Friday, April 16, 2010

Obesity - Fact or Fad???

So the other day I was doing my clinical rotation in the O.R I got to see four different surgeries.One was a ten year old buy - cute as ever Tony was his name - yeah I have a thing with names...and he had the cutest dimples....after surgery I followed him to the recovery room and of course he had been given Versed - beautiful drug that causes amnesia and in the most sweetest voice he asks mama what happened?then he smiled it was amazing the dimples....oh then I got to see a kidney stone taken out - not much fun there - the surgeon just crushed it with some laser beam - fun but nothing to write home about...then its started gettign interesting I then got to see a total well partial knee replacement - they took out parts of the patellar and femur and put a movable metal piece...Ok so the final one and the reason I had to blog was a lady who was in for a tummy tuck and breast reduction surgery.My word!!!! the lumps of fat that were being removed from her abdomen....chunks and chunks - if you are not a blood, ER ,Greys anatomy kind of person you would have passed out.And all the while the surgeon was busy chattign me up about the up comign Boston Marathon after he found out I was from Kenya - he was all up in my bizz and there I was wide eyed looking at the fat upon fat ...So anyhu he pulled fat here stretched the skin there and presto a new tummy.But as I was watching the whole procedure a Big fat yellow M was comign to my mind and that M is for Mc Donalds....America is an obese nation... after watching that surgery Wednesday I confirmed it.My med surg professor always says Americans inhale food literally inhale - eat so fast it has no time to be digested.It takes a whole twenty minutes for the tummy to send a signal to the brain that it is full. A full 20 minutes!!! - seriously which American sits and enjoyes their food for 20 minutes- no offense anm not trying to step on anyones toes but its the truth.The other day I was in midday traffic so I decide to peep into cars in incoming traffic.Driver upon driver was putting something in their mouth - I saw bagels, cheese burgers , others were drinking - I dunno if it was soda or shakes...but my point is people are so much on the move that eating has becoming more of a task than an enjoyable part of the day.This rush eating and sedentary lifestyle is making more and more children begin checking their blood sugars at an early age as diabetes is another biggie and its all tied in to OBESITY!!!We are a fat nation even worse on the news today a report by one of the local media reported that insurance companies own almost seventy percent of the fast food chains - so what does that mean for the average consumer??They do not care what you eat - theirs is all about the mula....So thats my two cents for the day but seriously...is it a choice - do you choose what food you eat or you let society through commercials , "your crazy lifestyle"and your tummy dictate that for you??oh well i dunno but health in america is such a hot cake...Lol I was looking at a cookbook from different countries all over the world there was Jamaica, Japanese tapioca Kenyan githeri, Morrocan , Indian curry beef stew etc.Most of the meals took up almost two pages with ingredients and preparation...sadly I looked at most of the American dishes and they were a lousy page with three at most four ingredients - throw the pasta in the hot water boil open the meatball packet let it simmer for a few add the pasta sauce cheese and voila..I mean what does that tell you..Where other cultures see the value of takign time to acknowledge what goes into a meal the rush rush American lifestyle is all"grab and go"... I remember at the dinner table was where we as a family could discuss our day , I mean thats where the phrase "bring it to the table" originated from ama??so maybe I should pardon the average American - c kutaka kwao...society chose them they did not choose the society to be born into but I think its just something that needs serious consideration...Oh wait then again its the steroids they put in the food - yeah I have a lot to say - America was and still is the "granary of the world" I mean there is no way you are realistically telling me that this little chick will be a broiler in a week...so to feed the world America is pumping more and more steroids in the cows in the plants everywhere..so where do these steriods land - in my poor little abdomen...and steroids are packed with growth hormones so Eureka solve the steroid problem solve the obesity problem??I dunno...I give up...Its one thirty - as usual in the still of the night is when my mind is working overtime to blog...