So now medical universities are offering cooking classes? Doctors and nurses are going to study the culinary arts, too? That is right. Tulane University’s School of Medicine has already started offering such revolutionary course.
Tulane is in Louisiana, which ranks fourth for obesity in the US. It has been quite influential, too. Now, 10 percent of medical universities in the US are following suit.
The US has a weight problem. Its symptoms are as follows. First, the rate of obesity is increasing. Second, the problem is most serious in the south and the midwest. Third, diabetes and high blood pressure are the worst in the southern states. Fourth, 68.6 percent of adults and 31. 8 percent of kids in the US are obese or overweight. Finally, the obesity rate is higher among black American and Hispanic women compared with white females.
The American Heart Association has long stressed the importance of keeping an eye on the fat, cholesterol and salt content of food, believing that these lead to high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and obesity, increasing the risk of getting diabetes or heart disease. This has been the prevailing wisdom for 40 years, and yet the advice has done little to prevent the US obesity epidemic. The association has now revised its advice, saying that the main culprit behind the global obesity epidemic is sugar.
Tulane realized that there was a high rate of obesity among low-income families and decided that offering cooking classes would be a sensible way to address this. Hospitals are downstream of the chain in dealing with the issue of obesity and its complications, because if you are suffering from any of these, it is already a bit late. Obesity needs to be addressed right at the root, on the level of the individual, the community or the family.
Obesity is a global trend. In Taiwan, the problem is also more serious in poorer areas, such as Taitung, Hualien and the agricultural counties on the west. People speak of Taipei being the leanest and Taitung being the fattest, and by this they mean that the wealthy tend to be thinner, while the poor tend to be fat. Indeed, many doctors in Hualien and Taitung will attest to the fact that the highest rate of obesity is among women in Aboriginal communities.
Modern eating habits lead to all sorts of problems, and diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney failure have, for many years, been at the top of the list of the 10 biggest killers in Taiwan. If medical professionals started looking into the social factors behind obesity and correct diet right from their student days, this would be of great benefit to them, personally as well as professionally.
A survey of 300,000 doctors in the US carried in 2012 found that 34 percent of cardiologists were overweight, and that 4 percent were obese. Although the obesity rate in the US among doctors is lower than that of the general population, it is all too common for doctors to not pay attention to their own diet.
In Taiwan, although there has not been much research into the rates of obesity among medical professionals, hospital staff can see what the medical staff are ordering to eat, and many order foods with high sugar or high fat content.
Modern medicine should take into account the bigger picture of the patient’s surroundings, including the family, community and the wider environment in which they live. When the cause of the problem is obesity or poor diet, there ought to be resources devoted to addressing the upstream environmental factors giving rise to the obesity, and this often points to wealth disparity, access to education and high unemployment rates. We cannot continue as we are doing now, wasting money by relying on catheters or drugs to reduce blood pressure and bring down blood sugar and fat levels.
We need to promote a different approach to diet, in which individuals take more responsibility for what they eat. First, people should prepare themselves, as much as is possible, the food they eat. Second, we should avoid sweet foods. Third, it is far better to select natural ingredients as well as keep away from processed foods. Fourth, people should buy locally produced goods and avoid eating seafood products that might have ingested environmental toxins.
When preparing food, simplicity is best: Steer clear of complicated cooking procedures. Another idea is to grow your own herbs. Finally, it is a good idea to read up on the historical, geographical and economic background of food, and the relevance of globalization for it, as well as the environmental impact of producing the food, and how energy intensive this is.
Cooking is a skill. Everyone can learn how to do it: All it takes is a bit of effort, and home-cooked food invariably tastes better than take-out, anyway. Increasing taxes on high-sugar food is one way to stem the tide of obesity, but another good way is to address the situation by providing culinary classes in teaching hospitals.
Perhaps it is time that hospitals in Taiwan start offering these lessons, too. When medical professionals are able to provide the community with the correct dietary and culinary know-how and methods, we can perhaps turn the tide on the current trajectory and embark on a healthier path.
Chiang Sheng is an attending physician at Mackay Memorial Hospital.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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