Obesity Is A Multifactorial Problem

The numbers are staggering as to how many obese people,including children, there are in this country. Just as staggering is the amount of health care dollars that are spent on obesity related illnesses. But what I find most alarming is the ignorance and cruelty directed at those of us carrying extra weight. Obesity is one of the last acceptable prejudices left in this country.

I have heard doctors after examining a patient say "if I ever get that fat, I want my husband to shoot me!". I have heard health care workers laugh at a patient about how fat they were. Yet in the same breath, they wonder why the patient hasn't had a health care visit in years. A woman left our office the other day saying, "He doesn't care about my abnormal cells, but he had no problem lecturing me about my weight for twenty minutes. I waited two hours for that.". It is upsetting to hear these comments and I am ashamed to say that in my lighter days, that I have participated in them. These same medical professionals have several glasses of wine every evening to unwind. Well, I have ice cream to unwind. Does that make me any different? Kindness and attempting to understand how people got to be overweight may be a better approach than lecturing and making fun of them.

On Facebook, someone this week wrote the answer to obesity is to close down all Drive Thrus such as McDonalds and Burger King. He went on to add that it was lazy mothers who didn't care about the crap they were feeding their children that were the target of his comment. Another stated that all parking spots should be 1/4 mile away from the destination because "fat asses don't like to walk". These were adults and I'm going to assume they were educated adults. I may not know the answer to the problem, but I promise you that name calling and ignorance is NOT the answer. I wonder if it's fear on their part that causes the cruelty, fear that it may be them. I understand that. My whole life, my biggest fear is that I would be fat. Well here I am and it's hard.

I was called "fatso" by a man this week. It was devastating. He was of the opinion that fat people should just go away because it was awful to look at us. Let me for a minute to share some truths with you. It's hard to be overweight. Sometimes it's physicall painful. It's hard to move and we get hot easily. We have feelings. We are not stupid, ignorant or lazy. We are intelligent, lovable, worthy people. It's not about lack of willpower. Most of us have lost weight before, just to put it back on. We are just like you, but we weigh more. We need love and acceptance just like everyone else. Research has shown us that most diets don't work and a huge percentage of people put the weight back on. We want to be healthy. We don't want to be obese or even worse morbidly obese.

Does the food industry have a role in this? Certainly we can trace obesity through history. Times have changed and people don't work as physically hard as they used to. The food industry has also evolved. Yes, I am responsible for putting food in my mouth. Much of the responsibility lies within me, but the food industry holds some blame as well. In The End of Overeating, a book by Dr. David Kessler, it explains how the food industry has changed the chemistry of food and what it does to our brains. It explains why it is so difficult to resist certain foods. The trio of sweet,salty and fat in the composition of food is in many times manipulated by the manufacturers to make it hard to eat for only satisfaction and not over indulgence. When we over indulge on food, they make money. It's a book worth reading. The answer, in my mind, is to stick to whole foods that come from the earth. Easier said then done.

Food is my addiction and I have fallen off the wagon. I am struggling and forgiveness for myself is hard to find. I am not a bad person. There are lessons to be learned here, but mentally I am struggling and am having trouble locating the lessons. Cruelty and name calling hasn't helped, nor will it help the millions of Americans just like me. Be kind.