Obesity in the "Body" of Christ

[blessedtoo]

I do have to second the poster who said that the Greeks and Italians eat everything, but moderately, with my experience in France. We were served the most delicious array of food (and much of it NOT low-calorie, though none of it was “junk”), but in small-to-American-eyes portions. However, it was so good, that we took our time savoring it and the portions were enough.

A good lesson to relearn.

So maybe if one wanted to bring their priest (or friends, family, or co-workers) a tasty treat, a small but delicious item would be a good choice.

I love to bake on Sunday afternoons, and being only one person, I will often bring things to work on Monday. I have one friend at work who is watching his food intake for health reasons. So, for instance, I will give him a 1/4 of a slice – more just a bite – of banana bread, rather than a chunk, to have with his coffee.

Now if I can learn to do that for myself!!

Francesca

Such a great post. Yes, Europeans (until the invasion of American fast food) take time with their food. They almost all cook for themselves and consider food preparation an art form. They eat at a leisurely pace, setting aside family time for dining and conversation. They pay attention to what they are eating, talk about the food, critique it and praise it. Many Americans view eating and scheduled mealtimes an interruption in their busy lives. I get extrememly distressed when I see people shovelling donuts into their mouths while driving or cramming a bagel down their throat while walking down the street and talking on the cell phone. Too busy to appreciate food. No wonder they find they are hungry an hour later. I’m surprised they can even remember they ate!

Oh boy, feeling a rant coming on…sorry.

 

[DL82]

One point that just occurred to me, if you look at a lot of priests from Eastern/Central Europe, many of them are quite large. This is also true historically of priests and religious (i.e. the fat friar stereotype) throughout Europe. The Eastern Church (and our Muslim cousins) tend to see this as a sign of health, physical and spiritual.

One reason for this is fasting. If you fast a lot, i.e. maybe 2 days a week and through the whole of Lent and Advent, particularly according to the much stricter standards of the East, your body’s starvation reaction will kick in, and the next time you eat it will store up all the fat you eat as reserves. This makes you bigger, but, interestingly, also makes you more well-equipped for longer and more rigorous fasting in future.

Ironically, the same reason crash diets don’t work could be the reason for the apparent obesity of many holy priests and religious.

 

[Sepharad]

Reading this thread about people giving priests goodies is making me feel guilty!

Years ago, we lived right down the street from an Eastern Rite Catholic parish, and I became good friends with their priest (he was very active in Jewish-Catholic ecumenical work, which is how we often met).

One Christmas I gave him a gift of bourbon-laced chocolate fudge from an order of monks who sell it (I think it was Gethsemani). This priest was on the larger side, I hope I did not create problems for him!

 

[Denae]

I have been overweight my entire life. So has my mother, grandmother, father, other grandmother on my fathers side, all my uncles, aunts and most of my cousins. I constantly ate the wrong foods and too much of it, and didn’t get much excercise. But recently, I have been trying to lose weight by eating right, portion control and lots of excercise. (Karate, walking, high cardio work outs and swimming) I have lost about ten pounds so far, and is starting to get close to needing some new jeans! I really enjoy being healthier really. My energy level is up, my self esteem is higher, and it’s getting so much easier to work out and motivate myself to eat right.

 

[Cat]

Please allow me to add my opinion to a few others: 1000 calories a day is simply not enough calories for most women. Our health club/gym suggests around 2000-2500 calories, taken in several small meals/snacks per day.

You simply to have to eat to lose weight. If you don’t eat, the body shuts down and stops burning calories. It goes into famine mode.

Also, if you eat a balanced diet that includes all your required nutrients, you will have to eat more than 1000 calories/day.

I’ll be honest, I do eat an incredibly healthy diet, with small portions of meat, lots of fresh green veges, dried fruit (I don’t like regular fruit very much, except for oranges and apples), 3 glasses of skimmed milk, etc

My big problem is sugar soda. It’s very frustrating. Everyone says, “If you stop drinking soda, you’ll lose weight.” Well, I stop drinking soda, and I stay the same weight. Oh, I might lose 10 pounds, but that’s it.

