This is going to be weird to type, but when asking for suggestions on topics to write about, one of my readers [ 🙂 ], made a comment about fat people saying they don’t eat a lot and people are seldom overweight because of medical reasons. There are several topics to discuss here.
We’ll start with the not eating a lot. I am a great example of what “not eating a lot” will turn into. Now honestly, I REALLY didn’t eat a lot. I remember very vividly my former roommate telling me this. He mentioned that he noticed I didn’t eat a lot (he had a way of saying things in a non-offensive way) when we would discuss my weight. It’s true. I rarely ate breakfast and ate what I call convenience foods when I did eat. The problem is, your body is constantly in starvation mode, not knowing the next time you’re going to eat, so it stores everything. There are also a lot of calories in convenience foods. So you don’t have to be a binge eater to be overweight or obese. The difference is, binge eaters, weigh A LOT more.
What are “convenience foods,” you ask? Macaroni and cheese, Velveeta, white bread, Hamburger Helper, chips and dip, anything frozen, pizza; anything that comes prepackaged and not portioned (not like the 100 calorie baggies they make, but a whole bag of Fritos… mmmm Fritos). Life is busy. It’s not 1957 where mom wears an apron and high heels in the kitchen. She doesn’t greet the kids after school with milk and cookies or her husband, who wears a suit and tie every day and carries a briefcase, after work with a scotch on the rocks. She has to work just as many hours as her husband and when she comes home she might not feel like cooking. Yes, I’m being sexist and stereotypical, forgive me, but go with it. Mom wants to come home just as much as dad does to a home cooked, balanced meal. She doesn’t have 2 hours to roast a chicken and peel and mash potatoes and make a gravy (not from a packet of powder) and saute the green beans she bought from the market that afternoon. She has 30 minutes to feed the troops before the kids have to go to soccer or basketball or dance or singing lessons or creative doodling class. So foods were made to fit in a box or a bag and have a long shelf life and be accessible at any time and take 15 minutes to prepare and cook. And it’s cheap. And convenience foods were born. Full of chemicals and calories. YUM!
You say you’re overweight because of medical reasons? Really? Don’t misunderstand me, I know several women who are overweight because of being on steroids for years on end, or they have a thyroid problem. I was looking online and this site says PCOS (the “disease” I have), diabetes, lack of sleep, age, genes, emotional factors, all CAUSE obesity. WHAT?!? I can understand how SOME MAY contribute, but I’m telling you right now, obesity CAUSES PCOS AND DIABETES. It’s not the other way around. When you lose weight, the chances of developing PCOS and disbetes is much lower, and you can actually overcome those diseases. Duh. Having a “slow metabolism,” when not linked to a thyroid problem, is a cop out. It’s another term of L. A. Z. Y. I never blamed the fact I was overweight on anything. Saying you come from a big family and it’s genetic… okay maybe, but you don’t have to be fat because everyone else is fat. Lack of sleep, age, emotional factors… all a crock of crap. Be strong enough to overcome this. No one is going to harass you about your weight. I don’t care how much you weigh. If you’re happy, that’s stupendous, but if you whine about being overweight, and you don’t have a medical issue, zip it. You’re the one who controls how much you weigh. No one in the whole world controls your weight, except you. If you’re unhappy, you’re the ONLY ONE who can change it. Also, even if you do have a medical disorder, it doesn’t mean you have to eat poorly. Our bodies were made to digest plants and grains. Fuel your body with good food. I’m living proof that you don’t have to exercise to lose weight. Simply change your diet. If it “doesn’t work,” you’re not doing it right. It’s simple, consume fewer calories than you use, you HAVE to lose weight.
Lastly, I saw a statistic here that says 68% of Americans over the age of 20 are obese or overweight. This also on Wikipedia. SIXTY. EIGHT. PERCENT. This is [more than] TWO-THIRDS… How is it that Americans are so fat? It’s become so acceptable. Your leg is too fat to use one x-ray film? NO PROBLEM! We’ll use TWO films and bill the insurance company or Medicare for it, and then NOT say something to you about it and let you believe that it’s okay. Cheesecake Factory is a PERFECT example. Their menu is 35 pages long. Each dish is $15-20 and it’s enough to serve 3-4 people in another country. But because we’re in America, we have to eat it all ourselves. This is absurd! Don’t get me wrong, their food is tasty, but WHY does the plate have to be the size of my steering wheel and WHY does it have to be heaping with food?? What purpose does it serve? If you cut the amount of food on the plate in half, you could lower your freakin prices and maybe more people would throw away less food. Five Guys, it soaks a hole in your bag with the grease. Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pizza, clogs your arteries just looking at it. Have you ever compared the size of a Wendy’s small salad to a Wendy’s burger? It seems puny to me. Emphasis is put on children to eat right, but their parents are overweight. I can appreciate there are obese children and the government is trying to regulate proper eating habits, but why not help the adults too? I don’t think there is enough awareness of what good can come from fresh fruits and veggies.
We see examples like Honey Boo Boo and her Momma on TV and it looks acceptable to live your life like a train wreck because TLC will give you a whole show just to live your life like a freight train on fire rolling off a cliff. To some people, it justifies their lifestyle… to others it’s sheer entertainment. (I’ve been wanting to work Honey Boo Boo into one of these blogs). She’s a great example of what an uneducated, overly confident, overweight stage mom can do to a child. HBB is very cute, but at 6 years old she weighs 72 pounds and TLC is capitalizing on that. Instead of her Redbull and Mountain Dew, give the girl an apple or something. Next TLC will have HBB on a weight loss show for children…
God help the future. We’re all going to end up like the people up in space in the movie Wall-E, where our bones are miniscule compared to our fat content and we’ll all have hover chairs to get around…
Blaire's Journey 