Emergency Physicians, said society should not shame people struggling with weight. But he also said society should not
pretend that being overweight is not a public health problem. “I think body positivity in the
extreme is absolutely a health risk,” Perry said. “I think we have to understand that if you’re super-morbidly obese, even being comfortable in your own skin does not mean that we can stave off high blood pressure or heart attacks.” During the COVID-19 pandemic
in 2020, President Donald Trump’s surgeon general was Jerome Adams, an African American who spoke about the increased risk of COVID- 19 death in the African American community. Adams said it was due to risky comorbidities compounding when contracting COVID-19 — problems like obesity, diabetes, increased smoking, and other factors driving higher death risk. But Adams received fierce pushback from people who said he was “victim shaming.” “If you have a certain ethnicity, if
you are African American, if you’re from a certain part of the world, and that part of the world seems to have genetic risks for high blood pressure and things like this, it is important to discuss it,” Perry said. Doctors report depression is
correlated with obesity, indicating there is also a mental health component to questions of obesity and weight gain. Dr. Chloe Carmichael, clinical
psychologist and author of Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of Your
I think we have to understand that if you’re super-morbidly obese, even
being comfortable in your own skin does not mean that we can stave off high blood pressure or heart attacks.”
Anxiety, is a therapist who treats patients struggling with weight. Carmichael said being positive
about your body could help alleviate the compounding cycle of negativity around weight gain and loss. But she also said denying the science surrounding obesity and public health is not helpful. Carmichael said obesity has major
ramifications, not only for overweight individuals but also for loved ones and taxpayers footing the healthcare bill. She said that during her medical
training at a large public hospital, she saw mostly Medicare and Medicaid patients who “oftentimes come in on a wheelchair weighing 300 pounds and literally holding a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola and drinking from it as they’re coming in for treatments or dialysis or other issues that are more than likely linked to their weight.” Carmichael was struck by what she said was a puzzling cycle of using public money to fund obesity and then to treat it. “I thought, ‘Wow, this
is our public dollars,’” she said. “These are welfare dollars. On one side, we’re getting the problem, perhaps if they’re spending
— Dr. Ken Perry
money on this, and then also paying for it with Medicaid dollars.” The U.S. military reports it is struggling to meet 2022 recruitment goals.
Military leadership cites both teen
obesity rates and a tight labor market. More than 21% of children between the ages of 2 and 17 are obese, according to the Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior Laboratory — a 17% spike from 2016. Carmichael said she thinks the rise
in screen time on electronic devices contributes to a sedentary lifestyle that is part of increased childhood obesity. “Social media — we know it’s
been shown to be detrimental to self- esteem,” she said. “And so we know when somebody has low self-esteem, it is also harder for them to prioritize taking care of their body and their health.” Carmichael also said gaming
devices “facilitate avoidance. They stop you from being in the moment and confronting what’s right in front of you, your actual physical state in the here and now.”
Carrie Shefield is a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Voice.
NOVEMBER 2022 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 75
WOMAN/HALFPOINT/SHUTTERSTOCK/MAN/TOMMYSTOCKPROJECT/SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