I keep telling myself, Give up the soda because it’s going to tip you over into Type II Diabetes someday. Well, so far my pancreas is handling the load of sugar. Eventually it will probably give out.

I just wish I could see inside my body and SEE that poor pancrease laboring away to produce enough insulin to process all that sugar! Maybe that would be motivation to stop drinking so much soda!

The fact is, I just have to grow up and say, “No,” as Mrs. Reagan told us to. All the psychological mumbo-jumbo aside–there comes a time when a person just has to say, “I want it very much, but I will not allow myself to have it right now.”

And I’m not at that point.

And that’s why I say that obesity is a whole lot more complicated than a lot of people claim. There are a lot of mind games going on, a lifetime of learned habits. To me, soda is the drink of the young–it recalls hot nights sitting around my parents’ farm and relaxing with my mom and a tall cold Coke. It recalls walking downtown with my teenaged friends and stopping at the Kresge’s to buy a Coke. All these pleasant things are attached to those sugar sodas. For those of you who say, Just stop it–well, is there something in YOUR life that you would have a hard time giving up? That’s the way a lot of us feel. It’s not as easy as a lot of thin people say it is.

 

[Sepharad]

CAT, Would you believe me if I told you that I am 49 years old, and have never had even one sugared soda or other sugar-added drink in my entire life? Yet I still got up to over 300 lbs at one point!

My mother raised me on a very low sugar diet (because she was on one, so she made all of us be on one too!) Consequently, I grew up with little taste for sweet things. How did I get fat years later as an adult? FRIED FOOD and too much of it! That was MY downfall.

Its different for everyone, you are right.

But one advantage I did have, and I realize it now: I was raised on “all the right things”…little sugar, diet soda when I did want soda, skim milk, lots of water to drink, whole wheat bread, brown rice, skinless chicken and turkey, cooked oatmeal with salt not sugar, etc I got away from it as an adult, BUT when I decided to go back to it, not only was it very easy, it is enjoyable. Becuase those foods that most ppl see as “yucky”, I see as comfort food.

And this all proves what King Solomon once said, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (doesn’t say he won’t depart when he is a rebellious teen or 20 something…but it does say when he is OLD(er), he will come back to it.)

 

[blessedtoo]

Please allow me to add my opinion to a few others: 1000 calories a day is simply not enough calories for most women. Our health club/gym suggests around 2000-2500 calories, taken in several small meals/snacks per day.

You simply to have to eat to lose weight. If you don’t eat, the body shuts down and stops burning calories. It goes into famine mode.

Also, if you eat a balanced diet that includes all your required nutrients, you will have to eat more than 1000 calories/day.

I’ll be honest, I do eat an incredibly healthy diet, with small portions of meat, lots of fresh green veges, dried fruit (I don’t like regular fruit very much, except for oranges and apples), 3 glasses of skimmed milk, etc

My big problem is sugar soda. It’s very frustrating. Everyone says, “If you stop drinking soda, you’ll lose weight.” Well, I stop drinking soda, and I stay the same weight. Oh, I might lose 10 pounds, but that’s it.

I keep telling myself, Give up the soda because it’s going to tip you over into Type II Diabetes someday. Well, so far my pancreas is handling the load of sugar. Eventually it will probably give out.

I just wish I could see inside my body and SEE that poor pancrease laboring away to produce enough insulin to process all that sugar! Maybe that would be motivation to stop drinking so much soda!

The fact is, I just have to grow up and say, “No,” as Mrs. Reagan told us to. All the psychological mumbo-jumbo aside–there comes a time when a person just has to say, “I want it very much, but I will not allow myself to have it right now.”

And I’m not at that point.

