S1: It's time for Midday Edition on Kpbs. Today , we are talking about the new perspectives and the new treatments for obesity. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's the conversations that keep you informed , inspired and make you think. Medication first used to treat diabetes has also proven successful at treating obesity.
S2: This is a completely new way of how to treat weight. That is what we call physiologic or hormonally based.
S1: We'll talk about how these medications work and how the understanding of obesity has changed. Plus , after struggles with obesity , author Martinez Evans started an inclusive run club. He'll join us to talk about it. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Semaglutide products which are used to treat diabetes , are now being used to treat obesity , Ozempic and Wigo being the most popular. The drugs have ushered in a new era of weight management and they've proven to be effective. So effective drug makers can't keep up with demand. Here to talk more about these drugs and how they're changing the treatment of obesity is Dr. Ken Fujikawa. He is director of nutrition and metabolic research and founder of the Scripps Weight Management Clinic in San Diego. Dr. Fukuoka , welcome to Midday.
S2: A real pleasure to be here.
S1: We're so glad you're joining us. Okay. So we've heard a lot about these drugs , like Ozempic with Mujuru.
S2: That is what we call physiologic or hormonally based. So humans essentially are wired to eat all the time , 24 over seven. When we eat a meal , we release a half a dozen hormones that go to the brain to get us to stop eating. Semaglutide Montero. Govi Ozempic. These are copies of those hormones. So what they do is they go to the brain and they tell the brain , hey , it's okay to stop eating. And more importantly , it tells the brain it's okay to keep the weight down , because I'm sure a lot of people have tried unbelievably. Mean they're just tough as nails. They drive their weight down and then it just starts driving back almost out of the control. And that's because of the changes in both their metabolism , which lowers and the satiety hormones also lower. So giving it back , giving one of these satiety hormones or two of them is just been a total game changer.
S1: That in mind , You know , we're still learning more about the brain's role in our weight and eating habits. And there is this idea of a set point when it comes to our weight.
S2: So not that long ago. And we kept thinking that weight was just something that you control by just willpower and that it wasn't related to metabolism. But it turns out that there's a set point up in your brain. We call it the hypothalamus , that whatever is the highest weight anyone's ever been at , that becomes the new set point. So let's say a woman gets pregnant and she gains £60 with the pregnancy. Sure , you can knock off about 20 for the baby and extra fluid , but about 40 of that now is now stuck in the brain saying , okay , that's my new set point and it's going to stay at that set point. Here's the scary part forever. So for the rest of that person's life , that highest weight they've achieved becomes the new set point. And again , the body will do whatever it can to always keep the weight at that higher set point. And it does it by lowering these hormones. We talked about the satiety hormones so that when they're supposed to come up and tell you your full , guess what ? They don't come up. The hypothalamus knows keep them down till the weight gets back. Then let them come back up to that high level to tell you your full and stop eating. The other thing , though , that a lot of people don't realize , it really lowers your metabolism , too. So let's say somebody lost £20. Well , all of a sudden now their metabolism drops by 300 calories more than it's supposed to. So every day they you know , they don't burn an extra 300 calories. And so it's , again , very tough to keep your weight down from both a metabolic standpoint and what we call a satiety standpoint.
S1: It's very interesting. You know , there are a lot of people who say obese people just need to exercise and eat a healthy diet. Why does that not work for everyone ? Okay.
S2: That is the million dollar question. And I'm embarrassed to say when I was in medical school , that's what I was taught. And it turns out we're we couldn't be more wrong because essentially you're fighting biology. It's like telling somebody , hey , you know what ? Don't breathe. Or , hey , a woman , don't menstruate , something like that. The body is making these constant adjustments again to get that way back to the highest level. And it's doing it multiple fronts. One , lower your metabolic rate. Two , making you think about food constantly and patients will often tell you , yeah , you know , when my weight's down , I kind of get this noise in the back of my head. It keeps thinking about food. And when again , we give these hormones , what happens is that noise goes away. So now they're , quote , like anyone else who's never had the battle with weight.
S1: Do you think that misconceptions about obesity , even within the health industry and the health field , stand in the way of people actually getting the treatment they need ? It.
S3: Definitely.
