Our goal at GLOW Surgical Arts is simple: we want you to feel good about your body. Your self-image matters to us. And whatever tools we have at our disposal to help you in these areas, we’re 
going to use them as best we can. It ranges from the fairly forward Image Skincare products we carry to a wide assortment of surgical cosmetic procedures. One of the common denominators for many of the procedures we offer is that the patient be in relatively good, stable health. That part, of course, is up to you. When it comes to the question of being overweight, though, America has a problem. An epidemic, really. We will soon be adding to the services we offer at GLOW a medically supervised weight loss program, and here’s why:
Approximately one-third of U.S. adults are currently obese. You might see a headline or two about new obesity data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that implies the obesity rate in America is trending in the right direction (down). That’s misleading. It’s true that obesity rates in the U.S. have stopped spiking upwards. In fact, there has been very little change since 2004
Unfortunately, all that means is that obesity has been endemic in the U.S. for just about a decade after increasing dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s. The sobering reality is that between 1960 and 1980, about 15% of American adults were obese. Today? 34.9%. It remains very much a serious problem.
Obesity can obviously be damaging to one’s self and body-images, but the risks go beyond cosmetic. Obesity takes a very real toll on a person’s health. It can lead directly to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver problems, degenerative joint disease, and some types of cancer. Clearly, then, the fact that 35% of U.S. adults are living their lives in such a fashion that they’ve at dramatically increased risk for these very serious, potentially deadly health problems is a major issue.
Part of the problem might be sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. A new report on sugar by the Credit Suisse Research Institute shows that consumer awareness about over consumption of sugar is growing, but for the time being, the amount of sugar we consume is causing enough problems to account for almost $500 billion in costs to the global healthcare system. In the U.S., we consume more than double the world’s average of 17 teaspoons of sugar a day (the American Heart Association recommends 6 teaspoons a day for women, 9 for men). The report also found that 90% of general practitioners surveyed across the U.S., Europe and Asia believed the growth in type 2 diabetes and the current obesity epidemic were both linked to excess sugar consumption.
There is no doubt that American adults have put themselves at greater risk for an assortment of health problems by way of gaining too much weight. The question now is what to do about it. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon enforce stricter public school lunch standards that limit how much fat, salt, and sugar can be in cafeteria lunches and vending machine snacks. That’s a positive development for youngsters, to be sure. And it wouldn’t take drastic changes on the individual level for significant savings in health care costs on the state level. For adults that already find themselves among the 35% who are obese, it’s a matter of trying to get rid of that excess.
At GLOW, we’re interested in helping adults combat obesity and get their weights back down to a healthy level. We already offer a wide selection of cosmetic procedures that can help you achieve a healthier body-image, and we believe a medically supervised weight loss program will add to the services we can provide. If this is something you think you’d like to have available at our Redwood City office, let us know!
© GLOW Surgical Arts and GLOW Surgical Arts blog, 2011-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to GLOW Surgical Arts and the GLOW Surgical Arts blog, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content