And that’s why I say that obesity is a whole lot more complicated than a lot of people claim. There are a lot of mind games going on, a lifetime of learned habits. To me, soda is the drink of the young–it recalls hot nights sitting around my parents’ farm and relaxing with my mom and a tall cold Coke. It recalls walking downtown with my teenaged friends and stopping at the Kresge’s to buy a Coke. All these pleasant things are attached to those sugar sodas. For those of you who say, Just stop it–well, is there something in YOUR life that you would have a hard time giving up? That’s the way a lot of us feel. It’s not as easy as a lot of thin people say it is.

Cat,
We certainly do all have our weaknesses and I agree they are usually tied to some emotional memory or feeling that makes us feel “comfort” and “calm”. I don’t think anyone on this thread has minimized the extreme struggle we ALL have with our vices. Mine is sweets - baked goods. As a pastry chef, I can pretty much whip up WHATEVER my heart desires - and I DO! But I keep the portions very, very small and give away whatever I don’t eat. The key for me is to GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE FAST.

And while this is not exactly the same as your attachment to sugar soda, I can absolutely relate to the relationship we can develop with certain foods or beverages that make us “feel” like we are younger or happier or whatever. For me, it was booze. And fortunately, I was blessed enough to be such a miserable drunk that I had to give it up.

Because of my other digestive health problems, I have had to give up many foods that I really love. Just recently, I discovered I’ve been stricken with the family curse of high cholesterol so now my very steady diet of lamb and beef must be completely overhauled.

I guess I am trying to say that everyone, at some time, reaches a point where they just have to give up those things to which they are attached. It’s the nature of our lives here on this earth. Everyone knows how hard it is and hopefully we can all find support to help us on our way!

 

[adstrinity]

…even my wife needs to lose weight.

And the, “Husband of the Year,” Award goes to…they should make these easeir to open …

I expect a great comeback: How fat is she?

This thread is depressing me. I’m gonna go eat and hopefully have a religious experience out of it.

 

[mercygate]

Reading this thread about people giving priests goodies is making me feel guilty!

Years ago, we lived right down the street from an Eastern Rite Catholic parish, and I became good friends with their priest (he was very active in Jewish-Catholic ecumenical work, which is how we often met).

One Christmas I gave him a gift of bourbon-laced chocolate fudge from an order of monks who sell it (I think it was Gethsemani). This priest was on the larger side, I hope I did not create problems for him!

Yeah. It’s Gethsemani! Yum. I was going to give it to ALL the chaplains last Christmas, but the monks told me it’s not certified Kosher . But the Catholics and Protestants had a really good time!

 

[mercygate]

Please allow me to add my opinion to a few others: 1000 calories a day is simply not enough calories for most women. Our health club/gym suggests around 2000-2500 calories, taken in several small meals/snacks per day.

You simply to have to eat to lose weight. If you don’t eat, the body shuts down and stops burning calories. It goes into famine mode.

Also, if you eat a balanced diet that includes all your required nutrients, you will have to eat more than 1000 calories/day.

I’ll be honest, I do eat an incredibly healthy diet, with small portions of meat, lots of fresh green veges, dried fruit (I don’t like regular fruit very much, except for oranges and apples), 3 glasses of skimmed milk, etc

My big problem is sugar soda. It’s very frustrating. Everyone says, “If you stop drinking soda, you’ll lose weight.” Well, I stop drinking soda, and I stay the same weight. Oh, I might lose 10 pounds, but that’s it.

I keep telling myself, Give up the soda because it’s going to tip you over into Type II Diabetes someday. Well, so far my pancreas is handling the load of sugar. Eventually it will probably give out.

I just wish I could see inside my body and SEE that poor pancrease laboring away to produce enough insulin to process all that sugar! Maybe that would be motivation to stop drinking so much soda!

The fact is, I just have to grow up and say, “No,” as Mrs. Reagan told us to. All the psychological mumbo-jumbo aside–there comes a time when a person just has to say, “I want it very much, but I will not allow myself to have it right now.”

And I’m not at that point.

