GIC Health Articles

Your World is Making You Fatter
Guest Editorial by B. Dale Magee, MD, MS
President, Massachusetts Medical Society

Click on the For Your Benefit issue link to obtain articles in
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(fall 2007)

Your world is making you fatter. Longer commutes and longer work hours leave less time for physical activity. And look at what has happened to our food: the fast food meal that started out as a 2 ounce burger and a 6-ounce soft drink has given way to 8-ounces (or more) of beef with cheese and bacon!  The drinks now approach 16 ounces and even 32 ounces! Even a bagel is twice as big as it was 20 years ago.

What effect has this had? The predictable one: More adults and children are overweight. More people are getting diseases related to weight—like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks. And they’re getting them at younger ages. Today, we have the first generation of children whose lifespans are predicted to be less than their parents.

We can help prevent these diseases by living healthier and making healthier choices for ourselves and for our families.

First, weigh yourself regularly.  You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Talk to your doctor about what a healthy weight is for you, and how to get to, or stay at, a healthy weight.

Pay attention to how many calories you’re putting in your body. It takes about 3500 calories to lose (or gain) a pound of fat. One tablespoon of butter has 100 calories; walking a mile burns about 100 calories (that’s right, 35 miles per pound). It’s easier to eat fewer calories than walk off 100 calories, but both are important.

Diets can be confusing and hard to stick to. I’m going to keep it simple: no matter how few calories you feel that you are eating, you need to eat less to lose weight.

Cut portion size.  Eat at least three times per day (your body burns more calories this way), but eat less.  Watch out when you eat out. Portion sizes at restaurants tend to be much bigger than we need. Don’t supersize anything.  Leave food on the plate.

Make substitutions.  Try not to drink calories.  If you drink coffee, switch from cream to milk.  Over a week that could save almost 200 calories.

Keep healthy snacks on hand instead of raiding your coworker’s candy bowl! Crunch on carrot sticks, an apple or plain popcorn instead of potato chips.

Get more physical activity. It’ll improve your mood, and help you manage your stress as well as your weight. Walk whenever you can. Park at the far end of the parking lot. Take the stairs. Dance, ride a bike, garden. Make physical activity fun so you’re more likely to stick to it.

You can do this. And you will be healthier if you do.

For more information, visit the Massachusetts Medical Society's website.

B. Dale Magee, M.D., M.S., president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist practicing in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.  He has been medical director of Central Massachusetts Independent Physicians Association, one of the largest physician practice groups in central Massachusetts.  As past chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Committee on the Quality of Medical Practice, Dr. Magee led the Society’s educational and advocacy activities on quality, health policy and patient safety initiatives.  Dr. Magee is also a member of the GIC’s Physician Advisory Committee – a group of GIC health plan medical directors (and two other Massachusetts Medical Society members) who advise us on issues relating to the Clinical Performance Improvement Initiative.  

Dr. Magee earned his medical degree at the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y., served his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Case Western Reserve Affiliated Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and earned a masters degree in Health Policy and Quality Measurement at Dartmouth Medical School’s Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences.