Q. Which of the following poses the greatest threat to heavy people?(A) Heart disease
(B) Diabetes
(C) Cancer
(D) Photography
Answer: (D)
Yes, when you're overweight, the most terrifying thing you can experience is someone snapping your picture, especially before you have the opportunity to look around for something to hide behind. Some of us have become very adept -- even creative -- at finding ways to camouflage our girth in a photo. The above picture is a good example. It was taken nearly ten years ago on the Plaza. We took Greg out for his birthday, which naturally meant taking some pictures. The "cow exhibit" was in place at that time, which made for several entertaining photo ops. In this photo, I'm not only strategically hiding all but my face behind the "shuttlecock cow," I have the added benefit of my cute and precocious son posing in the foreground, drawing attention away from his heavy mom. Ingenious, if I do say so myself!
Nowadays, I could go even further and photoshop myself thinner. Anyone who has seen the Dove ad in which a perfectly lovely model is photographed and photoshopped to look "even better" knows what I'm talking about. The ad is meant to show how artificial the ideal of beauty is in this country In fact, it doesn't exist . . . except in retouched photographs. Unfortunately, we can't "retouch" or "photoshop" ourselves in real life. We can hide behind objects and jockey for position so that our heaviness doesn't show in the photo. Believe me, I've done it myself, almost pushing people out of the way so I could be on the back row (now that I think about it, it almost seems like an oxymoron)! We can have the photos cropped, edited, grey-scaled -- anything to alter our true appearance. We can wear dark colors and baggy clothes in the mistaken belief that they will somehow make us look slimmer.
Nowadays, I could go even further and photoshop myself thinner. Anyone who has seen the Dove ad in which a perfectly lovely model is photographed and photoshopped to look "even better" knows what I'm talking about. The ad is meant to show how artificial the ideal of beauty is in this country In fact, it doesn't exist . . . except in retouched photographs. Unfortunately, we can't "retouch" or "photoshop" ourselves in real life. We can hide behind objects and jockey for position so that our heaviness doesn't show in the photo. Believe me, I've done it myself, almost pushing people out of the way so I could be on the back row (now that I think about it, it almost seems like an oxymoron)! We can have the photos cropped, edited, grey-scaled -- anything to alter our true appearance. We can wear dark colors and baggy clothes in the mistaken belief that they will somehow make us look slimmer.
But we can't hide the damage that lugging that weight around does to our bodies. We all know about the increased risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and a host of other serious medical problems -- but what about the risk of getting poor health care or even no health care at all? A jaw-dropping article in the January/February 2010 issue of Health reports that overweight women "have a harder time getting health insurance (or pay higher premiums for their insurance); are at higher risk of being misdiagnosed or receiving inaccurate dosages of drugs; are less likely to find a fertility doctor; and are less likely to have cancer detected early and get effective treatment for it." And that's just for starters. Health magazine also reports a chilling find: many doctors are biased towards overweight women. In one survey some doctors admitted that seeing heavy patients was a waste of time:
University of Pennsylvania researchers found that more than 50 percent of primary care physicians viewed obese patients as awkward, unattractive, and noncompliant; one third said they were weak-willed, sloppy, and lazy. In addition, researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston found that as patient BMI increased doctors reported liking their jobs less and having less patience and desire to help the patient.
The article points out that overweight women who feel stigmatized may turn to food for comfort as a result of the stress from the stigma, thereby making the problem worse. Overweight women are also more likely to delay doctors' appointments and preventive care -- including screening for cancer -- rather than face criticism. More alarming, overweight women are less likely to receive heart catheterization procedures as well as organ transplants because of greater risk of complications. Even routine screening procedures like pap smears, CT scans, and ultrasounds are made more difficult by the extra weight. In one study, obese women were more likely to have false-positive results from mammograms, which can lead to unnecessary biopsies and anxiety.
I'm very lucky to have a kind, compassionate doctor who listens to me -- and who hasn't given up on me because of my weight. To the contrary -- she stresses to me over and over her desire to see me lose the weight and improve my health. I know that she has my best interests in mind, but, until I read this article, it hadn't really occurred to me that I could make her job easier -- and the quality of my care better -- by losing weight.
Losing weight isn't exactly a New Year's resolution for me -- it's an ongoing resolution, one that I've been working on in earnest since October. As I stated in a previous posting, my ultimate goal is to lose 100 lbs by my 50th birthday. That birthday is 11 months away. I know -- 100 lbs is a pretty tall order in less than a year. But even if I lose only half that much, I will have accomplished a lot. That's my long term goal; my short term goal is to see my doctor smile at my next appointment. Then maybe I'll have my picture taken -- standing next to a large object rather than behind it. I'll keep you posted.
University of Pennsylvania researchers found that more than 50 percent of primary care physicians viewed obese patients as awkward, unattractive, and noncompliant; one third said they were weak-willed, sloppy, and lazy. In addition, researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston found that as patient BMI increased doctors reported liking their jobs less and having less patience and desire to help the patient.
The article points out that overweight women who feel stigmatized may turn to food for comfort as a result of the stress from the stigma, thereby making the problem worse. Overweight women are also more likely to delay doctors' appointments and preventive care -- including screening for cancer -- rather than face criticism. More alarming, overweight women are less likely to receive heart catheterization procedures as well as organ transplants because of greater risk of complications. Even routine screening procedures like pap smears, CT scans, and ultrasounds are made more difficult by the extra weight. In one study, obese women were more likely to have false-positive results from mammograms, which can lead to unnecessary biopsies and anxiety.
I'm very lucky to have a kind, compassionate doctor who listens to me -- and who hasn't given up on me because of my weight. To the contrary -- she stresses to me over and over her desire to see me lose the weight and improve my health. I know that she has my best interests in mind, but, until I read this article, it hadn't really occurred to me that I could make her job easier -- and the quality of my care better -- by losing weight.
Losing weight isn't exactly a New Year's resolution for me -- it's an ongoing resolution, one that I've been working on in earnest since October. As I stated in a previous posting, my ultimate goal is to lose 100 lbs by my 50th birthday. That birthday is 11 months away. I know -- 100 lbs is a pretty tall order in less than a year. But even if I lose only half that much, I will have accomplished a lot. That's my long term goal; my short term goal is to see my doctor smile at my next appointment. Then maybe I'll have my picture taken -- standing next to a large object rather than behind it. I'll keep you posted.
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