I Refuse To Die From Obesity

 

 

Recently I faced my own mortality after a long ten day stay in the hospital for emergency back surgery.

Prior to this, I had gone through the worst pain I ever felt in a lifetime since being in a terrible auto accident.

That particular incident changed me and began my quest for the magic bullet to weight loss.

I had gained a ton of weight since my journey began and my life was not my own anymore. My life had been in a tale spin of pain and loss since. My aunt, uncle and two cousins died as they succumbed to the effects from obesity. Being obese made my surgery and ambulance trip to the hospital a very dangerous and arduous one.

Luckily, this has given me the chance to finally understand being overweight was the most debilitating thing in my life.

Something that had to be changed.

There are groups out there that push for fat acceptance. After all the massive pain, infection and long recovery… I will not accept or allow obesity to rule my life anymore.

Surgery at my weight was so much more of a risk. My recovery time is at least three times longer as it is hampered by my larger weight.

Now I have been given the chance to finally see clearer. I have developed the new ability to rationalize between my hunger and what bad food choices will lead to further pain.

I want to live a life free of the debilitating effects that obesity brings. It has renewed my dedication to fighting it.

Don’t give into the life that does not have to be. Take today and this moment to join myself and others as we refuse to settle for obesity.

 

White House Doctor Fears Governor Christie Will Die In Office

White House Doctor Feels Chris Christie Would Die In Office

 

Connie Marino, former White House M.D. and want to be television personality feels that Governor Chris Christie could die in office. Especially if he was to one day become president. So how could he be deemed fit to run the state of New Jersey. It is widely perceived by some that anyone who was obese in this country should never be allowed to hold a position of any importance. They are not only a physical threat but also less intelligent and not equal in any way. Yet millions of Americans do so every day. 

From doctors to lawyers to the people flying your planes… People hold these positions of importance and power and nothing seems to go wrong. 

Politics aside, this is a issue of common sense and dignity. One that a certain doctor is trying to strip away from Governor Christie for her own publicity.

Heavy people for years have been looked at with false stigmas. They are never been held in the same regards as their counter parts.

There are very few state laws that protect the obese from being discriminated against or even terminated in the work place.

In Texas, one hospital will not hire people they consider to be overweight. According to their rules, if a five foot ten inch man who weighs 245 pounds wants employment, no job is offered. That is not that big for a man that tall. If a five foot two inch woman weighs over 195 pounds, she is history as well.

Only one state and six cities will protect the obese from discrimination in the work place.

Ironically, New Jersey is not one of them. 

Yet this Governor is beloved by not only most of his state but much of this country. So much so that he is now considered a very big 2016 contender for the White House. 

So Chris Christie goes to show that the protections are needed for the obese.

Especially if he is to be rewarded the same protections he well deserves.

If there was anyone that I would want to represent the overweight population of this great country, it is Governor Christie. A family man who tries his best and has just as much intelligence as anyone else. This man is just part of a group of overweight Americans who now make up the majority.

I know plenty of thin people who suffer from illnesses every day and may be in the same risk group in similar ways. 

Is Governor Christie in need of losing weight? Certainly… Just as the majority of Americans need to do so. Though this has to be his decision and in no way impacts his job  performance in New Jersey or the White House. Take a look at former Governor and one time presidential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

He took off a great amount of weight and helped lead his state on to the road to battling obesity with several new initiatives. Years later he put back on some of the weight but it made him no less healthy or fit to run a state or even the country.

So the next time a doctor or someone of importance tries to make you feel inferior or at risk, ask them to take a physical themselves.

After all, these people may be in a position of great importance in you life and should show you the same respect.

 

Why Weight Loss Winners Are Dying To Succeed

Why Weight Loss Winners Will Die

 

Over the years, I have seen many people on television shows and covers of magazines boasting the loss of hundreds of pounds so quickly. From celebrities to the reality and game show champions. Then in a matter of a few years they disappear from the limelight.  Weforget about them or they hope we will and turn our attention to the next biggest loser. 

Yet this happens for a reason and to most of those major weight loss winners.

The truth to why is a answer that is probably not the one you want to hear. The majority of them have put the weight back on just as quickly.

Not only that but a fraction of them have actually died from the shock that the sudden weight loss has done to their body’s.

