AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 30

FLIGHT MD
Healthy flying
Get the weight off your airframe
BY DR. BRENT BLUE
I SAW AN EPIDEMIC in pilots at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this
summer, and it was not COVID-19. It was obesity. This is not
fat shaming. This is about health and enjoyment of aviation for
a long time.
The corporate food industry is trying to make you fat. It
advertises carbohydrates because they have a higher profit
margin than protein, and forget anyone pushing fruits and
vegetables. Corporate food interests, whether at a fast-food restaurant
or in the grocery store, are pushing high levels of sugar,
fat, and salt-items that light up the same areas of your brain as
cocaine. Think you know what is in your food? Just remember
ketchup has more sugar by weight than a Hershey bar.
For snacks in the cockpit, taking things like tree
nuts, fruit, carrots, celery, and hummus is far
better than the snack food that comes in bags.
" Protein " bars are just expensive candy bars.
So, what is wrong with being obese? From a medical perspective,
a lot. Blood pressure increases with weight simply
because your heart must pump hard to reach all the expanded
area of the body. Your hips, knees, and feet all suffer from carrying
the extra pounds. If you do not believe me, just carry around
a 10-pound backpack from the moment you get up in the morning
to when you lie down at night. Ten pounds does not seem like
much, but it will at the end of this test. Obesity generates back
pain, especially when it is carried in the belly, which causes an
increased curve in the low back.
The strain on the heart comes from the required extra
pressure it must put out to circulate blood through all the adipose
tissue. Cholesterol and triglycerides, which contribute
to the deposits of plaque material in the arteries of the heart,
brain, extremities, and even the intestines, increase with
weight. Obstructive sleep apnea is most frequently caused
by obesity.
The big factor is non-insulin dependent diabetes. You
may have heard there is a tremendous increase in this type of
30
AOPA PILOT / October 2022
diabetes, but most of it is what is called obesity-generated diabetes.
Diabetes is a syndrome in which the pancreas does not
put out enough insulin for the cells to use glucose. This wreaks
havoc in the kidneys and can lead to renal failure. In addition,
diabetes is synergistic with high blood pressure and elevated
cholesterol in creating disease in your blood vessels, heart,
and brain.
Obesity is a factor in conditions that not only affect your
quality of life, but also your medical certification prospects. So
what is the best way to lose weight? The most important concept
is reducing the calories " in " and increasing the calories
" out. " Reducing calories " in " is hard, especially when traveling
by air, but it can be done. Avoiding carbohydrates as much
as possible is key. For snacks in the cockpit, taking things like
tree nuts, fruit, carrots, celery, and hummus is far better than
the snack food that comes in bags. Also remember that " protein "
bars are just expensive candy bars.
On the ground, you are far better off eating chicken than
pasta, especially if the chicken is grilled instead of fried. Only
eat when you are hungry instead of when bored, and leave the
serving bowls in the kitchen so you must get up to get seconds.
The few steps to the kitchen will remind you to ask yourself,
" Am I really still hungry? "
Increasing calories " out " is done by exercising. The key to
exercise is heart rate, and the goal is to get your heart to beat
in the target zone for 30 consecutive minutes. (220 minus your
age, times 0.7 is the target zone for most people.) It does not
make any difference what you do as long as the heart rate is in
the zone.
You could walk briskly one day, bike the next, and be on an
elliptical the next. Heart rate is the end point. If you did this
seven days a week, that is roughly 3,500 calories, which is a
pound of weight loss a week.
If you combine exercise with
caloric restriction, you will
lose even more. What you
look like is not the important
issue; your health is. Let's all
get healthy and keep flying.
brent@brentblue.com
DR. BRENT BLUE is a
senior AME/HIMS and flies
a Noorduyn Norseman and
a Cessna 185 out of Driggs,
Idaho (DIJ) near Jackson
Hole. He forgives the
controller at Oshkosh who
called his Norseman a Cub.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 7
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 71
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - Cover4
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