OBESITY CLASSIFICATION MOVES AWAY FROM WEIGHT IN CANADA

DMM DEPARTMENT

MB Enterprises

Just like many countries in the West especially in North America and the European continent, Canada is facing obesity related issues. The country is moving away from weight to define and manage obesity more technically as it has been recognized as a major & growing health issue in Canada. Therefore, the new clinical guide aims to find the root causes of the condition of obesity and problems attached to it. These problems can have negative impacts in the longer run for individuals who are prone to have obesity related diseases.

Since, a long time the determining factor of obesity in Canada has been that how much you weigh. However, many experts hold considerable criticisms regards to these facts in recent years. This has been so especially after the rise of the body-positivity movement.

Hence, the experts from the Canadian health societies has taken a radical step and has made an adjustment in the new clinical guide for health care professionals. This means looking beyond the BMI index, i.e. the Body mass Index when making a diagnosis of obesity or determining if a person is obese. Body Mass Index, is determined after readings of weight, height, age and sex as four key factors in determining the weight, and hence making a classification of a person in the specified ranges i.e. underweight, normal, overweight, & obese. The obese classification in BMI chart is further divided into class 1 (Low Risk), class 2 (Moderate-risk) and class 3 (High-Risk).

The obesity care should be based on evidence-based principles of the chronic disease management, must validate patients lived experiences. Hence, move beyond the approaches of eating less, making more movements that are positive and addressing the root drivers attached to obesity.

MAKING REALISTIC HEALTH GOALS INSTEAD OF WEIGHT LOSS?

Making realistic health goals instead of weight loss shall be a huge factor in reducing obesity itself. Health goals can be made in terms of walking, jogging, constant running, cycling

and exercises in gym that are for the particular reason of losing weight. This is since decades that doctors have been telling their patients to eat less and exercise more to burn calories. Hence, according to the guidelines it can get a bit more complex, and definitely more factors needs addressing. Overdoing can result in imbalance between the energy in-take and exertions in form of exercises. Therefore, it can cause its own complications that can be dangerous in future.

The health guide for weight loss issues has recommended that the waist circumference that is used in conjunction with the BMI would make more accurate readings. This is apart from the studies of patient’s family history and other health histories. A similar guide like we have been discussing is the Edmonton obesity staging system. This guide incorporates metabolic, physical and psychological parameters for the diagnosis of obesity. It is also a comprehensive guide for the recommendations of the best treatments for obesity.

THE IN-ACCURACIES ATTACHED TO BMI:

The most correct definition for obesity as it is defined as the condition where the excess body fat has negative impacts on the person’s health. Also, includes various environmental, genetic and the socio-economic factors that can influence this condition. BMI also known as the Body Mass Index, is a powerful tool for the determination of the healthy weight of a person. Hence, this is categorized into class 1, class 2 and class 3. Class 1 being in the range of (30-34.9), class 2 being (35-39.9) and class 3 (over 40).

The drawbacks associated with the tool has been identified time and again and these includes inaccurate results. It doesn’t account for muscle mass and can also lead to bias when taking the other measurements into account. BMI’s calculations can lead to people’s demotivation as in reality they might not be that obese, however the BMI would make them show more obese. Especially, for overweight people it can be the tool that can have negative impacts on an individual’s psychologies of change. Ironically, a huge part of change management program regards to the weight loss is highly attached to a positive change psychology. It would automatically make you look younger and fitter.