Obesity Similarities To Alcoholism

 

Foodaholic

 

 

 

 

Why Can’t I Diet Alone

For years I always thought that I don’t need to go to weight loss meetings like Weight Watchers or O.A.
I thought I could do it with diet books or by having my meals prepared for me. Yet with week after week, the pounds went higher and higher. It was like a losing fight between me and the scale. Weight loss was a friend that I did not have.

It took most of my family and the rest were heavy so why try anymore.
Then after I got towards the end of making my film ‘Finding Thin’, I discovered that weight groups were not necessarily such a bad thing.
There would always be a sponsor or a Weight Watchers group that I could always go to.

Basically a support system that I could not find on my own. Books and DVD’s are great and certainly help but I really needed someone to help me in this lifelong battle.

Hiding from the scale because I was afraid of what it would say only made the bad news worse. The one person who could lie to me the most or come up with the best excuses was no one other than myself.
Obesity is such a hard battle with food being around you almost constantly. I sometimes compare it to an alcoholic with drinks around him all day. Then add to the fact that the alcoholic must drink in order to sustain him or herself.
Pretty tough. I think there really is some truth behind the term foodaholic.

I know that some people might get angry but obesity is a disease and nothing I have said is not true.
So to make things easier, the one thing I truly encourage is joining a Weight Watchers type group or something similar that works for you.
There will be no more hiding food away or eating secretly up in my room or car. Change can come with the help of others.

Fat People Don’t Deserve Health Insurance

This type of comment keeps getting thrown around in the news. Its as if the overweight culture has chosen to become overweight and become a finical burden on the healthcare system.
Yet with a country that is almost 65 percent overweight, that would be a ton of people to throw blame at.
I understand that the insurance companies are there to make money and nothing more but this is a disease and not a choice. For instance, who would make a choice of having Diabetes, Cancer or Heart Disease. All which eventually can lead to an early death.
Then consider the environment of all the unhealthy foods like cookies and candy available right under you pharmacy pickup counter.
How can we stand a chance.
The true way to bring down heath costs is to address this disease from every angle including education and treatment. It is ironic that you can get into almost every chemical dependency clinic for a reduced rate but never one for obesity. After all isn’t sugar a additive substance that you grow dependent on?
So why blame the wrong group of people that could use it just as much as everyone else.
I never though I would see such bigotry return these days but it seems that it is rearing it’s ugly head in many ways.

Get Up and Go

Guest Post By: Chris Steurer

 

When it comes to dieting, exercising, and just overall staying healthy, many of us would probably be classified as insane! How many times have you tried the same or very similar diets over and over again? How about the exercise routine you are doing, is it actually working and making results? Often times, we won’t even notice that we are beating ourselves up over something so silly and obvious, try something new!

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.

-Franklin Roosevelt

Our former president sums things up pretty well for us in a simple quote. The point is, it doesn’t really matter what you do, it just matters that you are doing something. If and/or when that something stops working, then try something else!

Are we to blame for our weight gain?

This is a guest post by Chris Steurer

It is so easy to take your finger and point it at someone or something else as the cause of our weight problem here in America. We could easily blame all the fast food restaurants that sit on every corner, the internet for allowing us to not have to physically be everywhere, or the fact that every check out counter is loaded with candy bars that we can’t resist as a last minute purchase.

Blame someone else, its as easy as pressing a button.

Just because we can blame almost anything for our weight problems, doesn’t make us right. We need to realize that the most responsible party for our weight control is not the fast food restaurants, the advertising, or anything else of that sort, but rather, it is ourselves that need to be held responsible.

Sure it might not be entirely your fault that you are the way you are, but you are the one who is ultimately responsible for making any changes for yourself. Your mother and father may have raised you to have poor diet and exercising habits, but as an adult, it is your responsibility to acknowledge and change those habits if you desire.

Stop placing the blame on others, and realize that if you have the time to complain about something, you probably have the time to make a change.

The Pain of Weight Loss

I emotionally eat. It was always my downfall, especially when compounded by sugar, salt, and sweets.

Unfortunately this aided my gaining weight after my truck accident years back.

I have always suffered a lot of pain from this accident, but it is increasing and I’m in need of surgery.

The big problem is that I am becoming opioid resistant-meaning that I have built up a tolerance to pain medications.

All the while, I began to transition to different eating habits thanks to my time filming the upcoming movie.

I don’t find myself turning to food to sooth my pain or give me that quick relief that fades in minutes. I’m slowly becoming less of an emotional eater.

So what does someone do when they have nowhere to turn to for an outlet?

I have heard this problem happening with weight loss surgery patients whom have yet find a different source to turn to…and usually gain back most their weight.

It is just so difficult because I am not looking to put on weight and would enjoy some weight loss. Especially before surgery.

I just refuse to do it by going on a diet. This time it really needs to be something that I can live with doing for the rest of my life.

After over 400 interviews, I finally feel like I have it figured out.

The good news is that I am recognizing that I am emotionally eating. I see that I am emotionally eating as my outlet for pain.

Most importantly, I know that I won’t go down that road.

It’s a Fight That Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard

When I lost both of my dogs last month, I went into the deepest form of depression that I have ever experienced. Luckily my friends stood by me, but there was not much they could do to help my inevitable pain. To mourn, I wanted food…

and not necessarily the good kind.

I knew if I emotionally ate, the outcome would be a reverse affect of my hard work, and I was very much willing to accept that.

In the end, the pain did subside and I only gained a couple of pounds.

I’m determined to lose that weight and that pain.