S2: Definitely. There's no doubt that unfortunately at multiple levels , at the level of , say , even a family member , you know , like you could have a husband and a wife and and the guy's really doing his best to lower weight , but he's struggling. And the wife says , no , you don't need any appetite suppressant , you don't need any help. You can do it on your own. But even at a physician level , you get a doctor who's not been taught this newer , we call a metabolic adaptation where you drive your weight back hasn't been taught that , which is , you know , again , this concept has only been around not even ten years , I would say like five years. So again , an older doc is not kept up. He may not know it , nurses may not know it. And then on top of that , insurances are saying , hey , look , this is a lifestyle problem. It has nothing to do with biology , so we're not going to cover it. So on multiple fronts , you see all these barriers to people to try and get we consider adequate treatment because there's no doubt to us being overweight is truly a pathologic disease. It's not something you will align yourself. Nobody wants to be overweight , but the problem is the body just is so good at driving it back up again with biological mechanisms.
S1: And talk about some of the health issues that come along with obesity and morbid obesity and even the misconceptions that we have around what obesity looks like and what morbid obesity looks like. Sure.
S2: Sure. You know , when the minute you get , say , £30 for some smaller people , 40 , £50 for bigger folks , we know that your lifespan shortened that you're not going to live as long and that you're clearly going to get you. Diabetes is number one on the list. That's the one that goes to first. And you got to remember that 10% , 11% of the US population has diabetes , but another 20%. So now we're talking a third of the US population total has pre-diabetes. And the bad part is when you got pre-diabetes , you're already starting to get the problems of diabetes. You know your feet are going to go numb. You get heart attacks , things like that , high blood pressure , cholesterol problems , cancers. There's about 14 cancers that are so closely related to weight. Unfortunately , the big one is breast cancer , because as we get heavier , women will make more estrogen. That estrogen then drives cancer , breast cancer , ovarian cancer , uterine cancer. So there's no doubt this is all associated. And we think we actually are underestimating the number of people who struggle with weight because certain races actually don't handle waking very well. So if somebody says Asian , all you have to do is just put £20 on them and they already get these problems. So again , we've got to and everybody knows this , almost half of the US population is at risk for problems related to weight.
S1:
S2: And what these medications do is they make it so much easier to stay on track with the diet. They make that so that you can eat less , you can eat much less , and you feel satisfied and you're okay and you then you're not driven to eat so much. So that's huge. Now we find what you also got to do , though , is add in exercise because if you lose , say , we'll say £20 , most of us will lose £15 of fat , but about £5 of lean tissue. And if you're not exercising , you can lose a higher percentage of lean tissue or muscle mass. So again , exercise now becomes really key. And we're looking at both resistance training and cardio and adding those in. So we're doing all this. But earlier you said in the program that actually they can't make enough of this stuff. We're running out and so now I have to prioritize. And so now I'm thinking , okay , who can I give this to ? Because I know I'm not going to be able to get much of it. And so for me and most physicians , we're going to really prioritize the diabetics because that group we already know are running into big time problems. We've got to get their weight down. Now , somebody who is overweight but doesn't quite yet have diabetes , okay , they're going to get it , but they may have to wait in line , so to speak , because I don't think they're going to get caught up , at least for another 3 or 4 months.
S1:
S2: You really need to think about these medications as long term because , again , we said earlier , the set point is set at the highest weight forever. It never goes back down. We actually thought it would go down after a couple of years. It doesn't ever reset. It just goes to that highest level. So these are long term meds. The thing is , these. That's so good. And again , I've never seen this in my career. I didn't even dream of this when we were studying earlier. We thought , okay , we're going to get 10% , maybe 15. No , now we're getting 20% , 25% as good as bariatric surgery. And so we actually will get somebody to their goal weight. And then sometimes we have to back off and give them a lower dose just to maintain. And I think in the future , you know , five , ten years , you're going to see these newer , you know , types of meds where you might do an injection once a month just to keep your weight down because you just need maintenance at that point.
S1: And you mentioned bariatric surgery.
S2: It's number one with these new meds coming out. I don't say that anymore. There are many , many folks. And we're not just talking 10% or 20. We're talking 30 to 50% of the patients now are getting weight loss as good as bariatric surgery with these newer medications. Okay.
S1: Okay. So what about side effects ? I know Europe is investigating potential links to suicidal thoughts.
