Albertans are getting fatter but there’s some good news for St. Albert residents.
Last week, the Health Quality Council of Alberta published a report indicating that nearly six out of 10 Albertans are overweight or obese, which also called for a greater role for primary care when it comes to treating weight issues.
Dr. Arya Sharma, the medical director of the Alberta Health Services obesity strategy, said the news did not come as a surprise since it mirrors the figures found in the rest of the country.
The good news for St. Albert is that treatment options at the primary-care level are better here than in many other parts of the province, thanks to forward thinking at the St. Albert and Sturgeon Primary Care Network where obesity is addressed as a chronic health condition unto itself.
“St. Albert is one of the exemplary PCNs that very early on has started using the chronic disease model and offering a lot of services,” he said.
Kristin Sowak, a registered dietitian with the PCN, said anyone with a family doctor who is part of the network in St. Albert can be referred to progressive programs that will help address weight management.
“We don’t run a typical diet program. We’re not coming in, giving you a low-calorie diet plan and get you to lose weight really quickly,” she said. “We’re really targeting that best-weight philosophy. We really try to emphasize that.”
Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, where the Body Mass Index solely defines ideal weight, participants are encouraged to look at their own lives and come up with a program that will work for them.
The goal isn’t necessarily to reduce weight into a pre-determined ideal range, but rather to emphasize making small changes that will prevent the weight from going up.
“We try to emphasize people exploring that for themselves, not that somebody else says you need to walk every day when they hate walking or have knee issues, for example,” Sowak said.
Sharma noted the one-size-fits-all approach belies the multiple factors at play when considering why someone is obese. He explained there is certainly a behavioural component to obesity, but it is also largely determined by genetics and can be influenced by other health conditions or even medication for other illnesses that may tend to promote weight gain.
He emphasized while financial considerations should never be foremost when looking at the benefits of treating obesity – you wouldn’t treat other chronic illnesses like cancer simply to save a few bucks – there are nonetheless quantifiable financial benefits in addressing weight issues.
“A lot of people feel putting more resources behind obesity is actually really beneficial,” he said. “When you treat obesity, you’re actually treating or preventing a whole lot of other conditions.”
Obesity is linked to many other physical and mental health concerns, such as diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, depression and anxiety disorders.
Sharma said he expects to see more treatment options become available at PCNs across the province in the future, and a greater emphasis on looking at obesity as a chronic illness in and of itself.
“The problem’s not going away and it’s not really getting better, so there are people living with this problem and they are living with the health consequences,” he said.
For more information about obesity treatment in St. Albert, contact your family physician.