My own uncle was a victim of the same fate. Quick weight loss and then even greater regain of the weight. 

My biggest fear is that this could happen to myself. I have done the same thing a couple of times. Haven’t we all.

What is even more frightening is that medical studies now show that it can be sometimes healthier to maintain the same body weight then it is to take it off at such a fast pace.

The shock of the massive yo-yo dieting and weight loss is so hard on the body it is sometimessomething that you can not come back from no matter how good you now look.

So as we celebrate the major fast and somewhat deceivingly successful weight loss stories this time of the year, please take them with a grain of salt.

Instead, take a look at at the success stories from five or more years ago and see what they are up or down to on the scale.If they have been able to maintain most of the weight loss that long, this points to success stories that you will want to emulate.

Slow and steady wins the race everyday to for true longtime health and weight loss. 

 

Paula Deen’s Butter Flavored Career Is Over

Paula Deen’s Butter Flavored Career Is Over

Deen recently came forward revealing that she has diabetes.

Coincidentally at the same time of her new endorsement deal with a very reputable diabetic testing company.

Is this the financial reward for revealing that she has this terrible condition. Does Paula deserve the great acknowledgment for making the revelation after years of promoting butter and other fattening foods.

I don’t remember moderation ever discussed every week and now Paula has the price to pay for it.

What about all the overweight fans that have to rethink how they cook now that Paula has seen the light.

How many years of damage has Paula done to her body with those tasty recommendations?

Maybe a disclaimer or warning should have been put before each show.

How can Paula Deen be the new weight loss champion? Why should we listen to someone who was in denial for so many years while she preached questionable recipes.

Should Paula Deen have to take responsibility to her legion of supporters and fans?

It’s one thing to be a overweight person or celeb who suddenly loses weight and wants to help others.

It is quite another to totally ignore it and preach the great use of butter in ones food.

I woke up one morning overweight and diabetic. Does that make me a great spokesperson or hero for change.

I would like to hear Paula Deen apologize and admit that she was flat wrong.

Let Paula actually take responsibility for her own actions and any way that it might have negatively effected other peoples lives.

Why should we put this nice lady back on the air until she does.

Shouldn’t there be laws to protect us from bad advice? Or is it just pure entertainment at the cost of we, the overweight fans that watch her.

On a side note, I do like butter and think it does have a place in peoples diet. Just in moderation as everything else.

Paula, your a very nice person and fun to watch on the television. Just don’t preach what you knew was bad advice all these years and now expect me to applaud your admission.

I want good nutritional cooking advice from someone not making a profit from her own mistakes.

Oops, I forgot this is most of todays reality weight loss and cooking shows.

The New Coma Diet Arrives

The New Coma Diet

 

 

 

I know what your thinking as you read this. Is he out of his mind? It may sound insane but I think I might have found a method to take off those unwanted pounds.

 

If I could just go into a temporary induced coma, I could easily deal with food.

 

There would be no way I would have to be bombarded by the slew of television commercials pushing pizza, burgers and cookies.  I wouldn’t have to drive by the more then fifty restaurants calling my name on my drive home. There wouldn’t even be those temptations brought in by my fellow co-workers with donuts or other goodies every workday. I wouldn’t even have to exercise as hopefully someone would do that for me. 

 

So within three to six months after being in a coma, I should theoretically be thin again. 

 

This all sounded pretty appealing to me. Maybe I just helped to conceive the latest and greatest new diet fad.

 

Well after thinking it out, I began to see the other side to this ridiculous idea. Coming out of my coma would require weeks of rough physical therapy. Possible brain damage  and worse of all, things would be no different.  I would have to face all of the eating problems that bombarded me to begin with all over again. Like some cruel and ironic joke, the weight would come back on faster then I took it off. 

 

So where is the escape. I just can’t get away from it all. 

 

Unless I turn off the TV, shut down my computer, put away my smart phone and stop driving my car… I will never be able to escape this mess. 

 

This is why I am searching for new methods to help me come to terms with the reality and culture that surrounds me today.  

 

There must be something that I can change or do. 

 

There is gastric bypass surgery, then the gastric band and even deep brain stimulation surgery going on now. Certainly none of those are looked at as extreme anymore, are they?

 

What actions could I take that would actually make a difference. 

 

There must be better and less drastic methods then any of these.

