WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
Today I am going to examine a few (because there are probably hundreds, if not more) reasons, and some of the excuses, why so many people become obese. This is not a blame diary, but it does show from a personal experience level some of the dynamics that make obesity one of the last acceptable prejudices, and how that won't help anyone get healthy again.
*THIS IS A SUPPORT DIARY. If you would like to share in the comments, please be constructive and/or supportive. Jump, skip, hop or crawl over the fold to examine a few of these further, and share your own experiences, support, and encouragement in the comments.
One of the few shows I watch on television from time to time is House, and one of the episodes that jumped out at me was one that involved an morbidly obese 12 year old girl who came to House's attention after collapsing on the schoolyard after her gym teacher pushed her to jump higher, while her fellow classmates jeered and called her names. It was a terribly painful show to watch, and it was no surprise to me that the eventual resolution of the case, which was a life-threatening tumor on the little girl's pituitary gland, had caused not only her obesity but other complications that would have killed her if they had not been uncovered by the unorthodox genius of Gregory House.
There is a lesson in this for all of us. How many of us have pituitary tumors that caused childhood obesity? I have known at least one. How many of us had an undiagnosed or poorly-diagnosed thyroid abnormality which was evidence of underlying lupus, an entire host of environmentally-induced or genetically-predisposed auto-immune disorder which may not have struck any of our siblings (or parents) but being a recessive trait, only occurred in, say, one out of six children? How many of us, developing poor or indifferent eating habits in a busy or single-parent home, with no siblings to play with, and grew up babysat by the television set and never learned the joys of going out to play, and never had a park to run in? How many of us have gone through poorly-funded primary and secondary education programs where ketchup was marked off as a vegetable by the school lunch providers and gym consisted of 40 minutes of jumping jacks three times a week, and Coke machines were installed in the hallways for "quick energy"? How many of us are type I diabetics? And how many of us were born with undiagnosed celiac disease - yet another auto-immune deficiency not yet known whether it was coded into our genes, triggered by environment or traumatic body shock , or all three?
The list can go on, and on, and on. Most of us already know that there are compelling reasons for the rise of obesity, some of the most frightening can be found in recent research showing the dangerous effects of highly-refined processed food which is not engineered to satisfy but to increase appetite, trick the body into desiring more of the same? Why is it that celiac disease is rapidly on the rise in Australia - where wheat is the basis of most of its processed food additives, and diabetes is rapidly on the rise in the United States - where corn is the basis of most of its processed food additives?
About myself: I am a gluten intolerant, which is not quite the same as celiac. If I had not given up gluten in November of 2005, I might have developed full blown celiac disease, which is an auto-immune disorder consisting of an inability to digest or absorb the primary protein compounds found in wheat, barley, and rye (and their derivatives, such as beer, barley malt, wheat syrups, etc.) Thanks to the show "House" a lot more people know something about celiac disease, since there was also a show about how dangerous that disease can be when undiagnosed, even to infants. What does gluten intolerance cause? Its list of symptoms can sometimes be detected in childhood or adolescence:
* short stature
* chronic indigestion
* hives
* late-onset menstruation
* ammenorrhea (lack of menstruation in females)
* lack of bone growth
* osteoporosis
* Addison's Disease
* Colon cancer
*obesity
*malabsorption of vitamins and vitamin deficiencies
*abnormal secondary sexual maturation
Lovely set of symptoms here. Recent studies show that celiac disease, too, is on the rise, based upon a blood-sample database from the 1930's and 40's showing that the rise in celiac disease since then has been steep and getting steeper. Rise in obesity - rise in celiac disease. And through hybridization of wheat strains, the gluten content of one of America's staple crops - wheat - has increased from a nominal 6 to 9% to up to 60%. Gluten is used as a food additive as well.
Reasons. Predispositions, compromises to the natural order of food, or as another diarist put it last week - there is food, and then there are MESSES. Enough on reasons.
Why, if there is such a preponderance of reasons for obesity, when it is classified as a disease, or at the very least a disease symptom - by the medical community, that it is treated as some sort of moral failing, a source of derision and scorn, usually by those who have never suffered from it, and why do we, many of us lifelong sufferers from this multifarious and mysterious condition - take it, and cower in shame?
Well that would be because of the reasons, which we may not know, but also because of the excuses, which are just as numerous, and just as tricky to nail down as a diagnosis in Dr. House's diagnostic room. And the reasons go hand-in-hand with the excuses as we struggle to understand ourselves and gain support for resolving a problem which for most of us, is rooted in shame, pain, and even trauma.
Excuses like - I have no time to exercise, I haven't got the energy, people will laugh at me at the aerobics class, I lose the weight and it just "comes back", I haven't got money for the surgery and I tried every plan already and it failed, everybody in the house takes my healthy food and I end up binging on pizza, I can't stand vegetables, I have an injury/disease/stubbed-my-toe and I can't do my usual walks, I had a fight with my husband/wife/boyfriend/mistress and couldn't stop eating; I'm hungry and the cravings won't go away.
The reason why we endure so much scorn is because there is almost always a reason; and there is (at least in my case), ten excuses for every reason. And those who don't understand the reasons, are smart enough to detect the excuses, then dismiss the reason.
We have to deal with the reason, by way of good and sensible medical and dietary insight into ourselves, self-examination, maybe blood tests, maybe a new doctor or nutritionist, immunologist, endocrinologist - if we have the resources to do it. If we don't, then get some self-help on the Intertubes. Without a self-test questionnaire, I would not have found my gluten problem until I became a celiac, and without removing that underlying REASON, I would be fighting a losing uphill battle against obesity.
But we also have to examine, and remove the excuses that keep us from reaching out for help and support, that keep us in lives that may be sedentary but certainly not healthy. And I can't underestimate the need for support, because I know that it takes one to know one. And I DO know an excuse when I hear it, but only when I have dealt with the reason.
For a closer look at my own story and daily battle to get fit, the link is here:
I don't need surgery, maybe you don't either
Update: WHEE Roster:
1864 House Ebby matching mole
3rdGenFeminist econlibVL Munchkn
anotherCT dem Ed G nswalls
anotherdem Edward Spurlock Oke
askew el dorado gal Pandoras Box
badscience Embee Proylance (?)
batgirl71 Fabian RLMiller
bfitzinAR fiddler crabby roses
bluesophie flor de jasmine RunawayRose
blue jersey mom freesia SallyCat
Brimi gchaucer2 Shayle
CA coastsider GoldnI sheddhead
chicago minx Greasy Grant still small voice
Chocolate Chris jiffykeen StrangeAnimals
coigue Ken in Tex supenau
CONEFLOWER42 Kirsten Tenn Wisc Dem
crystal eyes (?) kkbDIA trs
cusoon lineatus volleyboy1
darthstar Lisamoe webranding
debbieleft louisev Wee Mama
digitalmuse luvsathoroughbred xysea
Dragonladykatie malharden sheba
filegirl Gussie(no amputation)FN glow dog
jennyjem rb608 Timroff
i'm a frayed not -- it really is that important
GollyMissMolly dotalbon Starrpower.