S2: And as long as you eat a small portion that you'll do fine. But if you , you know , and your brain's kind of cute and well , I used to eat a , you know , a whole , you know , huge burger and fries and you try and do that , you're actually going to get sick. So in terms of your vomit , so what what in essence , it really retrains your thinking and you have to go really slow on what we call titration. So we start with a very low dose and then the next month we go up to the next dose and then the next month we go up to the next one. So we can take three , 4 or 5 , six months to get to that what we call magical dose or the therapeutic dose. And again , that really gets those little side effects out of there. Now , this issue of suicide is interesting to me. We studied that for many years because we do know and we've seen this with all the weight loss drugs , whenever we give any kind of weight loss drug and we get good weight loss in people , 99% of people are happier. They're going , this is great , they function better , their happiness scale goes up , their depression scales go down , everything is going well. But about , I don't know , it's probably around 0.3. Maybe half a percent of people actually get really down when they lose weight , and we're not sure why that happens. But and this has been studied quite extensively for about the last , I would say , almost 20 years , because you may have heard there were some older weight loss medications that were around that they actually didn't make it or got pulled from the market because they actually made you very depressed. So , again , the FDA's aware of this and they're really good about making sure that when we study these new drugs , you really do every single thing to make sure that they're not going to increase suicidality.
S1:
S2: This should be their first step. If they fail this , yeah , they should go to bariatric surgery , but this would be an awfully good first shot. The next group then becomes somebody with that that's overweight or struggles with weight but has a medical problem that's already surfaced and is out there that's related to their weight. So let's say high blood pressure , diabetes , that group there really their next they really should be right in line. And then just somebody who is and I'm being technical here , but there's the term overweight and then there's a term we use obese , somebody with obesity. Now , that's somebody who , again , is more in that , like for women , 30 to £35 overweight for guys somewhere like 40 to £50 overweight. So that group , we know they're going to get problems. The last group would be somebody who's just overweight , and that's actually a group that shouldn't get it. If they're if somebody's just a little bit overweight , they just want to lose £10 for an upcoming wedding or something like that. This is really not for them. This is for , again , medical weight loss for usually a serious problem.
S1: Has obesity been a struggle for you ? What's your experience been like to get treatment from doctors ? Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. Leave a message or you can email us at midday at pbs.org. Coming up , the conversation continues with more on how Semaglutide products work and what taking them means.
S2: It's like a job. You have to just stay on it every day because if you back off even just a little bit , at weight will creep back up.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hyndman. We're talking about weight loss drugs with Dr. Ken Fuji Oka , Dr. Fuji Oka. One thing giving some people pause is the high cost of these medications. Often they exceed $1,000 a month , but the cost has obviously not affected the popularity of these treatments.
S2: And it's only because eventually they'll get caught up and they'll have enough and so we won't have the shortage. And right now is who's going to pay for it is the bigger issue. And that's usually insurance companies that are now covering these meds. And believe me , most insurance companies don't want to cover them. And if they covered them , you got to remember half of the US population actually qualifies for these newer medications , half. So they would basically go bankrupt if they had to cover the medication. And just like you said , $1,000 a month for some of these medications. So this is a real tough issue right now , roughly. And I'll just talk about in Southern California , about a third of the patients do get it covered by insurances. They want to make sure that you're the right person , that you're heavy enough and all that , but it is covered. They do cover them , though , for diabetics. They're routinely covered for all diabetics. So that's great. And I think the insurance companies get it. But again , for somebody who's just , quote , obese or struggling with obesity , so they're say £50 of weight , but they don't quite yet have problems , they're going to be the tough one to get coverage. And they but again , as you said , they can't make enough. So it's clear a lot of these folks are just buying this cash. Again , it amazes us what people are willing to pay if something works. This stuff works.
S1: On cost and insurance. We did hear from one audience member , Kathy Taylor , who had this to say. She says , my doctor prescribed Wachovia for me based on my height BMI rate. My insurance company refuses to pay for weight loss meds. I see that approach as very shortsighted. Are you aware of any companies who will pay for it ? If I were diabetic , it would , but thankfully I'm not.
