Understanding the biology, biases and stigmas around obesity are important aspects to take care of elevated weight, says Felix Health’s weight management advisor
As Canada faces a primary healthcare shortage, Felix Health is working to change the narrative of “blame and shame” to one with a more modern approach to weight management. The digital end-to-end healthcare platform has launched a campaign focused on weight management, in hopes to spark a conversation and bring awareness to their new virtual weight loss service.
Felix’s message is simple. Those who struggle with weight management should know that seeking help isn't cheating. Most conversations around weight loss are framed as a matter of choice and willpower. But for the one in four Canadian adults classified as living with obesity, Dr. Sean Wharton, co-lead author of the Canadian Obesity Guidelines, Felix’s weight management advisor and medical director of the Wharton Medical Clinic, says diet and exercise alone are insufficient for long-term weight loss, leading to guilt, blame and shame.
According to Felix Health, 30 per cent of Canadians are living with a BMI over 30 and could be eligible for weight management treatment by the guidelines Wharton co-authored. Wharton highlights the stigma and bias around elevated weight is a problem of someone's character, a problem of their inability to stick to a regimen or a problem with them internally, which causes “internal bias where the person themselves believe that they are bad and incapable [of losing weight].”
“In fact, it's a biological condition,” says Wharton. “Just like many other chronic medical conditions, there's biology and physiology that's associated with it and there are several genetic reasons. Granted, we live in an environment that exposes all those genetic issues and problems but it's not the person's fault that they were born in this timeframe.”
The key aspect of Felix’s campaign, Wharton noted, is the concept of eating less and moving more is not enough but rather, “understanding the biology, understanding the biases, understanding the stigmas and understanding compassion and love” are all important aspects of how Canadians can take care of their health and take care of elevated weight.”
Wharton points to the success that science and medicine has been able to achieve over the past decade, as doctors and scientists have figured out “where obesity lives. It's the neurological connections within our brain that that generate higher levels of eating, higher levels of hunger. Whenever someone tries to lose weight, and then it gets pushed back up despite their best efforts,” he says.
This understanding has led to pharmacological interventions that work, which are known as GLP-1 analogs, like Wegovy and Mounjaro, Wharton noted. While these interventions essentially work one-in-the-same as Felix’s program, Wharton says the advancement in science has been a complete revolution and that those who qualify “should have the capacity to make the choice, if they want to move forward with this.”
Dr. Kelly Anderson, medical director at Felix Health, outlines the virtual service that’s available nationwide to all patients who wants to access their program. When Canadians visit the platform, they’ll be asked a series of questions - that have been developed with Wharton - to assess their current health issues, medical history and questions “that would preclude patients from using certain medications for weight loss,” all in a few hours.
“A healthcare practitioner will do a thorough discussion [with the patient] over video and blood work to get a full upfront picture of their health and determine which medication would be appropriate, based on their blood work and history,” Anderson says. “It then goes to our pharmacy, who will deliver it within typically two days.”
Anderson highlights Felix’s sustainable weight management course that's been created by a specialist around other considerations in weight management, like diet and exercise. Patients who use the course can also benefit from access to Felix’s pharmacy as well as access to a pharmacist and healthcare practitioner 24/7.
“It can be quite difficult to go to a doctor's office or even find a doctor to see so that makes it quite accessible to this very large number of people in Canada who may benefit from a service like this, but are unable to access it,” Anderson added.
Because obesity can be considered a “moral failing” by some, Wharton suggests more of an awareness that addresses the stigmas associated with weight management, more treatments that are developed and become available as well as additional campaigns that speak to obesity will help create a more positive space surrounding weight loss.
And while Felix doesn’t offer the program directly to plan sponsors, Wharton believes in the importance of integrating obesity into health plans.
“What employers are looking for is a healthy (and happy) worker and what doctors are looking for is to make their patients healthy. [The program] promotes that because there's a lifestyle option component to it, there's a pharmacological option to it and it provides a space where the OHIP-based government medical system is overburdened. The individual and the employer can take healthcare into their own hands in a manner that is accessible,” said Wharton.
Finally, Wharton asserts a need for more weight management programs, like Felix’s, to be developed now and in the future.
“I have patients who come to my clinic after a long waiting list who have developed a medical condition, or they've been told by other doctors to just go on to another diet or a better diet and then their medical condition gets worse,” says Wharton. “Then we're heading to bariatric surgery because they did not have options. Not because they weren't capable, or they weren’t looking. They were looking; they couldn't find the available options. I'm behind something that allows a scalable approach to something that is desperately needed in our country.”
“I see it as a significant benefit,” he added. “I don't think there's any way for society not to understand that we have to move forward with this type of treatment paradigm. That’s not an option in my world.”
