Back in Seattle and the weather was actually quite pleasant today. Fairly warm, no rain, and sad to say, much more “autumny” that Boston. I had expected to see a full blaze of color, but the unseasonably warm weather had dramatically interfered with the fall foliage. It made it nice for walking around, but not so nice for the leaf peepers like myself.

I was just thinking about the conference I attended, which was populated primarily by pharmacists but also by physicians and other healthcare professionals. The catchword of the day is of course cost, and how to control cost while maintaining high quality. It does seem that our healthcare system is finally waking up to the fact that preventing illness, or at least, preventing complications in a person who is already sick, is a lot cheaper than treatment–to say nothing of quality of life.

But while I didn’t do a survey, I was just thinking of a session I attended on diabetes. It was one of those symposiums where they ply the audience with food, and I think this one was breakfast. There was a grand buffet put out, with scrambled eggs, hash browns, French toast, sausage, and bacon. There was also a huge platter filled with the cold stuff, ie, muffins, scones, other assorted pastries, rolls, and bread. There was the obligatory fruit mix, and there was a choice of all kinds of sauces to pour over your French toast, butter, jam, and so on. Quite a feast, and looking at some of the plates, I would say people were getting their full day’s worth of calories just at that one meal.

As the speakers went on, one word kept popping up–obesity. And as we all know, obesity is one of the main contributing factors to type II diabetes. So while they’re talking about excess weight, the audience is gorging their faces with high cal food and nice saturated fat. And more than just a few in the audience had a waistline which could use a little whittling, and some who looked like they’d be more comfortable if they had two seats. It’s sort of ironic that the healthcare people are supposed to be counseling their patients about their eating habits, yet they can’t seem to control their own appetites. And perhaps some healthier offerings for breakfast might be in order? Like hot cereal? Less sweets and sticky buns, and maybe some fruit that looks fresh and juicy?