S2: And so when you when you ask the question , you know who what companies would cover it , it's interesting that when you if you work say for a pharmaceutical company or biotech company , they're going to cover it because they realize they don't want you to go on to diabetes because the minute you get diabetes , your costs for health care go , you know , skyrocket. So they want to keep you from getting there. And and just like you said , some of the you know , it might be somebody in your HR who makes the decision , we're going to make our payer , whoever , you know , the insurance company , cover this med and we'll pay a little extra for it. But that person , if they don't understand about how hard it is to lose weight , they've never tried to lose weight themselves. They may not want to cover it then. So it's it's really tough right now. We're in this really , I don't know , quagmire of who's going to make that decision on to cover it or not. And again , the the the health care industry gets it most health care places will cover it one way or another. And again , as you said , diabetics , it's covered. But if you're not there yet , say you're a pre-diabetic. Yeah , two thirds of the companies won't cover it.
S1: You know , earlier you mentioned the difficulties some of your patients have been having finding these medications first.
S2: It's actually the same molecule , what we call hormonal analog as ozempic , which is the one that's all over the place , which is the one approved for diabetes. But the dose is a little bit higher for the weight loss brand. And so right now they can't make enough of it , so they're not giving any what we call starter doses or wigs to patients because they just can't make enough of it. So and the pharmaceutical companies made the decision , which I agree with them. I think they were smart to do. This is , look , we've got to make sure the diabetics are covered so they have enough so you can start a new diabetic. They can get it. They're doing fine. But when the minute you try and go for the obesity brand , Semaglutide or Rugova , now you can't you can't even start on it. They don't even have starter doses. If you're already on it and you need the full dose , you can get that because they realize if they stop it , you're going to regain the weight. So it's I feel for the people who want it now are ready to start. And we're looking at I think at the best fall is when they may catch up. And believe me , all these companies are building factories as quick as they can to meet the demand. There will be another medication that will get approved for obesity this year when ? I don't know. It's currently in the diabetic form called Majuro. And it's two of these hormones put together , not one , two. So again , it's very potent. You get very good weight loss. It's already approved for diabetes. It's already been shown to be extremely good and extremely safe. It'll get approved. So again , that will open up more availability to patients.
S1: And while people may not be able to access these drugs in the medical offices as easily , med spas and clinics seem to be popping up on corners everywhere , offering these semaglutide shots.
S2: It's it's. But and you're right , these you know , GLP one pop ups are everywhere and there. I don't know where they're getting it. You know , they've actually been sued by the pharmaceutical companies because they're claiming to have some ID or claiming to have the GLP one that these companies have , and they're either getting it what we call offshore , they're getting it from Canada or Mexico and then importing it in. And then I don't know if they're diluting it , but they're finding unusual things in it , so that shouldn't be in this injections. So again , I would highly recommend against these spa type clinics that are offering it. And the other thing is they're going to be very expensive and I don't think they're going to be around long enough to keep somebody's weight down over the long run.
S1: And you've also made clear that these medications are not meant for people seeking a minor weight loss solution.
S4:
S2: If you just have , say , 10 or £15 to lose it , you actually have a better chance at getting it down With diet and exercise , it's still going to be hard , but it can be done. The body doesn't fight as much , it fights much more. The more weight you lose , more weigh , you lose. Boy just fights back. So and it's the old standard. You know , you got to cut calories one way or another. You know , most of us right now seem to feel that intermittent fasting is clearly one of the better ways to do it or time restricted eating. But then the exercise really has to be there. And the data also shows that it has to be a combination of cardio and resistance training. And you're talking now , this is a lot five hours a week. So they do those two things. They should do well in the long run. But again , it's like a job. You have to just stay on it every day because if you back off even just a little bit , that weight will creep back up.
S1:
S2: Many primary care doctors are getting very comfortable with these. There is a new specialty , though. It's called fancy name obesity medicine specialists. And these are folks that have taken an advanced exam , done extra training , and they're very good at it. They are good both from the standpoint of they know which drugs to use. They also are very good at the diet and exercise part , so they can really combine all three. So you get the best weight loss. And again , this is it's hard to imagine this is the fastest growing subspecialty in the US now , more than gastroenterology , more than cardiology. It is now obesity medicine. And I think because the need is there again , half of the US population seriously struggles with weight. So. To really need to see this , especially just emerging and really doing well. So there is a website that you can go to is called A Bomb American Board of Obesity Medicine. If they go to that , they can then find a specialist in their area.
S1:
S2: It's.
S4: It's.
