Think Healthy & Whole
NOT Scale Weight

Obesity

Most people think that the obesity epidemic is about food, fat, behavior and lifestyle but it is so much more.

So what is really getting in the way of becoming healthy? I believe the root issue is hunger, not food or fat! We focus on those visible aspects when we cannot get to the invisible, the Soul. Food has become the soul substitute. Food is fast, cheap, and it fills up the monotony of everyday life. Most people are working 8-10 hours with 1-2 hour commutes, leaving little time for personal fulfillment. We eat on external cues not internal cues. When life borders on depletion, food often takes center stage as the primary source of gratification.

I believe that prevention, empowering my clients, and blending the best of eastern and western medicine is truly the best healthcare I can practice.

I believe in treating the whole person in order to make significant changes in one’s health. This includes addressing nutrition, physical activity, stress (emotional and physical), emotions and one’s spiritual state – mind, body and spirit. My vision is that everyone will recognize and fulfill the different hungers they experience and have lives that are rich, meaningful and nourishing.

What is it?

Obesity is one of the primary health challenges facing not only the United States but countries around the world, a phenomenon known as "globesity". The percentage of overweight and obese people in the U.S. has risen from 56% to 66% from 1994 to 2004, clearly indicating our current treatment approaches do not work. This is because obesity is being addressed in a piecemeal fashion rather than from a whole person perspective.

Obesity has characteristically been approached from the simple perspective of weight loss, i.e. addressing increased food intake and physical inactivity . This single-minded focus on a physical goal -- weight loss /BMI -- has led to unhealthy, imbalanced lifestyles, disordered eating, body image struggles, and widespread fat prejudice . Two years ago, we spent an estimated $46 billion on diet products and self-help books. A government review found that two-thirds of American dieters regained all the weight they had lost within a year, and 97% had gained it all back within five years. Even though study after study have shown that diets do not work, there is always one diet book in the Top 10 List.

I was recently asked to review content for a story on the top 10 diets (including Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, etc.). I explained to the producer that we all know that diets do not work. The word "diet" has a negative connotation because people are "die-ing" to end the restriction and deprivation of the food plan. I suggested coining a new, more positive term that means healthy eating for a lifetime. Any ideas?

I believe the problem of obesity has to be seen in the context of a culture and society which has been promoting a set of false assumptions and ineffective strategies. A new paradigm needs to be created to address this serious and growing health care problem. First off, we need to understand that obesity is not simply a physical problem. Although its physical manifestations are obvious, obesity is a problem of mind, emotion, and spirit as much as it is a matter of making appropriate food choices and needing to exercise.

Recent discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, quantum physics, and gender and ethnic studies, all tell us that we have to re-think our approach. We need to explore body/mind connections and address hunger in all its dimensions in addition to the physiology, biology, and behavioral components of obesity. It seems a first step is to have gender specific treatment plans for women/girls and men/boys. The data clearly indicate we respond differently to preferences of food and physical activities.

The walls that have separated physicians, psychologists, nutritionists, biologists, exercise physiologists and spiritual teachers of all kinds need to be dissolved so that the best of the ideas, practices, and techniques of each of these disciplines can be brought together in an integrative way.

What are we waiting for? If you are interested in my services to help create this approach please contact me.