And that’s why I say that obesity is a whole lot more complicated than a lot of people claim. There are a lot of mind games going on, a lifetime of learned habits. To me, soda is the drink of the young–it recalls hot nights sitting around my parents’ farm and relaxing with my mom and a tall cold Coke. It recalls walking downtown with my teenaged friends and stopping at the Kresge’s to buy a Coke. All these pleasant things are attached to those sugar sodas. For those of you who say, Just stop it–well, is there something in YOUR life that you would have a hard time giving up? That’s the way a lot of us feel. It’s not as easy as a lot of thin people say it is.

OK everybody, I’m 5’ 1" with bird bones and a sessile life style. 1200 calories – for me – is not tenable for maintaining my gracile ascetic figure. I am very healthy.

As for “saying no” – sure. You have to say no and stop whining about your poor psyche or your bad genes or your what-have-you . . . BUT I find it useful to say to myself:

I can eat anything I want. ANYTHING. I just can’t eat anything I want any time I want.

Another great help for me came from a friend who is in AA. His line is: “Maybe I’ll have a drink. . . . Tomorrow.”

As I said earlier: Never use the “D” word. Too depressing. It puts the whole thing into a "Thou shalt not . . . " mode. I would rather think of it in terms of how good I feel when I keep the blubber at bay and how much more energy I have, and (Lord, forgive me) how much better I look in those size 2 slacks!

 

[Sepharad]

Yeah. It’s Gethsemani! Yum. I was going to give it to ALL the chaplains last Christmas, but the monks told me it’s not certified Kosher . But the Catholics and Protestants had a really good time!

I didn’t know its not certified kosher; I never checked that because I knew I was buying it for a nonJew. But its good to know I can’t eat it…one less thing to tempt me!

 

[Joannm]

I am a Weight Watchers member and one of the things they say happens all the time is that people don’t use up all their daily points. For those not familiar with WW you get a certain amount of points (not calories) to eat each day depending on your weight and lifestyle. Some feel that if they eat less than the number of points each day they will lost faster, but often they don’t lose at all or even gain. A certain amount of food (here is where calories come in although we don’t count them) is necessary to keep the metabolism on even keep to facilitate the weight loss.

Also I agree with the poster who mentioned going through menopause. I originally lost 57 lbs 5 years ago but because of certain stresses in my life (I am a comfort eater) I gained 20 back. Now I am back on program (we don’t say diet) and lost 15 but it took so much longer because my hormones are playing havoc with me. I am perimenopausal (I am 54 - when will I go through menopause already) and it tool me the same amount of time to lose 10 lbs as it took to lose 20 lbs 5 years ago…and I am more active now.

The key is…and this has been stressed…portion control. On WW you can eat anything you want…just stay within the points and eat basically healthy.

 

[thomfra]

Obesity and weight loss is a lot more complicated than what many people think.

Eat less, exercise more and you’ll lose weight. It doesn’t always work that way. I wish to God it did.

Yes it does work that way. It’s called an energy balance. You must expend more calories than you take in to lose weight.

 

[SeekerJen]

Yes it does work that way. It’s called an energy balance. You must expend more calories than you take in to lose weight.

No, it doesn’t always work that way. You’re ignoring metabolic differences. People will often hit a plateau while dieting, even while continuing with the same restricted calorie level, because the body switches to starvation mode and lowers the metabolic rate. If you keep cutting intake lower and lower, eventually you’ll get over the plateau and start losing again, but then you’ve got a whole host of other problems. Then, once you’ve messed up your metabolism, it’s very difficult to reset it to normal.

 

[Sepharad]

I am a Weight Watchers member and one of the things they say happens all the time is that people don’t use up all their daily points. For those not familiar with WW you get a certain amount of points (not calories) to eat each day depending on your weight and lifestyle. Some feel that if they eat less than the number of points each day they will lost faster, but often they don’t lose at all or even gain. A certain amount of food (here is where calories come in although we don’t count them) is necessary to keep the metabolism on even keep to facilitate the weight loss.

