To my fellow medical students who are on the heavy side: ignore the haters.
Three years ago I took an online sexuality course with the American Medical Student Association. We broached the topic of body image. In our small group, one of my classmates, who attended a nearby medical school, vented about how other classmates looked down upon her because of her weight--- especially during lectures on diabetes or obesity. She would receive dirty or arrogant looks from her slimmer classmates.
As someone who has always struggled with weight and body image, it struck a chord. Medical students are trained to not tolerate those who happen to have a BMI greater than 25--- a sign that one is considered 'overweight' by medical standards.
I get it. We live in America. People here are fat--- or rather, huge. There are also countless studies that show how obesity can increase your risks deadly diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer--- you name it.
However, does this give us the excuse to be such assholes? (Pardon my French)
Joseph F. Majdan, MD, a cardiologist at Jefferson Medical College, doesn't think so. In his Memoirs of an Obese Physician, he recounts the negative experiences that has continuously shattered his self-esteem throughout his career:
His memoirs, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, revealed many doctors' perceptions of the obese: "ugly, weak-willed, sloppy, and lazy." However, this may not be the case.
A recent study published in the European Heart Journal discovered that obese persons who have an adequate level of physical fitness were "metabolically healthy" and had "no greater risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer than normal weight people."
In their study researchers measured height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat percentage on 43,265 obese participants. They also assessed physical fitness with a treadmill test. They initially found that nearly half, 43%, of individuals were already metabolically healthy according to the cardio exercise tests. After following them for several years, they found that these metabolically healthy obese people didn't develop the deadly diseases that the metabolically unhealthy participants developed.
Based on the study, Dr Francisco Ortega, PhD from the University of Grenada made these comments to Science Daily, "Physician[s] should take into consideration that not all obese people have the same prognosis. Physician could assess fitness, fatness and metabolic markers to do a better estimation of the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer of obese patients. Our data support the idea that interventions might be more urgently needed in metabolically unhealthy and unfit obese people, since they are at a higher risk. This research highlights once again the important role of physical fitness as a health marker."
...so not only may some physicians' callous remarks and opinions about the overweight/obese be just plain rude, it may also be unfounded as well--- nearly half may be as healthy or healthier as you.
Hence, to my fellow medical students on the slim side: Don't be a hater.
Three years ago I took an online sexuality course with the American Medical Student Association. We broached the topic of body image. In our small group, one of my classmates, who attended a nearby medical school, vented about how other classmates looked down upon her because of her weight--- especially during lectures on diabetes or obesity. She would receive dirty or arrogant looks from her slimmer classmates.
As someone who has always struggled with weight and body image, it struck a chord. Medical students are trained to not tolerate those who happen to have a BMI greater than 25--- a sign that one is considered 'overweight' by medical standards.
I get it. We live in America. People here are fat--- or rather, huge. There are also countless studies that show how obesity can increase your risks deadly diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer--- you name it.
However, does this give us the excuse to be such assholes? (Pardon my French)
Joseph F. Majdan, MD, a cardiologist at Jefferson Medical College, doesn't think so. In his Memoirs of an Obese Physician, he recounts the negative experiences that has continuously shattered his self-esteem throughout his career:
"I vividly recall that during medical school, a physician approached me as I stood with my tray in the cafeteria line. He said loudly for all to hear, 'You know you should watch what you eat. Don’t you see yourself?'"
"While putting on my scrubs during my surgery clerkship, an attending surgeon looked at me with disgust and sarcastically bellowed, “Hey, hey, hey, it’s Fat Albert!”
"During my internal medicine residency, staff physicians would often— unilaterally and in the presence of colleagues and nurses— offer me their unsolicited opinions on how and why I should lose weight. I wondered why physicians would be so insensitive and callous."
"A surgeon stopped me on the floors and told me I needed gastric bypass surgery; another internist sat down next to me at a nurses’ station and openly guessed my weight, then pontificated on what my approach to weight loss should be."
"A fellow cardiologist stopped me on the street to tell me I looked “disgusting” and asked whether I 'had no shame.'"
His memoirs, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, revealed many doctors' perceptions of the obese: "ugly, weak-willed, sloppy, and lazy." However, this may not be the case.
A recent study published in the European Heart Journal discovered that obese persons who have an adequate level of physical fitness were "metabolically healthy" and had "no greater risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer than normal weight people."
In their study researchers measured height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat percentage on 43,265 obese participants. They also assessed physical fitness with a treadmill test. They initially found that nearly half, 43%, of individuals were already metabolically healthy according to the cardio exercise tests. After following them for several years, they found that these metabolically healthy obese people didn't develop the deadly diseases that the metabolically unhealthy participants developed.
Based on the study, Dr Francisco Ortega, PhD from the University of Grenada made these comments to Science Daily, "Physician[s] should take into consideration that not all obese people have the same prognosis. Physician could assess fitness, fatness and metabolic markers to do a better estimation of the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer of obese patients. Our data support the idea that interventions might be more urgently needed in metabolically unhealthy and unfit obese people, since they are at a higher risk. This research highlights once again the important role of physical fitness as a health marker."
...so not only may some physicians' callous remarks and opinions about the overweight/obese be just plain rude, it may also be unfounded as well--- nearly half may be as healthy or healthier as you.
Hence, to my fellow medical students on the slim side: Don't be a hater.
It'll catch up with the skinny people... you know diabetic comas are a common side effect of consuming haterade ;-)
ReplyDeletehahaha! That's fantastic!
DeleteAlso, if anyone can't access the copy of Dr. Majadan's article. Please send me a message or leave a comment.
Great article! As someone that is a strong follower of fitness and healthy eating, there is absolutely NO excuse for this bullying. It is awful that it comes from people from such respectable positions in the medical field too. There are more professional ways to communicate concerns but it shouldn't be there business anyway. You give a great voice to physicians with a big heart, thank you!
ReplyDelete