S2: It's a combination of factors like I guess like the movie The Perfect Storm. But one is it's real clear that the food we eat has changed dramatically from about 50 years ago. And all this weight changes really happened fairly recently. And , you know , in the last 30 to 40 years where it's just really ramping up. So one is we eat a much more highly processed diet with a lot more calories per bite to , you know , obviously a lot less fruits and vegetables. Three. There's other things in the food that we're just not sure about. We just don't know. And then one culprit that really is looking to be a real problem is high fructose syrup. It's clear that is not good for human beings because it drives up a hormone , insulin and insulin. When you make the levels high , it turns into a fat storage hormone. So you store more fats , like signaling the brain , Hey , I need to hang on to more fat. And then from the exercise standpoint , you know , we spend time in the car. We're we just don't burn calories throughout the day like we used to. And so , again , we really need to look at , you know , how do we get in that exercise ? And most of my patients , I tell them , look , you got to put it into your schedule like it's a meeting and you're going to do it. And sorry , nothing gets in the way. You're not scheduling anything then.
S1: I've been speaking with Dr. Ken Fuji Oka , an endocrinologist and doctor of nutrition and metabolic research with scripts and Dr. Fuji Oka. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. Very insightful information.
S4: A real. Pleasure.
S2: Pleasure.
S1: Coming up , after his own struggles with obesity. Author Martinez Evans started the Slow af Run Club.
S5: My goal is to let people know that they are runners and they can be runners in the body that they are right now.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. Welcome back to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Starting a new exercise routine can be challenging for anyone , especially though for people who don't see their body type represented in the fitness industry. Author Martinez Evans is working to change that with his new book , Slow af Run Club The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run. In his book , Evans demystifies running in the hopes of opening it up to anyone and everyone to experience all the highs and lows that come from running. For Martinez , the goal of running is not to lose weight or win races running , he writes in his new book , really has nothing to do with a number on the scale or a time on a stopwatch. Martinez Evans joins us now. Congratulations on your book and welcome to Midday Edition.
S5: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
S1: So you dedicated this book to quote the amazing members of the Slow af Run Club. And to anybody that has felt they are too fat , too slow , too old , or to fill in the blank to become a runner. So what is the slow af run club and how can people join ? Absolutely.
S5: So the Slow AF Run club is a virtual community of 16,000 members worldwide. We are housed inside of our own app on iOS and Android , so you can actually download the app right now after you get done. Listen to this. You can just go search for slow af run club on your favorite app so you can get there. The reason why we created this club is , you know , there has been a lot of individuals who recently just gotten to run in via the pandemic and now they don't know what to do with themselves. Right. And with me coaching these individuals , a lot of them don't even see themselves as runners because they don't fit the the traditional look or body type as a runner. So my goal is to let people know that they are runners and they can be runners in the body that they are right now because there's so many benefits to being physically active regardless if you lose weight or.
S1: Not , and you write about what you call your running origin story. It happened during a hurtful doctor's appointment. Tell us about that experience and why you think that had such an impact on you.
S5: About ten years ago , I found myself in a doctor's office. I've never met this doctor a day in my life except for that day I was working at Men's Warehouse. Also going to be 8 to 10 hours a day at this new job and heart bottom shoes. I developed some hip issues , so I went to go see this doctor and I'm telling them , Hey , I work at this job. I used to play football in college. I don't know what's going on with my hip. Please help. And he was like , I know what's wrong with you ? Okay , What's wrong ? He was like , You're fat. And he was like , You're fat and you need to lose weight or die. So very harsh words to get when you are a plus size individual looking to get help about your issue. But I also feel like a lot of other individuals have also had this happen to them as well. Like literally you can have like a broken pinky toe and the doctor , it's like , yeah , we'll get to that pinky toe , but let's talk about your weight. So with me being frustrated and furious about what the doctor was saying to me , you know , he was going on and say , you know , you got a stomach , it's a pregnant woman. You need to start walking all these other things. Right ? And I tell him , you know what ? I'm going to run a marathon. And he laughed at me and told me that was the most stupidest thing he has heard in all his years of practicing medicine. And then he went on also went on to say , If I ever tried to run a marathon , I'll die on the course. So now I'm sitting in this doctor's office. He's telling me , lose weight or die. And then I tell him I'm running a marathon. And he's like , No , you can't do that. You're going to die as well. So I stormed out the doctor's office and was like , You know what ? Well , let's see about that. Let's let's see if I actually die , if I attempt to run a marathon. So I bought running shoes that day and I kind of started my running journey. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. You took control of that situation on your own.
