I Visit the Mayo Clinic
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009As I sit in my hotel room across the street from the Mayo Clinic unable to drive home because of a raging blizzard, I’m grateful that my wife and I both got passing reports on our examinations performed at Mayo this week. We’re “healthy” with decent weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, x-rays, etc., and we were advised as to how often and when we should be vaccinated, and screened with procedures such as colonoscopy. What a relief! My hope is that the movement for health care reform that our country is now in the middle of will provide everyone with an opportunity to experience such medical care. Admittedly, the Mayo Clinic is special. But, as special and friendly and medically expert and up to date and efficient and famous as the Mayo Clinic is – what did it do to make me “healthy,” and, by extension, what did my “health insurance” that’ll help pay for my Mayo Clinic visit do to make me “healthy?” The answer, is, truthfully, not as much as one would think. Medical care, even the “best” medical care, doesn’t make us healthier. What it does is provide treatments for things we have no control over such as the need for surgery, treatment for diseases such as cancer, treatment after accidents, cataracts, Diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, to name only a few. Don’t get me wrong such treatments are very, very, important and everyone of us deserve to have access to them. However, health insurance (really “illness insurance”) even when it helps pay for a terrific organization like the Mayo Clinic cannot get us to do daily physical activity and eat less calories to keep our weight down which would truly make us “healthier” and prevent or delay those heart attacks, strokes, cancer, Diabetes, arthritis, sleep apnea, and the myriad of other lifestyle diseases. If we all took better care of ourselves, we wouldn’t need as much “illness insurance” and that insurance would then provide medical and surgical treatments for problems we cannot prevent or treat ourselves. Again, “Your Weight Management = Your Health Management.” I’ll sign off now, it’s stopped snowing. We have to leave Rochester early tomorrow morning so we can be back in the office tomorrow afternoon. As always, I look forward to your comments. Also, what do you think of my recent post on “Diabetes?”
Our Epidemic of Unhealthy Lifestyle = Our Epidemic of Overweight/Obesity = Our Epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009It’s time I utilize Type 2 Diabetes (previously called Adult Onset or Old Age Diabetes and the prototypical lifestyle disease) to explain and illustrate - “Your Weight Management = Your Health Management.”
Over the last 25 years or so there has been an increase in the number of people of all age groups including young people and children with Type 2 Diabetes (not Type 1 Diabetes which is a different disease). This Type 2 Diabetes epidemic is worldwide - almost everyone either has or knows someone who has Type 2 Diabetes. Why the epidemic? To answer this question we must first understand what Type 2 Diabetes is.
Type 2 Diabetes is always a genetic (inherited from parents) disease and the genetics haven’t changed in centuries. A Type 2 Diabetes individual inherits two things: first, an inabilty (from birth) for that individual’s insulin to work properly to lower blood sugar – this is called insulin resistance – the need for more insulin to lower blood sugar compared to someone without Diabetes; and, second, a planned or programmed gradual failure from an early age of that individual’s insulin producing cells (Beta cells). Eventually, the Type 2 Diabetes individual’s Beta cells simply fail to the point that they can no longer produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance and the Type 2 Diabetic’s blood sugar (glucose) starts going up. This used to happen (prior to the Type 2 Diabetes epidemic) in an individual’s late 50′s, 60′s, or 70′s – hence the term “Old Age Diabetes.”
If the genetics haven’t changed, why are more and more people, including youg people, being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes? Why this epidemic? The answer is that as an individual with genetic Type 2 Diabetes weight increases, his/her problems with blood sugar elevation increase. This happens because as the individual with genetic Type 2 Diabetes gains weight (eats too much and with less physical activity becomes less fit) doing this causes its own insulin resistance which is superimposed on (added to) that individual’s genetic insulin resistance and this stresses the Beta insulin producing cells even more and they fail earlier and earlier. The majority of young people (children and teens ) who are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes are morbidly obese. The average individual with Type 2 Diabetes in the USA is obese with a BMI of 33.
The Type 2 Diabetes epidemic is not simply associated with overweight/obesity – it is caused by overweight/obesity and the unhealthy lifestyle that causes the overweight/obesity.
Therefore, “Your Weight Management = Your Health (Diabetes) Management.”
As usual, I would appreciate your comments, discussion or questions.
Dr. Motto, Why Another Medical – Lifestyle Blog?
Monday, November 16th, 2009“Why another medical – lifestyle blog?” An excellent question and one that I’ve been asking myself daily. The answer is that as an experienced physician, a specialist in Endocrinology & Metabolism, I believe I have an obligation to attempt to change the way the medical establishment and patients view disease. In the many years since I graduated from medical school, innumerable advances in medical knowledge and treatment has meant that I’ve had more and more tools to diagnose and help my patients. Despite all these advances more and more of my patients are relying on medications, surgery, all kinds of over the counter supplements and other treatments and fads to achieve control of their medical and emotional conditions. Meanwhile, diabetes, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, hypertension, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, degenerative arthritis, overweight, obesity, diminished quality of life and mental disorders such as depression are actually increasing, often in epidemic proportions, in my patients and my community. Something is obviously very wrong. What? I believe it’s that most of us either don’t understand or don’t believe that the results of our unhealthy lifestyle – overweight, obesity, and/or physical unfitness – are what’s doing us in. The answer is all of us embracing “Your Weight Management = Your Health Management” (see my previous blog posts which explain this). I do believe that as individuals and communities we can change and I hope through my blog I will help convince you that this is not only necessary but possible. In my next post I will discuss Type 2 Diabetes, the prototypical genetic and lifestyle disease, the progression and outcome of which is profoundly affected by lifestyle habits and behaviors. As always, I look forward to your comments – simply click on “No Comments” below.
