Watch the video above: Sask. man crosses borders to control weight
SASKATOON – A new study states about one-third of the world is carrying extra weight, and Canada is no exception.
Roughly one in five Canadian men and women are considered obese.
“I don’t think it’s all that alarming, I don’t think it’s much of a surprise,” said Brooke Bulloch, registered dietitian in Saskatoon.
“We know that income and food security plays a big role in obesity,” said Bulloch, adding that lower income populations tend to have higher rates of obesity.
With excess pounds come greater chances of developing health problems. The report points out a spike in diabetes and higher rates of cancers.
READ MORE: 2 billion people worldwide are obese: study
Former Saskatoon police detective Brian Trainor took his weight issues into his own hands by receiving a gastric surgery a couple of weeks ago in Mexico.
“My blood sugar was starting to hit the top upper limit and all I could see ahead of me was incline shots and high blood pressure and cholesterol problems,” said Trainor.
The procedure took 45 minutes and Trainor has already lost 45 pounds.
“They removed 80 percent of my stomach, so my stomach’s now the size of an egg, I can’t eat a lot at one sitting as a result,” said Trainor.
“I’m no longer diabetic and I no longer have high blood pressure, I’m off all medication.”
Gastric bypass surgery has been in available in Saskatchewan since 2008, when 18 procedures were performed; that number has more than quadrupled, with three surgeons performing 94 procedures last year.
However, Trainor wasn’t willing to wait four years to receive it, due to a long wait list.
Surgery is far from the only way to shed the pounds.
“Getting a little more physically active, easy things like reducing your take out from say four nights a week to two nights a week. We know that making foods at home just will naturally reduce the amount of sodium, sugar and unhealthy fats,” said Bulloch.
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