S5: The doctor pretty much just told me lose weight or die , right ? And he told me I should start losing weight by walking. But he didn't give me any type of guidance or support when it came to like what exactly to do. So I'm just sitting there , right ? And when I told him , well , you know what , forget walking , I'll run a marathon and him laughing at me and telling me that's the dumbest thing ever. It really just kind of put me in a situation where it's like , you tell me I need to lose weight or die , and then I come up with an activity that I might be interested in doing. And you telling me I'm going to die if I do that activity. So like what ? What is really the solution there ? So it kind of just left me lost and frustrated at the same time.
S1:
S5: When people think about runner , they think about skinny long legs and a white individual. Right. And for nontraditional runners inside the slow run club , like a lot of these individuals aren't skinny. A lot of these individuals probably haven't even been athletes or athletic throughout their years of growing up. So like , this is their first time of attempting to be athletic. And they already have like the big obstacle of getting over that my hump , that they too are actually an athlete and they should see themselves as an athlete as well.
S1:
S5: You know , should I run for speed or distance ? What gear should I wear ? Should I eat before I run ? And these are some of the questions that I had when I started running about ten years ago. And just to know this , that , you know , ten years has passed and there's not one book out there that is dedicated for beginner runners or individuals who feel like they are left to fend for themselves. And I really just wanted to be the change that I wanted to see.
S1: And you call running a struggle of the mind.
S5: Inside the book I'll write , running is 90% mental and 10% physical. And that's the fact that for a lot of individuals , it's literally you versus your mind versus everybody else. So the fact of you sitting on this couch about to get up right then you have your mind as playing tricks on you , telling you you can't do that. And then you have all the other people around you who are looking , ridiculing you or telling you you you can't do that. So it's definitely a struggle of a mind versus being able to be physically active.
S1: And as you mentioned , you're a former football player and really no stranger to the competitive spirit. And you say letting go of that competitive spirit has really been a key mindset change for you as a runner.
S5: The sport of running is really about timing yourself against somebody else , comparing yourself to get somebody else. And last time I checked , most of us are not elite athletes. So if you're not an elite athlete in your in your job does not consist of making first , second or third place in a race. We already know that we've lost. Right ? We already know that once we get to the start line , these elite , elite athletes have already finished the race and they're back home getting their their second meal. So just to even to take that away so that we don't have that much pressure on ourselves to understand that we don't have to put all of this pressure on ourselves to move faster , try to run faster , to beat somebody , because we already know that the elites have already won. So if you take that notion out of it , you can really see that running is just a place where you can have fun , you can be outside and you can experience new places and new things all at once.
S1:
S5: So a year , not even a year. A couple of months after my first marathon in 2013 , I'm January 2014 , I get into a very bad car accident and running was taken away from me and I didn't know if I was able to run again ever again. And I really got sad and depressed throughout this whole process and throughout the therapy that was going through. You know , one of the things I was telling my therapist was , you know , running was the thing that brought me more joy. Running was the thing that made me happy. Running was the thing that I didn't know I needed in my life. And now that it's gone , I don't know what to do. And I remember just making this promise to myself of if I'm able to run , I'll run regardless of my weight , I'll run , regardless of anything. Because running was the thing that made me happy. And running was the thing that took my my whole life to new heights.
S1: This is Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm speaking with Martinez Evans about his book , Slow af Run Club.
S5: So start off with a 15 second run and then walk for 90s. And after you do that , reevaluate , you can evaluate to say , okay , what's 15 seconds ? Not enough for me , but maybe you do. 30s Was that 92nd walk too easy ? Maybe you shorten it to a minute and then you just do that process over and over again for the next 30 minutes , and then you repeat that the next the next day. So it's really about just starting off very slow and very at a short distance. And building upon that.
S1: In your book also explains the elements of running and really slowly walks new or inexperienced runners through the process. One of the things you wrote about this is that when we run , we should keep in mind two important elements the lean and the landing. Talk to me a bit more about that.
S5: Yes , these are mechanisms that I found when training individuals helps to understand how to have great form while running. So the lean is pretty much keeping your chest up high , making sure your head is up , looking amongst the horizon and then landing is making sure that your feet land right below you. So that way you don't have to worry about over striding.
S1: And as far as speed , you suggest conversation. Pace What is that ? Yes.
