Fattest Country in the World: Are We There Yet?

Oh we are already there. My friend who's over 350 pounds has high cholesterol, diebetes and high blood pressure and despite all the medication he has to take, he still wolfed down cheese covered garlic bread, a medium stuffed-crust pizza and 2 big glasses of pop in less time it took me to eat my little piece of cake (I'm no better, I'm still overweight, just not with severe health problems (yet! )) I still maintain that however much publicity the fast-food chains dish out, I'm still the one that makes the decision to get that burger instead of getting a healthier meal. I think responsibility falls on both sides.

Jeliel,

See now that's what I truly cannot wrap my head around... someone who weighs 350 pounds and continues to pound down the food like that. If that's not self-destructive/self-loathing behavior, I don't know what is...

Vic

Well there is self destructive behavior for sure but there are many other factors. The beauty of causality is that everything is linked together and theres never one factor, but myriad factors all interwoven.

Studies have shown that fat people, like me or my friend who can't seem to stop stuffing his face even when he can't even breathe properly because he's eaten so much, have this dopamine dysfunction. Where as simply thinking of a juicy cheese burger releases the same pleasure dopamines as if he had eaten it for real. This dopamine floods your frontal cortex, which is where reasonning is conducted. So now your reasoning is basicaly disabled, so despite any logical argument you can give yourself, your brain is high on it's own chemicals and you will go get that burger no matter what happens.

Wether this is a proven fact or not, I know that I've been completly taken down by food-rages. Even as I took the food from the fridge, all the while telling myself I shouldn't, this is bad... I still take the food and eat away. I'm getting it under control, but it's a never ending fight. Will power is needed, but this problem goes beyond simple will power.

It's an addiction exactly like those who are addicted to modern recreational chemistry or alcohol. The big difference from addicts to alcohol or drugs, is that we can't go without food, no one can.

And like most addictions, it's root is emotionnal distress. Must get to the root. I may never, but the closer I get to it, the better I get at reasonning and controling myself. When I say fat people are unhappy no matter what they say to the contrary, because they got fat because of emotionnal distress, or self-loathing like you say.

Jeliel, I appreciate your sharing your insights. The thing that makes me not go along with the physiological or emotional argument for most people is the insanely high percentage of people that are obese.

If it was maybe, I don't know... 5% of the population, I might buy it on that scale. But I refuse to believe that 2 out of 3 people in the U.S. have a medical reason for overeating.

Either that or it's one of the biggest (no pun) conspiracies in history by the food industry.

Vic

more than 1 out of 6 people are affected by CLINICAL depression (16%). And that's just one clinical "neurosis" out of so many.

But like I said, there is myriad causes for people to be behaving the way they do. The Fast Food industry isn't the only one to take blame. THeres conditionning,culture and social status (for example Native Americans tend to have greater numbers of obese people, than whites, and poor people in general still get bigger numbers.) There's the environment. Why is Houston the fattest city in the world? Are there more TV commercials in Houston? More McDonalds in Houston? Why aren't Canadians fatter than Americans ? (yet my northern culinary heritage is flooded with very fatty foods, pretty helpfull for adapting to the cold, but in the modern world it's pointless) Why do the French eat like freaking pigs and not get fat and suffer from heart conditions? Same for Italians (As a French Canadian with Italian ties, I've got some insight into those cultures). Theres also the increasing sedanterism (sp?) plaguing our culture(s).

But in the end, it is the mind that decides. Only you can chose to not to eat the food. Wether your brain is flooded by mediatic input or flooded by dopamine. It's the mind that controls what you do in life.

And I looked at your pictures and you are one of those people that can easily irritate me when it comes to weight issues. Not because of you the person, but because you werent morbidly obese, simply had some flab on ya. It irritates me when people in my surrounding say how hard it is to lose 5 pounds. I got 75 more pounds to lose, just so I can get to my target of 200 which still is a bit chunky for my 6 foot big boned frame. I'd be elated and spotting myself in the mirror all day if I looked like your before picture. You just needed some toning-up. I got a metabolism so slow that just looking at a bag of chips causes me to gain 2 pounds.

