Kay:

Welcome back Questers to our week of cool numerical lineups. It is March 4th, 03/04 and this is episode 304 of the Mentorship Quest and we have a quote for you today from Dr. Daniel Amen.

Shi:

Dr. Amen, who is highlighting this quote for us in honor of World Obesity Day shares with us research published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that “One of the strongest associations of obesity was with whom you spent the most time.”

Kay:

Now, Dr. Daniel Amen is a New York Times bestselling author and he has literally changed the game in the psychiatric field in regards to his methods for diagnosing mental illness and really focusing on this idea of brain health. But one of the things that he has been able to correlate in his studies is the fact that your brain as a physical organ actually shrinks as your body as a physical being gets larger. So, he actually started something called The Daniel Plan where he partnered with Saddleback Church in Southern California to help the church collectively lose over 250,000 pounds, which was amazing. But he’s found some other really interesting things in his research and we want to bring them up for you here on World Obesity Day.

Shi:

Okay. So, Dr. Amen continues, “subjects who had a friend that was obese had a 57% chance of also being obese. If two individuals identified each other as being strong friends, even if they live far apart, the figure shot up to 171%. Having one obese sibling was related to a 40% increase in the chance of obesity.”

Kay:

Now, this might seem a little bit grim. Okay, well, does this mean that if I have someone in my life, if I’m obese or I’m larger than I want to be and I have a friend who’s also obese and larger than they want to be, does this mean I need to completely cut them out of my life? No, it doesn’t. It just means to be aware, maybe that’s the perfect candidate to become an accountability partner for you as you both explore what health and fitness look like in your life together.

Shi:

Having this awareness is that first step to not being one of these statistics. One thing we always like to remind ourselves, and you, is that statistics aren’t you, that you are not a statistic, that you can fall into a statistical range, but you are never the statistic and you can always fall on the other side of it, no matter how likely something is. So, this awareness piece allows you to take that first step towards not becoming that “statistic.” What it does mean is that you might have a harder time making healthier decisions especially when you’re with those other people and you might have a harder time getting support for healthy habits. The more of those that are obese you have around you and this awareness piece allows you to come at it from a place of intentionality, rather than defaulting to what you’ve always done in the past and continuing to get results that are truly life devastating.

Kay:

This really isn’t about fat shaming. We’re not here to say that fat people equals bad. We’re just wanting to highlight that obesity is a real issue and it has real consequences. Look, you guys, when I was 16 years old, I was technically classified as morbidly obese and went to a school to help me learn how to regulate my weight in a way that was healthier for my life and getting steeped in that environment. I mean, I saw 100 other kids who were also in the same situation, many of them with 100 to 150 pounds more on their bodies than I had, and the way that it affected them, mentally, physically, and emotionally it’s really unmatched. So, we’re not here to say that fat equal bad, but fat can equal unhealthy, obese can equal unhealthy in a way that’s so much more than just your heart pumping blood and your brain trying to get the oxygen that it needs, but your mental state and your emotional state are heavily impacted by obesity.

Shi:

Well, Kay and I often talk about, we’ve both had our health journeys, our ups, and downs on the scale and with weight. But the weight is always so much heavier in your mind than it is on your body. That weight on your confidence, that weight on your self-esteem that is with you 24/7 when you are carrying extra pounds and you’re feeling conscientious about it. It really weighs you down physically and emotionally and impacts you across the gamut of results in your life. So, on a day like today on World Obesity Day, it’s important for us to talk about it in a way that is constructive and helpful, and we hope that’s what this has been for you.

Kay:

So just a reminder, what Dr. Daniel Amen tells us that, “Research published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that one of the strongest associations of obesity was with whom you spend the most time.”

Shi:

So, in honor of not only that fact, but also in observance of World Obesity Day, we are asking you to join in not only the observance but the purpose of World Obesity Day, by taking part in a practical action toward ending the obesity crisis. Today, we challenge you to eat at least one meal consisting of mostly veggies, and then post or send that photo to a friend in the hopes of spreading a healthy habit, as well as overall awareness. Extra credit: you could read a chapter out of Dr. Amen’s book, “Change your Brain, Change your Life.” It definitely had a life-changing impact on both of us. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!