CNBC Report

I was just reading the CNBC report on Obesity and America. After a weekend where I spent some time with my friends who have all let themselves go into obesity. The report indicated that our obesity epidemic is costing America $147 billion every year, not to mention the untold amount of lives to this deadly disease. That made me sad and mad. I was sad that our brothers and sisters here in the United States don't know how to lose weight. Fundamentally I think everyone understands that calories in/calories out phenomenon. However, I don't believe everyone knows the amount of calories they are eating and what this is costing them inside. That makes me sad. Then I got mad. Companies using names like Fruit Smoothie for something that is almost as many calories as a milkshake, that makes me mad. The fact that companies are making $60 billion per year on an industry that just confuses the American population and promises that if you take this pill you will increase your weight loss chances.

I wonder if a show that came on everyday that would in a 30 minutes show people an easy recipe for dinner and a simple exercise using their own body would be the ticket to education. I wonder if people would want to watch this show and implement the idea. I wonder if the American population is ready to change. Change is difficult especially a change to improve yourself. You may lose friends or have friends ready to sabotage your efforts in an lame attempt to justify their own bad habits. You may get angry at people who aren't making this change with you. You may feel alone and depressed because everything you know is upside down. These are some of the reasons our weight loss efforts fail.

I was just home for a weekend. My friends have all gained between 30 - 50 pounds since the last time I saw them. My friends wanted to celebrate with me and bought a cake. How hard is it to say no when they are trying to be nice? You don't want to hurt their feelings but you know if they put a huge piece of cake in front of you, you are going to eat it? What do you do? For me I let them put the cake in front of me, I ate a few bites and then covered it with my napkin and pushed it to the center of the table. That was the only way I could think of to not offend anyone and to keep my diet within control. It's difficult but I didn't want to gain back the 20 pounds I've lost in one weekend and I didn't want to hurt my friends feelings. I wasn't going to go into my change in lifestyle with them and make them feel like something is wrong with them, I just am doing my weight loss program for myself. I believe in slow and steady wins the race. Since this is a marathon of life, I'm okay losing it on a slow and steady pace.

Proud of Massachusetts

Today in my reading, I came across an article regarding a study being conducted in Massachusetts. There are 50,000 households in three cities that are on the Federal Food Stamp program. The study will provide a 30 cent discount on fresh fruits and vegetables for 1/2 of these families. The idea is to find out the choices that will be made if more "healthy" foods are made accessible to the food stamp program. Click here for the entire article.

Now my question would be is anyone teaching these families how to cook fresh fruits and vegetables? As seen on the Food Revolution show this past spring, many families are third generation of packaged and processed foods. They know how to pull something out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave but actual cooking on the stove is foreign to them. I know this first hand as just two years ago I taught my 25 year old girlfriend how to peel an onion as she had no idea what to do with an onion.

I believe the program above is commendable but is only half of the equation. Without proper teaching and guidance, we can't expect miracles. It's like the you can bring someone a fish to eat but until you teach them how to fish it's useless. This is the same. You can bring fresh fruits and vegetables to those on food stamps but if they don't know what to do with these items, it's useless. I hope someone is going to teach as well as provide. 

There is no Magic Pill to take

As I sit here reading about our nations obesity rate and the amount of money we spend on quick fixes for our weight problems, I get sad. We (myself included) want to have our weight just fall off our bodies in days without regard to the process it took to gain this weight. When I think of my story, 15 years ago I weighed 142 pounds and wore a size 10 pant. Today I weigh 164 pounds and wear a size 12 pant. So here's what I gather from this information.

1) Pant sizes don't determine whether you are obese or not. I'm just one size up and am in the obese category.
2) What took 15 years to gain will not come off in a quick fix 15 day journey
3) It is bad to gain 2 pounds a year - after 15 years that is 30 pounds (my journey started at 188 pounds)

This is a process. I've been on my journey now for 8 months and have dropped 24 pounds with a goal of 22 more pounds to go. There hasn't been a fast, down and dirty way to lose what I gained over the years. It takes time and commitment. It's a journey that I am enjoying every step along the way. This is my life, my journey and I can walk you through it anytime you want.

But what I wanted to encourage you with is this - Think of your weight loss as a journey, a marathon of life that will lead you to better health, wealth and laughter. Think about your journey and celebrate each little victory along the way. They are worthy of celebration and so are you. God made us masterpieces of his design, our job was to be a good steward of his masterpiece. Let's impress God with our stewardship and commitment to Battle2Heal our bodies, spirits and minds.

Enjoy this journey with me!