Also I agree with the poster who mentioned going through menopause. I originally lost 57 lbs 5 years ago but because of certain stresses in my life (I am a comfort eater) I gained 20 back. Now I am back on program (we don’t say diet) and lost 15 but it took so much longer because my hormones are playing havoc with me. I am perimenopausal (I am 54 - when will I go through menopause already) and it tool me the same amount of time to lose 10 lbs as it took to lose 20 lbs 5 years ago…and I am more active now.

The key is…and this has been stressed…portion control. On WW you can eat anything you want…just stay within the points and eat basically healthy.

My mother was a chronic dieter, and she belonged to WW back in the day when they did still call it a “diet” (they stopped using the term “diet” because they have, since then, come to understand human psychology better, and they now know what I always recognized: that simply using that word subconsciously makes people think they are being deprived, and so they binge!)

“Diet” is seen nowadays as a dirty word for this reason, and even companies that are actual diets (and yes, WW is one of them) have learned not to use the “D” word. But having grown up in the 60s and 70s with a mother who was always “on Weight Watchers”, I know what the program really is. Its a major reason why I have never gone “on a diet” or joined any of those programs. Its very possible to lose fat without going “on a diet” (which includes WW)…8 years ago, I lost more than anyone I know and I kept mostly all of it off. And I did it without having to go anywhere or join anything…though I recognize that some may feel a need for something like that.

What worked for me was: eat healthily/less food, exercise more, and whatever happens, happens! I did not really set out to “lose weight”, I just wanted to be healthy and have more energy, and I made the decision 8 yrs ago that I was going to live like this for the rest of my life (hence, it was not “going on a diet”, because “going on a diet” implies you can go “off” it too!)

And for someone who never really intended to lose, I lost more than anyone I know other than maybe people who get gastric bypass.

 

[mercygate]

My mother was a chronic dieter, and she belonged to WW back in the day when they did still call it a “diet” (they stopped using the term “diet” because they have, since then, come to understand human psychology better, and they now know what I always recognized: that simply using that word subconsciously makes people think they are being deprived, and so they binge!)

“Diet” is seen nowadays as a dirty word for this reason, and even companies that are actual diets (and yes, WW is one of them) have learned not to use the “D” word. But having grown up in the 60s and 70s with a mother who was always “on Weight Watchers”, I know what the program really is. Its a major reason why I have never gone “on a diet” or joined any of those programs. Its very possible to lose fat without going “on a diet” (which includes WW)…8 years ago, I lost more than anyone I know and I kept mostly all of it off. And I did it without having to go anywhere or join anything…though I recognize that some may feel a need for something like that.

What worked for me was: eat healthily/less food, exercise more, and whatever happens, happens! I did not really set out to “lose weight”, I just wanted to be healthy and have more energy, and I made the decision 8 yrs ago that I was going to live like this for the rest of my life (hence, it was not “going on a diet”, because “going on a diet” implies you can go “off” it too!)

And for someone who never really intended to lose, I lost more than anyone I know other than maybe people who get gastric bypass.

What wisdom. Do what you know you need to do, and “whatever happens, happens!”

Feeling good. Having energy. Without “divinizing” any of this (although it certainly is consistent with living a wholesome life for the Boss), it just makes more sense to do something because you want the near-term result of being stronger and feeling better.


I’ll never forget the day I was late for work and was barging up the small hill from the parking garage toward my office and pelted through the revolving door – with no shortness of breath! Paydirt!

Sadly, I know two people who lost MORE than you but both of 'em are back WORSE than they started. One opted for gastric bypass. The other s back on a d**t. She needs to peel two hundred pounds. Again. You would think that doing it once would put enough fear into you that you would never go back again.

 

[Sepharad]

What wisdom. Do what you know you need to do, and “whatever happens, happens!”

Feeling good. Having energy. Without “divinizing” any of this (although it certainly is consistent with living a wholesome life for the Boss), it just makes more sense to do something because you want the near-term result of being stronger and feeling better.