 

Well much to my prayer and surprise, It turns out there were a good number of them available to me now. 

 

While I can’t change my surroundings, I can start to adapt. The first thing I changed was to not eat while watching television or surfing the web. This gave me a chance to actually taste my meal and remember it later on so I could feel satisfied and full. 

 

The next thing I did was to go pull up the nutritional menu online of some of those many  restaurants I frequent. They all make it easy to find this information and it’s pretty shocking. Not only are some foods crazy in calories but others aren’t all that bad. This would give me a chance to make the best plan of attack next time I stop there and lets not kid ourself… I will stop there. Eating at home everyday can be a bit boring. Food is entertainment these days and I want to learn to be a good critic. 

 

The next task was to find a great support group like Weight Watchers or Over Eaters Anonymous.  That will help me work within the current environment I am surrounded by. Weight Watchers has the greatest new program of all with their 360 change.

 

The last thing I would promise myself is not to try and rush the weight loss. Every time that has happen before, I ended up putting back on all the pounds and more. Most of it faster then I lost it. 

 

So it appears that right now for me, the coma diet is not going to be needed at all. Food does not need to be the enemy. 

 

Just as long as a good plan of attack is in place to help me get through the rough times and current environment we live in within today.

 

 

 

 

The 99 Cent Fast Food Diet

The 99 Cent Fast Food Diet That Works

Yes You Can!

 

Over the last decade, I have heard so many things against the so called 99 cent meals. Fast food was terrible for you and the cause of my obesity. It must be taken off my list of choices to stop at and I would be banished to eating at home for the rest of my life.

Yet now that I am on Weight Watchers, I am told I can eat anything I want. Just with a more informed take on things.

At first I thought they were just telling me what I wanted to hear. Boy was I pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I just need to understand how it all plays into my health and daily intake.

So after venturing over to my local Wendy’s, I looked at what choices I did have for 99 cents.

There were frosty’s and some other questionable items. Yet there were also baked potatoes, chili and broiled chicken sandwiches. Really good tasting. They even listed the calories on the menu for most items and gave me great suggestions.

I had always thought that information was supposed to be hidden in the dark cellars or bank vaults for no one to ever see. Fast food was supposed to be evil and I should not ever go near it. Yet with so many different selections, I could now pick a heck of a lot of cheaper foods and still make tasty decisions that won’t come back to haunt me. Sort of like a whole bunch of other decisions in my life I made but came to regret. That is a time for another story though.

Yet how could this be. I thought I was going to have to eat at home forever like a hermit. That or find a expensive restaurant that would prepare the meals exactly the way I wanted.

Boy was I pleasantly wrong.

I was now able to eat and feel no guilt while being able to save some well needed money. In this economy that was a bargain.

So where were the pounds. How could a baked potato with cheese, a grilled chicken sandwich and a small chili keep me thin?

Fast food restaurants were supposed to make me fat. They were the ones pushing all those double hamburgers and fries down my throat. Or were they?

When I went to order, I had choices on the menu from a whole bunch of different good foods. Most with the calories listed right there for me to see and nobody was screaming at me to buy them.

So after telling myself I could go there without fear, I have visited a few more times in the last week and find it so much easier to buy what I want without any terrible guilt or temptation.

I actually enjoyed the grilled chicken. There were great other like caesar wraps and other salads as well.

It was just choosing to have one, not the three or four I used to order. I saw thin people making those choices as well and I know they are not all that different from me. They are not starving to death and look pretty happy.

Suddenly I was eating like a normal person without any fear of gaining weight. I did not feel hungry and was starting to lose weight. Taking off those pounds that were making me feel so sick all these years was the greatest feeling of success.

I began to understand that it was not fast food restaurants that were making me fat. It was not even the grocery stores that put the bakery in the front of the store or even all those yummy commercials for the newest sugary deserts or cereals on television.

All I had to do was eat what were some reasonable choices made with some guidance. For me it was the Weight Watchers 360 program that helped open my eyes. Yet there are other programs for people that might want something different. I am a fan of over eaters anonymous or personal therapists to figure out more about why I make some of the choices that I do.

I was so much happier that I no longer had to cary any disdain or avoid every fast food restaurant I see from my car.

It was all about what my choices and what to order when I was there. I was the one with the power to make my own choices. Diet communism was over!