But you did some great toning up anyway. Nice work. And though we might disagree, I still find your blog an interesting read on obesity. And I take all the info I can to help me.

Jeliel,

First, thanks for continuing to make this a reasoned discussion.

I will grant you that I don't have a predisposition to being overweight, but don't think for a moment that if I didn't eat like your buddy that I wouldn't blow up like a ballon. Especially now that I'm the ripe old age of 44.

As far as the French and Italians, I think it comes down to portion size. Go over to Europe (I've been there) and you'll find that food and drink portions are a fraction of the size they are in the U.S. If you order dessert, you get a portion the size of MAYBE the palm of your hand, not as big as your head!

I know it can be easy to slip into a bad eating lifestyle, and I think that probably a lot of the emotional issues that come with being overweight come from the types of foods that are being eaten. We had company come stay with us recently and there was lots of junk food in the house that we normally do NOT keep around. I wasn't the king of self-control... I ate my fair share while it was here, and believe me it was not easy to get adjusted back to not eating that type of food.

Maybe my saving grace has been vanity... I've just never liked how I look with a paunch, and when I hit a certain point something kicks into gear in my head saying "that's far enough".

Have you ever heard of the "Body for Life" program? That's what first kicked me in the pants with the idea that I could look "buff" again, and the ranks of folks who have lost weight with that program are replete with people who had as much weight to lose as your (or even your friend!).

It *can* be done, bud... the most famous example I can think of is: Oprah. She nails it on the head when she says that it has to be a DECISION. Until someone decides that they've had it and they're going to do this, it ain't gonna happen.

It's not easy, especially at the beginning and it takes willpower and persistance which most people don't want to suffer through. Why else would the "diet pill" market thrive so well? I especially love their latest pitch: "It's not your fault."

Here's a link to Body for Life.

If you'd like to talk more offline, email me at vic @ last10pounds.com.

Best,

Vic

Good comments. As someone who was once at least 40 lbs overweight and heading upwards, I have some experience. Jeliel is accurate in describing the addiction of junk foods. The only way I found to combat it is to 1. give it up all together,2. replace it with super nutritious foods, and (what I think is extremely imporant) make sure to get the hormone system balanced and the proper supplementation into effect. (I read on a health website once that the bacteria in our guts can actually drive our cravings.) As you said, it is a DECISION. The decision must be to eat LIVING foods, supplement with good quality products, and MOVE.
I really got better at it when I went to an alternative nutritional pratitioner to test and remedy all my hormone imbalances, including thyroid, adrenal, and estrogen/progesterone, as well as measure the vitamin, mineral, and toxic metal levels. Once that was all balanced I was more energetic and more clear headed, and had better focus. Then I began incorporating quality living foods (with the enzymes intact) into my diet. (One of the things the Europeans and other countries eat more of is living foods, with living enzymes, and less processed foods with dead enzymes). Then I made sure I ate some fruit or organic yogurt (hormone free) every 2 hours to keep my blood sugar levels even. Then I make sure I exercise at least 5 days a week. I slip in 1/2 hour power walking every work day by walking 15 min in the a.m. and same in the p.m. That assures me of 2.5 hours and 10 miles of walking every week. While I walk I do upper body presses with 1 lb weights.

I just added or subtracted little things into my daily routine (no drastic changes all at once) and now am able to control my weight and health.
Regards, Britta

I never had a predisposition to being overweight, but that's exactly what happened to me in my mid to late 20's. There were two reasons for that: I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and I never exercised. At my worst, I was about 210 lbs., which is really bad, even for my height of six feet. Only when I started exercising on a regular basis (and I'm talking INTENSE exercise) and counting calories did I really start dropping the pounds. I'm currently at 164 lbs., but I'm still on a weight-loss program because I want to get my body fat down below 10%. (It's currently at 16%.) As others have said here, it has to be a lifestyle change if it's going to succeed long-term.

Brian

Yup. It's a conscious decision, like stepping across a line. Until you do that, I don't think it's gonna happen.

Vic