I’ll never forget the day I was late for work and was barging up the small hill from the parking garage toward my office and pelted through the revolving door – with no shortness of breath! Paydirt!

Sadly, I know two people who lost MORE than you but both of 'em are back WORSE than they started. One opted for gastric bypass. The other s back on a d**t. She needs to peel two hundred pounds. Again. You would think that doing it once would put enough fear into you that you would never go back again.

I couldn’t help but smile broadly when I read your words about barging up the hill and having no shortness of breath…exactly my feeling since I began working out! I have to admit, I was always an active person…I was too cheap to take the bus so I walked everywhere, even when I was 300 lbs (I guess I would have weighed 500 if I had not always been a frequent walker!) I don’t drive either, which worked in my favor. But I did have shortness of breath until I lost weight, even though I always walked a lot.

I had a very revealing thing happen about 5 yrs ago when we still lived in the suburbs. I had a friend visiting from NY who was very thin, into organic food, etc…so you’d assume he was healthy, right? Well, I told him I had to go to the supermarket which was 3 miles away. He said, “How are we going to get there?” I said, “Walking!”

Halfway THERE he got totally winded and I was fine (it was 98 degrees Fahrenheit too, so I have to be fair.) But I walked all the way there and back, and of course he had to do it too. He collapsed when we got back, I was fine. Yet at the time I still weighed about 50 lbs more than he did!

What I feel good about today, is not really that I lost all that fat, but that I have more energy and am much healthier than I was years ago. To me, that is far more important than numbers on a scale.

About the people who had gastric bypass…I find that people who weigh an incredible amt (say, 400 lbs and UP) have more issues going on than just overeating…I think any dr who does a gastric bypass on someone without ALSO requiring psychiatric counseling first, is doing a great disservice. When you are that big, it needs more than just sticking a surgical bandaid over the problem.

One thing my mom used to learn at WW (back in the day when they did still call themselves a diet), was, “Often its not what you’re eating as much as what’s eating you!”

 

[Cat]

Yes it does work that way. It’s called an energy balance. You must expend more calories than you take in to lose weight.

SeekerJen already answered your post with her excellent comments about metabolism.

I’ll second what she says.

People “hold on to” calories differently, and they also store them differently. There is no magic formula. “Eat less and be more active” doesn’t work the same with everyone.

I read in Glamour Magazine about Christina Aguilera–after she had her baby, she lost her “baby weight” by working out for 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with a trainer, using a combination of 40 minutes of cardio (treadmill or elliptical), 40 minutes of weights in a circuit, and 10 minutes of stretching.

She also used a high protein diet–lean meat and no starch.

Also, the FDA recommended (in all their vast wisdom!) that we “raise the daily goal for fruit and vegetable consumption to nine servings from five, for instance, and challenge Americans who want to control their weight to get as much as 60 to 90 minutes of exercise on most days.” Here is a link to one of the articles: nytimes.com/2005/01/18/health/nutrition/18cons.html

Honestly now! How many of you with a new baby have 90minutes a day to devote to exercise?! Or even if you don’t have a new baby–how about those of you with children? Or those of you who work in a full-time job outside the home? Or those of you who are active volunteers in your parish and community?

And how many of you have enough money to spend on lean meats and no starches?–that means no mac and cheese, no spahetti, no potatoes, no rice–all the CHEAP staples that help families to stay afloat financially. How many of you could afford 9 helping of fruit and veges a day? At my workplace–a hospital–a small bowl of fresh fruit costs $1.25. A “big gulp” bag of chips costs 50 cents.

I think that one of the best things that the FDA and everyone else could do is GET REAL! We aren’t movie stars. Make some recommendations that people can actually do. Of course, the federal government is pretty good at promoting fantasy land, aren’t they?

I agree with the posters above who have said that our goal should be health rather than thinness.

And I think we should seriously re-think about how we raise children.