I even found that if the calories were not present, they had them behind the counter or online. Either way, pretty easy access. Some states now even require fast food restaurants to list the calories right up there for all to see.

So the list of the blame game becomes one major step less, as the 99 cent weight loss plan began to work.

I love choices and now have so many more.

Weight Watchers Takes A New Turn

The 360 Plan

Has Weight Watchers Taken A New Turn

For many years I was a on and off member of Weight Watchers.

While I thought the program made sense, I was not a very big fan of it’s maintenance program. I had lost well over two hundred pounds with Weight Watchers and was never happier.

As I finally met my goal weight though, I felt that like there was not a substantial enough plan in place to keep it off. I had not learned to change my life and I was not happy.

So I quit going. My immediate thoughts were to blame the company and go it alone.

Then even more pounds came back and I went in search of another magic cure. Some time later now, I heard all about Weight Watchers new 360 program.

My first thought was here we go again. Just another company playing another profit game.  After all, they just changed their program a year or so ago.

Yet to my total shock, there really were extensive changes. Many of them concentrating on more then just food and weight loss. Instead it was fantastic and easy techniques to give me a better chance at succeeding. All this without having to resort to my old school thoughts about dieting and the constant obsession with taking off the pounds regardless of my health. Could there actually be ways to deal with our horrifying food environment we are surrounded by every day?

What shocked me the most though was that I was greeted at the door by the group leader named Matt Karres. This is a man that was so similar to myself in his old weight that I could immediately relate.  He had once been over five hundred pounds and lost all the weight he needed to.

He showed me the the utmost compassion and interest. I had even brought my mother with and he treated her like she was his own. Bravo!

As I sat through the meeting, one thing struck me. Matt did not hawk any Weight Watchers products or make me feel obligated to buy anything. Later on I curiously asked Matt how he could even earn a salary doing this. The theory always was is if you push they will buy. Well that theory needs new thinking. Curiously, Matt has the highest sales of anyone in his center.

So what could be his trick. Does Weight Watchers have a secret plan. Do they own some unknown candy or cookie company like many other so called weight loss centers? Are they putting diet pills in the water? Absolutely not. There was no ulterior motive. Just the task and desire to help people help themselves.

It was just a admirable company with a goal and compassion towards helping others.

I will admit that the fees for this group can sometimes be scary at first and that bothered me.

Why should I pay out another weight loss company. These are difficult times. What do I have to gain.

Well ironically, other then a new much happier way of life, the amount of money I saved in eating out more then payed for the group fees. It actually tripled my savings.

I just needed to look at the bigger picture.

When I left that day, I was so inspired and more then relieved.

I knew that the company had made great changes with C.E.O. David Kirchoff.

There was a new level of hope from a company that I could have easily tried to bundle into a group with many others.

This was the first time that I knew that I was making a investment in myself.

Great work Weight Watchers and Mr. Krichoff as you have brought me along for the greatest 360 in my life. There is new hope after all.

Seekers Looking For Weight Loss Doomed To Put Back Pounds On Forever

I have been trying to lose weight for years. Up and down hundreds of pounds. There have been many tries and never any long term success.

At first, the thrill is like no other and I am everyones hero.

Then the weight starts to creep back on along with all the excuses that come with it.  I begin the ritual of self blame and feelings of no self worth.

I have been though this a dozen times. Up and down hundreds of pounds but who’s counting.

Now it’s January and a new year. The typical big business season for diet and weight loss groups. and products. There is always the new diet we have been waiting for or the different variation on whats already out. All offering that great new approach to take those unwanted pounds off.

I am just curious as to what happened to last years new and improved plans.

Yet even with the all these great new introductions, the only loss that I maintain is from my wallet.

There is no medical cure known to date and the country is getting heavier ever day. In fact, it is spreading to other nations faster then any war in history.

So is it my fault? Am I just weak and worthless. Where is that cure I was promised. These weight loss companies are supposedly there to help me. I know that I visit them all many times. Yet each costing me more and more.  It’s like that bad friend or relative that you know is going to have their hand out each time you see them.  Almost every person struggling with taking off the pounds usually returns to those same companies year after year. With record profits and a unbelievable number of newly minted obese, what is going on.

Could obesity be the great new business. The one in which long term weight loss equals a massive business failure.

