So there’s a lot of talk these days about the new Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, and whether she was the appropriate choice as surgeon general since she is on the overweight side. I was asked the other day what I thought of the situation, and I really do think it’s an interesting one, because there are many forces involved…

Is a thin Surgeon General a better choice? Is is true that a normal weight person understands the obesity situation better? Not necessarily, and sometimes less so, in my opinion. You see, there are plenty of people in the world who can be thin or normal weight without much effort, so it doesn’t really mean that someone else would have a better idea of how to address one of the biggest health risks this country faces…obesity! The best person would probably be one who does have to work at it, who has lost weight, or who knows of the struggles of the average man or woman to manage their body weight.

The interesting side effect of all of the publicity about the new Surgeon General’s weight, is that this alone will likely cause her to change her eating and exercise habits. One can only assume that regardless of her genetic or metabolic challenges, she has probably not adjusted her energy balance to achieve an optimal weight that promotes good health (i.e. she probably eats a little too much, and may not exercise enough). So — this new position that she’s been put in, will probably require that she does pay attention to this aspect of her life — whether she really understands how to address it or not. She will eat better. She will exercise more. She will probably lose weight. The hope is that she will gain insight from this experience, and better serve Americans by learning about the true struggle — to understand what MOTIVATES us to be consistent and to manage our own weight (and health) more effectively.

The situation is interesting, because it is the circumstances and the attention that will actually be the catalyst for her weight loss (assuming she does address the issue). She clearly has the background and intelligence to know what she should be doing, so hopefully it can become clear to the administration and those involved in coming up with new solutions to obesity, that the key is finding out what will trigger more Americans to actually pay attention to their own weight and health. It is our hope that this new Surgeon General might take this opportunity to get into incredible shape, transform her lifestyle and inspire many others, to do the same.

So there seems to be a tremendous opportunity, I think, that Ms. Benjamin could actually be a great choice because she has struggled with her own weight…and this insight will allow her to come up with different approaches to the problem.

Predictions? She will lose weight, and learn a lot about developing a healthy, consistent lifestyle. The extreme accountability should be all that is necessary to do the trick, since she is sure to have everything else she needs to succeed, now that there is a motivation to do it. It will be interesting to see what happens!!!