My husband and I did NOT have cable TV and we did not bring ANY video games into our home (other than Mah-Johng on the computer). I think that these two decisions on our part did a lot to keep our daughters thin. I encourage other families with children to do the same. Some families act as though cable TV and computer games are a necessity. No they aren’t

I also think that we need to get our children outside, even if it means that we give up all our busy-ness inside and sit outside to watch over our children. It’s sad that we have to do this (just this week, there were 3 attempted child-abductions in a small town outside of our city, but thankfully vigilant parents foiled the attempts and snatched their kids back). But I think that outdoor play is really helpful to keeping a child thin and helping them to develop creativity.

And, even though many of us rail against the expense and the travel time, I think we have to bite the bullet and get our kids involved in some sport or activity. For us it was figure skating (and ballet for our older daughter). That’s one of the more expensive choices. But there are other options, options that lead to possible college scholarships. One of these options is track; one of my friends has her children involved in a local track club. Very reasonable costs, and she runs with them, so she gets benefits, too.

It used to be that kids just did these sports outside with their friends, but we have to accept that this part of American culture is gone, gone, gone. If we want our children to be athletes and to have healthy, strong bodies, most of us have to pay for it nowadays.

BTW, I read in Time Magazine that some of the most obese children in the nation live on FARMS! So moving out to the country is not necessarily going to keep a child thin. Isn’t that sad? I grew up on a farm, and I was thin as a rail doing all those chores, even though I ate like a horse! But I guess farms have changed, too. Sigh.

 

[blessedtoo]

A very thoughtful post, Cat.

People “hold on to” calories differently, and they also store them differently. There is no magic formula. “Eat less and be more active” doesn’t work the same with everyone.

While this is true, it does not mean that someone with a less than stellar metabolic rate can’t lose weight. It doesn’t mean that someone whose inability to burn calories efficiently is doomed to be fat. Our bodies were designed to work on the premise that food, calories = energy. If we use the fuel and burn the calories we consume, we will lose weight. If we have slowed our metabolisms or compromised our ability to burn fat through yo-yo dieting, hormonal changes, stress, etc., we must take all that into consideration when attempting to shed pounds. It may be that severely overweight people have to work a great deal harder to shed the pounds. It may be that they have to make a committment FOR LIFE, and not just for a six week diet cycle. It can be done. We see it constantly on TV programs. We all know someone who has lost a great deal of weight.

I read in Glamour Magazine about Christina Aguilera–after she had her baby, she lost her “baby weight” by working out for 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with a trainer, using a combination of 40 minutes of cardio (treadmill or elliptical), 40 minutes of weights in a circuit, and 10 minutes of stretching.

She also used a high protein diet–lean meat and no starch.

Also, the FDA recommended (in all their vast wisdom!) that we “raise the daily goal for fruit and vegetable consumption to nine servings from five, for instance, and challenge Americans who want to control their weight to get as much as 60 to 90 minutes of exercise on most days.” Here is a link to one of the articles: nytimes.com/2005/01/18/health/nutrition/18cons.html

Honestly now! How many of you with a new baby have 90minutes a day to devote to exercise?! Or even if you don’t have a new baby–how about those of you with children? Or those of you who work in a full-time job outside the home? Or those of you who are active volunteers in your parish and community?

I agree that the FDA is absurd in it’s unrealistic recommendations. However, if we’re being HONEST, how many of us come home from work and collapse on the couch for the whole evening, zoning out in front of the TV after a big dinner (not you!)? How many of us jump in the car to DRIVE to the corner store, rather than walk?

And how many of you have enough money to spend on lean meats and no starches?–that means no mac and cheese, no spahetti, no potatoes, no rice–all the CHEAP staples that help families to stay afloat financially. How many of you could afford 9 helping of fruit and veges a day? At my workplace–a hospital–a small bowl of fresh fruit costs $1.25. A “big gulp” bag of chips costs 50 cents.

