2024-04-08 06:58:57
Rather than miracle diets, Anne-Sophie Joly, founder and president of the National Collective of Obese Associations (CNAO), pleads for comprehensive care.
How do you become obese?
Obesity is a complex, multifactorial pathology. There is a genetic background: if one of your parents is obese (BMI greater than 30), you are 40% likely to be obese as well. If both are, it’s 80%. But there are also social issues, notably precariousness, access to food and the least processed foods possible: if you have difficulty eating 3 meals a day, eating 5 fruits and vegetables is not your option. priority.
The stress and trauma you may have suffered will also play a big role in weight gain. There are also pesticides, endocrine disruptors and pollution in general, which are aggravating factors. And finally, the question of physical activity: it is a factor of course, but if it were enough to do sport we would have solved the problem a long time ago.
Concretely, what impact does obesity have on health?
There are 18 associated pathologies, and not the least: cardiovascular diseases (stroke, arrhythmia, heart attack, etc.), high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, joint problems, hepatitis, sleep apnea, etc.
During Covid, these pathologies posed additional risks of complications: obese people represented 47% of patients admitted to intensive care and 40% of people who died. Beyond the viral risk, this increased risk is explained by an immune system that is often weakened and already prey to chronic inflammation, as well as by respiratory problems that may pre-exist. Finally, if you are obese, you are also between 4 and 8 times more likely to have cancer.
This is of course without taking into account the psychosocial impact of the disease. When you’re obese, you experience thoughts every day, from clothing stores to public transportation. You may also be discriminated once morest, for example in hiring.
Who should you turn to for support?
Above all, don’t listen to television commercials and promises of miracle diets! It is better to lose 5 kilos permanently, than 30 kilos at once if it is to gain 40 once more… Trust health professionals, and make two types of appointment: one with a doctor, the other to a psychologist. The two approaches are complementary.
There are also many patient associations that can help you, particularly within the CNAO. Prefer structures approved by the ministry and try several to see which one you feel best with.
What advice would you give to obese people?
Trust yourself! You have to stop carrying the weight of guilt, of feeling crushed by the gaze and judgment of others. On the contrary, you must succeed in moving forward, with your head held high, and living a life that only you can live.
Working with a psychologist can help you with this. It is following having traveled this path myself that I am fighting today for the implementation of a major obesity plan at the interministerial level. We need everyone to win this battle.
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