A concern of the WHO (World Health Organization) since 2000, due to morbidity on a global scale, obesity (and especially childhood obesity) has become a health priority in France with the establishment of the PNNS (National Nutrition and Health Program) in 2001.
The main factors responsible for the rise in obesity
- A sedentary lifestyle: children especially spend too much time in front of the television, video games, the computer…,
- The lack of physical activity: the convenience of transport, elevators…,
- The parents' overweight,
- Socio-economic conditions: obesity has become a social marker,
- An increasingly innovative food supply: ready-made meals, fast food…,
- But also, an increasingly aggressive incitement to consume: vending machines, for example, are placed in various public places and the processed foods offered are excessively fatty.
Moreover, one can see one's weight gain shoot up because of a personal problem: shock, bereavement, divorce, loss of a job… and this emptiness is often associated with food.
Sometimes, it is even likely that certain people "eat in secret".
The role of the dietitian is therefore to ask several questions to people who are overweight and obese in order to diagnose a possible eating disorder: compulsion, bulimia, for example.
Childhood obesity
Concerning childhood obesity, we observe that it is possible that some obese children may be in permanent conflict with their mother.
One can get the impression that some children resent their parent(s) and that it is their fault. Other children, on the contrary, simply do not want to lose weight and "feel fine that way".
With regular follow-up and the awareness of the harms of obesity, the dietitian is there to make the child and the adult understand the necessity of the diet.
It should also be known that some children do not dare to confide in the dietitian under their mother's gaze. Others prefer, on the contrary, that their mother speak on their behalf, because consulting is not a pleasure for them.
Thus, depending on the case, it will be necessary to be very attentive to reactions in order to react accordingly and best help people with obesity.
It is in no way about blaming, mocking or ignoring the suffering linked to overweight or obesity. Making people understand that we are there to help ease this suffering is the first step towards recovery.
Orly FREOUA-AZRIA — Micronutrition dietitian
