“We need to stop weight shaming people & not make them fearful of seeing a Dr., but we also need to find a supportive way to talk about obesity.” – TikTok commenter “You’ve got to get on TikTok,” everyone kept saying. Launching a web-based li…
Category: Obesity
Weight gain during the pandemic: An obesity medicine specialist explains [PODCAST]
“The impact of the pandemic on the lives of Americans will be felt for years, if not generations, to come. This includes its alarming effect on health behaviors that contribute to the already formidable challenge of obesity in this country. Now, …
The need for a standardized approach to weight loss in medicine
Any social media platform can boast an abundance of practical health and weight loss recommendations, whether scientifically accurate or not. Many professional athletes and companies are eager to sell their plans for a premium price and advertise them …
Lessons from COVID-19 about the obesity epidemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our ineffective approach to the obesity epidemic in the United States. I believe COVID-19 would have claimed fewer lives if we had healthier patients and less obesity. According to the CDC, “obesity may tripl…
The synergy in obesity and cancer
Over two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, and approximately 88 million American adults have pre-diabetes. More than 84 percent of those with pre-diabetes are not even aware that they have it. Both obesity and type 2 diabet…
When it comes to weight stigma in children and teens, let’s meet in the middle
The divisive reaction to the recent New York Times’ opinion piece by Aubrey Gordon titled, “Leave Fat Kids Alone: The ‘war on childhood obesity’ has only caused shame,” highlights the two extremes in our society’s current approach to addressing t…
A tale of two epidemics: COVID and obesity
Millions worldwide have had COVID-19. The largest obstacle to reining in this virus’s spread is that the range of symptoms is unpredictable, from minimal to severe respiratory compromise with diffuse lung damage and death. As COVID-19 initially m…
America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
Vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies are less effective for obese people, leaving them more vulnerable to serious illness. As scientists race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, experts say obesity could prove an impediment — a sobering prospect for a nation in which nearly half of all adults are obese.
Stop honoring health care workers with sugary treats
I’m an obesity medicine specialist who is frustrated. I keep running into the same issue, and it’s time we start discussing the elephant in the room: the need we all have to show love and appreciation with food, especially sugar. It’s…
What’s to blame for the obesity epidemic? [PODCAST]
“Obesity is a topic that literally hits home for me. For the past two years, the website WalletHub has voted the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission TX metroplex as the ‘fattest city in America.’ As a health care provider, this is deeply distu…