Being in control really does aid my happiness. It is great that I have finally had the chance to learn all of this by making this film. I have been given a one in a million chance to have three years of constant advice from the top diet and health gurus in the country. They are helping me fight the fight of obesity. Even through emotional obstacles, I’m still fighting the fight.

It doesn’t have to be so hard…does it?

Here’s The Skinny On Shopping, Part 1.

A Special Guest Blog By: Courtney Mueller, Co-Producer of “Finding Thin”

I love shopping. Shopping can is sometimes little addiction for me in fact.

Heading over to the department stores to check out the latest fashions and perhaps treat myself to a new shirt or pair of pants is both an adrenaline rush and a release for me. It truly is retail therapy.

But lately my therapy sessions are ending poorly.

It feels as if clothing designers are unaware or uninspired by the realistic size of the average American woman.

I’m a real woman with curves. I’m not a twig, not obese- just
regular when it comes to size. But when I’m trying clothes on, I
feel as if I’m squeezing into what my normal size should be. I’m not trying to fit into a smaller size for the vanity of a tag with a smaller number; I’m just constantly battling my standard sizes thinning down.

I wonder what Michael Kors or Diane von Furstenberg would do if they traveled the same locations as “Finding Thin” and really took note at what Americans really look like. Not everyone is a size two… let alone a size zero (what I refer to as “size non-existent”). The average American woman can’t squeeze into the unrealistic expectations that clothing designers create…

and I can assure you that she doesn’t feel beautiful when she tries.

Of course designers design for all sizes, but as soon as we reach a
select size we go from model material to plus-size clothing. There’s a reason why the racks are always full of smalls and extra smalls; the larger sizes are selling out.

Dear Designers-If all the larger sizes sell out first, doesn’t that give you an indication of what the public wants?

As for me, where is the regular? Why is there no in between?

I think everyone should occasionally indulge a little retail therapy.

Go ahead and buy that new shirt or skirt to show off whatever you are
proud of, even at that “regularly plus size”.

Maybe I need a new form of therapy.

So She Thinks She Can Dance?

 

 

A Special Guest Blog By: Courtney Mueller, Co-Producer of “Finding Thin”

The pressure was on for Natalia Mallory. 18-year-old Natalia and her sister Sasha made it through the first round of auditions and headed to Las Vegas to compete on the television show, “So You Think You Can Dance?. For their primary
and perhaps most important audition the sisters performed a duet.

Upon initial review, you wouldn’t think these two were actual sisters.

Sasha Mallory was thin, very fit, and had a traditional dancer’s body. She represented the energy and beauty that an audience has come to expect from a dancer.

But Natalia was not typical. She was tall and stocky with a big personality. She was the bigger sister. She was the bigger dancer.

Her size was further emphasized when she had to switch partners- the first, more slight partner could not lift her during a jive routine.  Natalia persevered with the grace and smile her audience had already come to expect of her.

After the jive, Natalia became dizzy, felt chills, and ended up being
hospitalized for blood sugar issues.  Instead of speculating about whether or not her size played a role in her health problems, her fans just rooted for a quick recovery.

She rallied, and came back to the auditions where she performed once more before the next cut.

It was down to the last dance. Her sister had already made it, but
Natalia’s future was at stake and the odds were stacked against her. She was
already being compared to her sister as well as the rest of the traditional dancers.

The truth is, Natalia was more than just your typical dancer. She was
bigger in size, but she was fit, talented, and had an essence that
captured the music and the hearts of the judges and fans. She broke barriers. She broke the stereotype of what a dancer looks like.

Natalia showed that a larger sized woman can dance just as well as the skinny willowy girls we’re used to seeing.  She showed there was more to performing than a dancer’s body type.

She made it through to the next round.

We look at people like Natalie and are often quick to judge. We think
they are overweight instead of built. We think they are weak instead
of strong. We think the thin dancer has more talent than the thick
one. We judge the book by its cover.

Surely Natalie doesn’t look like the typical dancer; but her strong
technique, passion, and talent speaks for itself. Forget the cover,
open up the book and read the pages.

The first chapter title reads: Real Women Can Dance Too.

Emotional Eating

This is a guest post by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., author of “The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person” and President of Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research.

Chronic dieters often have beliefs about emotional distress and eating that interfere with losing weight or keeping it off. They express the ideas in the following ways: “If I’m upset, the only way I can calm down is by eating.” “If I’m upset, I deserve to eat.”

Are you an emotional eater?

To address the first idea, I ask dieters about people they know who don’t have a weight problem. What do they do when they’re upset? Dieters frequently feel stymied–they simply don’t know. After polling hundreds of people, I’ve found that people who don’t struggle with their weight do lots of things when they’re upset: they try to solve the problem that is leading to distress, call a friend, take a walk, tolerate the feeling and return to whatever they were doing, practice relaxation or mindfulness exercises–or they distract themselves (surf the web, write emails, play a video game, do a puzzle, listen to soothing music). This group has a different idea about emotional distress: that it is temporary, normal, tolerable, and will diminish.

To address the second idea, “If I’m upset, I deserve to eat,” I get across the message that dieters deserve to feel better but that eating will only give them temporary relief. Once the food is gone, they’ll still have the initial problem that led to distress plus they’ll feel badly about having overeaten. I help them see that they have a choice: They can eat whenever they’re upset (and fail to lose weight or keep it off) or they can tolerate their distress or actively work toward reducing their distress in other ways (which greatly increases the probability that they will lose weight and maintain their weight loss).

I then work with dieters to create a list of compelling activities they can engage in when they’re upset and they quickly find out that they can self soothe in other ways. Many of these activities are described in the newsletters and blogs at www.beckdietsolution.org.