He Ain't Heavy, He's my Canadian Public Service Executive

So thanks to a Canadian government public service executive that I have the pleasure of knowing I was tipped off to a report put out by the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada.

The report looked at various determinants of health and among them, obesity.

Specifically the report looked at self-reported rates of obesity (which are notoriously inaccurate in that people tend to report themselves as being lighter and taller than they actually are) and guess what? Being an executive in the public service in Canada's not too good for your weight.

How not good?

Well their rate of obesity is about 50% higher than the general population's rate. General population clocks in at around 23% obese while our public service executives clock in at over 36%.

That's not a small difference.

It's also not surprising. Having my office in Ottawa has had me involved in the care of many government executives and one thing's very striking about their lifestyles - there's a ton of travel and/or a ton of business meals. Consequently there's a ton of restaurants and if there's a ton of restaurants, there's probably a ton of Calories.

I wonder if they get danger pay?

[Hat tip to an anonymous and lovely bigwig who has done great and is no longer part of the 36%]