Posted on 07/22/2009 1:55:35 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Critics of Mr Obama's choice of Dr Benjamin as America's new top doctor have highlighted the awkward fact that while eminently qualified she is also overweight and her new job will involve encouraging her countrymen to lead healthier lives.
Disparaging online comments following her introduction at the White House last week have been supported by medical specialists questioning her credibility as a health advocate in a country where 34 per cent of over-20s are obese.
"We want to influence young people to live a healthy lifestyle and be physically active and eat healthy food," said Lillie Shockney, director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Breast Centre.
Acknowledging that Dr Benjamin's weight was not "horrific" or "over the top", she added: "I want an image of wellness [as surgeon general] because young people will hear her better if she is practising what we expect her to preach."
Marcia Angell, a lecturer at Harvard University Medical School, told ABC News: "At a time when a lot of public health concern is about the national epidemic of obesity, having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people's minds."
A doctor commenting on a medical blog said Dr Benjamin looked obese, with a body mass index of over 30, if not a morbidly obese rate of over 40.
One commentator estimated she would take at least a British size 20 in clothes.
Sarah Reed, another family doctor, who said she kept her own BMI at 19, said: "I am disappointed that Dr Regina Benjamin is obese. Obesity is the number one problem in my own practice and I make it a very high priority to lead by example.
"Although her credentials speak for themselves, her weight cannot be overlooked. Shame on her!"
Jenny Backus, a spokesman for the Department
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Have you a source for that or are you making things up?
I never heard of this woman.. have you?
Mac Daddy likes some flesh.
If she weren’t Black, you’d never have heard of her.
And this lady looks like she's got about that much to lose.
The woman likes her fried chicken - a lot. Nothing wrong with that.
And collard greens slopped with butter, biscuits and gravy, big helpings of peach cobbler, pulled pork sandwiches, a few dozen rashers of bacon, buttered lima beans, scrambled eggs, deep fried perch and a side of southern barbecued beans.
I like women who appreciate good food.
I would hit it, then brag to my friends.
Liza, as a man I feel it is my duty to not discuss a lady’s weight, especially with lady under discussion. However, I guess I started this conversation.
That said, as a middle-aged fellow, I know that most women between 35 and 60 are not stick thin and it is pointless for them to seek such a goal. Dr. Benjamin unfortunately has the genes and bone structure of many other black women, but that does not mean she is unhealthy. OK, she’d look great if she lost 20 pounds and fantastic if she lost 45 pounds, but by no means should the nation obsess with her current weight.
In fact, given how many black women are truly obese, and the fact that Michelle Obama is relatively slender, Dr. Benjamin’s weight loss program might well the inspiration needed by several million black American women who until now have given up on ever losing weight.
But it rankles me that she, as surgeon general, is going to be handing down healthy eating and weight guidelines for America, which she herself obviously doesn't do. It's that 'do as I say not as I do' thing that rubs me the wrong way.
Oh, my goodness, it’s not like she weighs 500 pounds. She’s a little overweight, like a lot of women. She ought to make an example of herself, telling black women that she’s going to lose weight and if she can do it, so can they.
This is not to say I favor her appointment, by the way. As I understand it she is an abortion advocate and has no experience with administration of anything, much less the massive bureaucracy of a federal agency. She knows nothing about public communications. She’ll be completely out of her depth.
Thin genes? At some point there is a level of exercise and reduced consumption that will cause weight loss in anyone.
She has a high stress job
We all have high-stress jobs. If she can't deal with the stress of being a simple country doctor without eating to compensate, how can she handle the stress of being Surgeon General of the United States?
...and probably little energy left to jog 5 miles a day.
Running five miles a day would give her more energy, not less.
That said, as I noted in a previous post, I don't think she should be penalized for her weight--she looks fairly average to me--just for her pro-abortion views.
Looks like a Beluga, to me.
She's about 50% BEYOND obese.
But she is not caucasian and that makes it okay.
OK, now I understand the point of our disagreement. I think her weight is pretty normal for her age and genes; you think that any woman with her build is not eating properly.
I guess we’ll never know the actual facts until she starts talking about it. Looks like she’ll have to.
It is a high-stress job. That said, the average physician has a BMI well below the national average. Go to their conventions and conferences and look at them. They're lean, almost all of them. As for "jogging 5 miles per day," most of them would advise against it and in favor of walking, swimming, bicyling and other low-impact aerobics.
I don't know Dr. Benjamin's medical history, so I can't judge whether gluttony or laziness would account for her portly appearance. It may be beyond her control.
It probably is normal for her age, at least in the US -- but is it healthy? As an example, hypertension is normal in 80-year-olds, but it's not a healthful condition. I agree with you that the best thing for her to do is discuss her weight publicly. It could encourage others with similar problems.
The fact that she holds that opinion as a Roman Catholic should give pause to most people.
But returning to the question of her weight, if I may, one would think that she would do everything possible to reduce it. Her father died of complications of hypertension and diabetes and, as a physician, she would know that her excess body fat puts her at risk for both of those conditions.
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