S5: So conversation pace are also like to call it the sexy pace. It's the pace where you're able to run and have a conversation with a friend on the phone or if you can sing your favorite song , that's how you know you're going at an adequate speed if you can't talk or if you can't sing a song , or if you're doing like , Yes , I can't , you're running too fast. Okay.
S1: Okay. That's that's new advice and good advice. What is the chafe monster and what can runners do about that.
S5: Old chafe monster ? So Chafe Monster is something that I experienced as a new runner. You know , like I said , I learned a lot of things the hard way. And one of the things that nobody ever told me was , hey , man , like , don't wear any cotton while running. And I work out in a very long time while running. And when you work on water sticks on you , it bugs you now , but also you start to chafe. So imagine going for this run , you're feeling good , and then as soon as the shower water hits you , it feels like you're being cut by a thousand razor blades. That is the chafe monster. Ouch. Got you. So what I tell people is that , you know , ditch the cotton and then there's some things called like lube , like body lube. So , like , body glide is one of the lubes that you can kind of put on your skin so that it has a protective effect so that it reduces the amount of chafe that you may particularly get.
S1: Put a protective layer over your skin. Absolutely.
S5: Absolutely.
S1:
S5: The reason why keeping a running journal is very important is that I find that a lot of new runners this is associate with themselves when they're running and one of the real one of the goals with running is really to keep in check with yourself and really stay in tune with your body versus disassociating. So by having this running journal , you can keep in check with yourself , but it also and also helps you stay motivated when you're feeling down because that way you can go back to that journal and see how far you actually came and how much work you put in to get to where you're at right now.
S1: And you emphasize how running is an individual journey. Rule number one of running , you write , Never compare yourself to others. As we spoke about. That said , community seems to be a really important piece of it for you. I'm wondering how those ideas coexist when you think about running.
S5: Yes , you can still part be a part of like a solo sport , because historically running as a solo sport. But when you add a community to this , it makes running so much easier and funner , right ? So it can still be a solo sport. You can still have solo goals , but when you participate in the sport of running with someone and with the community , there's have research that has been said that it makes running feel less daunting.
S1:
S5: But one of the things I like to tell people is that it has brought me to places that I've never would have even dreamed that I would be at. So , for example , a few years back I was in London for a conference and one of my friends told me , You know , while you're in London , go get treacle pudding like a proper pub to have that. So me and my friends ran around the city of London asking random pubs , Hey , do you have triple plating ? And they didn't have it , but we had so much fun just running to pub , to pub , asking them about this , you know , this dessert that we'd never heard of before , and just laughing and joking and like , that's just something that I just want people to really experience is the joy of being physically active , being outside and being amongst your friends while doing it.
S1: In the medical field. Do you think that misconceptions about obesity or being overweight really stand in the way of good advice and even treatment ? Yeah.
S5: So my notion on this is that , you know , I think we focus a lot on like the the number on the scale versus physical activity , right ? So I think we've got it wrong to say , Oh , this person is the person of size. They must not be physically active. They must be , you know , unhealthy and so on and so forth. Right. And I think we really need to flip that on his head and really ask people how active are they in their lives knowing that physical activity is the key decision maker when it comes to health outcomes. Right.
S1: Right. It's about mental and physical health. Exactly.
S5: So , yeah , so so think about this. You know , people always like lose weight , right ? Or like you're unhealthy because you're a person of size. And my thing is , well , what if that person of size is walking or running 3 to 4 times a day ? What if that person of size has a normal heart rate or blood pressure and so on and so forth ? So is that person really unhealthy ? So I think that's the question that we really need to start asking individuals versus just understanding. Well , you know , this is the number on the scale and we're going to correlate that with this person having all of these health issues. Because , you know , for me , being a 300 plus pound man and me running all of these marathons , like I can tell you that my you look at my blood panels compared to anybody else , they're way better than anybody else's blood panel.
S1: There you go. I've been speaking with Martinez Evans , author of the new book Slow af Run Club. And Martinez , thank you so much for joining us.
S5: Thank you for having me.
S1: So what are your thoughts on Semaglutide treatments for obesity ? What about the slow af run club ? Does a more inclusive group to run with sound appealing to you ? Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. Leave a message or you can email us at midday at pbs.org. We'd love to hear your ideas and if you ever miss a show , you can find the Midday Edition podcast on all platforms. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening.