How many of us spend $5.00 a day of fancy coffee drinks that equal the recommended number of daily calories for a small child? Why would you buy a bowl of fresh fruit for $1.25 when you can get a whole bag of apples or oranges for that same price? Almost everywhere one goes, healthy options are available. Heck, even McYuckster’s offers salads. Leave off the gross and highly caloric dressing and you’ve nearly met your daily requirement for veggies.

There is NO reason to eliminate foods from the diet, unless you are allergic. Spaghetti (plenty of whole grain varieties), rice (switch to brown - no more expensive than white) and potatoes (yams and sweet potatoes are GREAT for you!) are all important to the diet and the expense in minimal.

I think that one of the best things that the FDA and everyone else could do is GET REAL! We aren’t movie stars. Make some recommendations that people can actually do. Of course, the federal government is pretty good at promoting fantasy land, aren’t they?

I disagree completely with this. The FDA does not recommend that we buy expensive organic products or gourmet items. A box of fake, disgusting, orange colored, additive laden mac and cheese is enough for one meal. A bag of elbow macaroni and a hunk or REAL cheese provides enough meals for three nights. There is never a good excuse for eating garbage. If we can’t see the difference in the human body since the introduction of processed foods, we are blind. Our paren’ts generation did not deal with the weight issues we have. They ate “scratch” foods - and thrived while maintaining healthy body weights.

And I think we should seriously re-think about how we raise children.

My husband and I did NOT have cable TV and we did not bring ANY video games into our home (other than Mah-Johng on the computer). I think that these two decisions on our part did a lot to keep our daughters thin. I encourage other families with children to do the same. Some families act as though cable TV and computer games are a necessity. No they aren’t

I also think that we need to get our children outside, even if it means that we give up all our busy-ness inside and sit outside to watch over our children. It’s sad that we have to do this (just this week, there were 3 attempted child-abductions in a small town outside of our city, but thankfully vigilant parents foiled the attempts and snatched their kids back). But I think that outdoor play is really helpful to keeping a child thin and helping them to develop creativity.

And, even though many of us rail against the expense and the travel time, I think we have to bite the bullet and get our kids involved in some sport or activity. For us it was figure skating (and ballet for our older daughter). That’s one of the more expensive choices. But there are other options, options that lead to possible college scholarships. One of these options is track; one of my friends has her children involved in a local track club. Very reasonable costs, and she runs with them, so she gets benefits, too.

It used to be that kids just did these sports outside with their friends, but we have to accept that this part of American culture is gone, gone, gone. If we want our children to be athletes and to have healthy, strong bodies, most of us have to pay for it nowadays.

BTW, I read in Time Magazine that some of the most obese children in the nation live on FARMS! So moving out to the country is not necessarily going to keep a child thin. Isn’t that sad? I grew up on a farm, and I was thin as a rail doing all those chores, even though I ate like a horse! But I guess farms have changed, too. Sigh.

I agree completely with you. However, I would add that we should all be teaching our children HOW to cook.

 

[blessedtoo]

At my workplace–a hospital–a small bowl of fresh fruit costs $1.25. A “big gulp” bag of chips costs 50 cents.

IMO, the mindset of the typical American, regarding EVERYTHING, is “don’t think about it until there’s a problem.” We see this in all facets of life. If someone knows that their workplace, where they spend most of their time, does not offer inexpensive healthy options, why don’t they think ahead? Of course the chips will be the choice on impulse if expense is a concern. I find it interesting that folks will drive out of their way to find a gas station that has gas at 2 cents less a gallon, but planning ahead a day or two for your meals is unrealistic? Makes no sense to me.

I also really believe that if people know the difference between healthy and yummy food and GARBAGE, they will choose the former every time. I was at a pool party yesterday with quite a few very, very obese women. They had a plethora of garbage food on the table - icky pizza, fast food chicken wings, store bought cookies - etc. Why would I want to waste calories on something that doesn’t even REALLY taste good when I know a yummy meal waits for me at home?