JENNINE: I've always carry extra pounds, but during my last check up, the doctor actually
referred to me as obese.
Really? I'm so frustrated. I need a sure-fire way to get this weight
off me quick and drop this obesity label.
What can I do? DR PHIL: Well,
it's Ask Dr. Phil today. Now, that was Jennine, and I'm sure many of you have
wondered what the answer is to her question. So, I brought in
some serious reinforcements. Joining me now to talk about this is Dr. Freda Lewis-
Hall.
She's the Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer. So, please welcome her to the show.
(APPLAUSE) Doctor, there's a lot more to
obesity then just what people think, right? DR FREDA: Absolutely.There's a lot more to
obesity, and of course, everybody wants a quick fix,
but it's really important to recognize that, not only is it along
and sometimes difficult road to get to a healthy weight and stay to healthy weight,
it's sometimes even difficult to realize or recognize that you're obese.
I'll get personal for a second, which is, as a physician,
the day I sat across from my physician and she said, 'Now Freda,
we really need a plan for managing your obesity.' I said, 'My
what?' I was horrified. I was embarrassed,
and, um, but it was a great wake up moment
for me to really get started on what is a long road.
DR PHIL: Jennine is here actually. Oh, there you are. Hi. You were horrified when they said you were
obese, right?
Why was that a surprise to you? JENNINE: Because I thought
it would be more like fat lady at the circus,
you know, someone that takes up two or three seats. I know I'm
overweight, but I just didn't think I was classified as
obese. DR PHIL: Obesity covers a lot more people
than we like to think about, right? DR FREDA: Absolutely.
About 60-70 percent of the US population could come into this category.
DR PHIL: You say there are some weight whispers ... DR FREDA: That's exactly right.
DR PHIL: ... that your body tells you. So,
let's talk about that a little bit. DR FREDA: So, most people recognize wake-up calls.
We've all had people tell us, 'I had a heart attack, or I had a stroke. That was a
wake-up call,
and I really got on managing my weight. But there are also some
what I call 'wake-up whispers,' and that is your body telling you
that you may already be experiencing some other consequences of carrying this
extra weight or being obese. DR PHIL: Joint pain is one of those, right? DR FREDA: Joint pain is one of them.
The other one that's important to notice is labored breathing
or having your heart race when you take even a short walk.
And for women, if they haven't had a lot of gynecologic problems but start to
experience them,
that's another key issue. And then some of the whispers come from outside, like
you have to pay attention to your family history.
If you have, if there's high blood pressure or high cholesterol that runs in your
family,
that can be a little bit of a whisper as well. DR PHIL: What are you showing us here today?
DR FREDA: There's a lot of talk about the consequences of obesity ...
DR PHIL: Come here, Bones. DR FREDA: ... is to show ...
So, over here, is a normal heart. Pick that up so we can
see what's going on. About fist sized -- the difference is obvious. This disease heart
is a lot bigger.
If you were actually holding both of these, you would realize that this one is
a lot
heavier, and if we look inside at the wall
you can see how thick the wall is
on this diseased heart. And why is that? Because this heart has been
really working overtime,
which is what it has to do when you're obese.
Obesity, unchecked, really causes a lot
of important health consequences.
It's a contributing factor to many of the major causes of
death -- diabetes and even some cancers
are included in that -- and can also cause some other
health issues that need to be addressed -- osteoporosis, gallbladder disease
poor mobility, infertility,
sleep apnea -- the list goes on. DR PHIL: If you're
letting yourself get into an obese situation,
and Jennine, that that was your question, and you heard me talking about it in other stories
today. If you're using food to make yourself happy --
not good -- to ease boredom or stress.
I mean, you gotta use food for nutritional purposes, and there are
environmental triggers as well.
You gotta control, what, food accessibility --
that's critical -- social eating and sedentary lifestyle. You do have to break a
sweat,
right? DR FREDA: You do. Every now and then, you have to break a sweat. We shouldn't forget
some of the medical things
that can lead to obesity. Science shows us that
genetics does have an impact, and that's very important.
Genetics may have any influence on how much
fat you store, where you store it and may also have an effect on how efficient
your body is on changing
food into energy. And then there are medical conditions, things like
hypothyroidism, or low thyroid,
that may add the pounds to you or make them hard to get off.
So, we should make sure that as you put a plan together,
that you consider the medical, the environmental, the lifestyle, the
psychological in
all over those, so that you have a plan that really fits you.
The most exciting thing for me about what we're learning
about being overweight or obese is that it isn't an all-or-nothing game.
Five to 10 percent of your body weight -- in some cases fifteen pounds --
has been demonstrated to bring your cholesterol down and your blood pressure down.
Find some small and and realistic changes
that can be made today that give you a head start
on your lifelong quest to get to and stay at a healthy weight.
For more information on obesity, you can go to get healthy stay healthy
dot com, get healthy stay healthy dot com.
You have a lot of information and tips on there -- things we talked about today,
plus
whole lot more.