Take a look at the owner of the famous ‘Heart Attack Grill’ restaurant in Las Vegas. He actually used to own part of a weight loss franchise. He is not a bad guy but woke up one morning and made a very different decision in his approach to the battle of the bulge.

While shooting ‘Finding Thin’, I was lucky enough to have met him and and many other fine scholars and celebrities. I was hoping they would have the answers and I did find some. Many in places you would not expect.

So if spending thousands on weight loss, there must be a group of people out there not seeking profits. It can’t only about be about the books, games shows, and weight loss products?

There is still hope out there. I just no longer agree to pay for it. There is a way to perceiver.

I know we all can.

So I suggest the goal for this year should be to profit on our own weight loss and successes whatever they may be.

Lets take off those pounds in a way that makes sense and does not take us for anymore money.

Surely there must be weight loss methods that don’t cost a fortune. If it doesn’t cost much to gain weight, then there must be a way to take take it off for just as little.

 

The End of Weight Loss And Diet As We Know It

By Barry Roskin Blake

With the frightening statistics just announced that we are only just a little bit away from the majority of the country being overweight and over forty percent obese, it seems like the end is near.

Just a decade ago we really started to wake up and push films and initiatives in school and at home to change things. Michelle Obama even started that garden in her back yard in Washington. So what the heck happened? Is it some sort of conspiracy, a way to make more jobs or just plain bad luck? I mean there has to be somebody to blame doesn’t there? In every good story you have the hero and his nemesis. Yet people are dying every day. I just lost my youngest cousin who was a year younger then me at age forty or so. She had become very large, had a diabetic stroke and died a day later.

Is this the future that we all have to look forward too? This disease has taken the majority of the family I love. Most of my friends who are overweight suffer from illnesses that are all either caused or contributed to by obesity. There are resources out there and that do present hope. I just think we are letting time pass us by and not getting down to the root of why we are all having this happen to us.  The thing I am tired of is hearing everyday is that someone who has taken off two hundred pounds in six months and has the answer. I hate to say it, but you’re part of the problem. Chances are in another year or less you will have put the weight back on and more. It is not that I am jealous, it is the sad fact that 98 percent of people who go on these type of diets will fail. Those are undeniable facts.

We as a people have to look at the situation very differently.  Our responsibility has to be to our own health first. Then we can focus on the ones we love or who will look out after them. It is time for a change and I am not sure that there is one particular answer. Yet, if we do not try, just imagine what the next twenty years can bring back. Maybe a]we’re heading back to a time when the average lifespan was fifty. We are a great body of people and together, I’m sure we can find our way.  It may be time to stop depending on the experts alone and start depending on each other.  I welcome everyone’s thought and feedback at such a crucial time.

Thanks for checking in,

Barry

New Diet Pills: Our Friend or Enemy?

Well here we go again. It’s been a decade or so since the last medical fiasco with diet pills. One went off the market and one is still around. Yet people in our country are getting heavier with each passing second. I should know.  I’m one of those people.

Now comes the FDA’s probable approval of another new diet pill. This new one is a mix of two older drugs put together to give you a nice kick-start. Yet what happens after the first few months? Will all my temptations be gone? Will they stop all those yummy looking food commercials and take away all the cookies and ice cream from the end of the store isles?  The answer is, no way! So then what is going to be different this time?

If I am no longer hungry, will I never want another pizza or piece of cake for dessert?  Will I stop eating out of emotion or stalking the kitchen at night? I really don’t see any indications that this is going to help me think any differently. Just because you tie my mouth closed, staple my stomach, or make me very feel ill if I eat too much, does not mean that I will start feeling differently towards those foods. Its almost as bad as sending someone for aversion therapy. It has never been shown to be effective and it is just cruel torture. Our country has to stop looking at ways to control our hunger and instead control the much bigger problem. Obesity is crawling up the front lawns of almost half our country.

Think about all your friends and family. Is there anyone in that group who could stand to lose some weight?  Is it more then one person?  It’s time to find a cure. So I encourage anyone considering diet pills to think long term about how you will feel if it does not work out. All of the money you will have spent and the many side effects to probably experience for nothing, just makes me wonder if it’s even worth going through.

Lets not rely on a magical cure and instead stick together to help each other. That’s where hope begins and the cure starts to arise.

-Barry