Deadly Culture

If I see or hear one more person attempting to explain why giving in to every craving and eating yourself into oblivion is just as healthy as eating nutritionally dense foods and avoiding sugar, I think I will scream. This idea is so absurd, I won’t even quote stats and discuss diseases caused by this self-indulgent lifestyle. You don’t have to look far to see more than one example of unhealthy people with little to no self-control contrasted by people who are healthy because they work at it. I know what I’m talking about because I have been both of those people.

Very recently, someone told me to “Eat that doughnut! Live your best life!!!” I told her “I AM living my best life and it definitely does NOT involve a doughnut.” The willful ignorance surrounding what has become a doctrine is staggering.

Love Your Cardiovascular System!

When I was both obese and overweight, I had dangerously high blood pressure. Don’t waste your time arguing this with me because my experience is what it is. I know that there may not be a link between obesity and high blood pressure for everyone but it is for me. I have the medical records to prove it. Regardless of anything else that I did to try to lower that number, as long as my weight was high, the blood pressure cuff was NOT my friend. During the time that I was a size 22 my blood pressure stayed at stroke level, I sometimes had heart palpitations and suffered with blood pressure related headaches. As soon as I got my weight onto the BMI chart, I came off of the medicine for my blood pressure because I no longer needed it. If you love your life, why would you want to take this chance? Are you familiar with the difficulties that stroke victims face in their daily lives, IF they survive? Learning to say “NO!” to cravings and food bullies is a small thing compared to the hard lives of these people.

Love Your Bones and Joints!

When I was fat, my knees, back and ankles hurt all the time. I developed bulging discs in my lower back and could barely move for weeks. Thank God I found a great chiropractor who was thrilled when I began to lose weight. As the weight came off, so did my dependency on my chiropractor. Although he had helped me immensely, possibly even to avoid back surgery, I was determined to regain my back health. After I lost the excess pounds, I gradually quit going to him and have never looked back. That was over 10 years ago. Three and a half years ago I began lifting heavy weights and strengthened my back even more. I have never had an injury from lifting. When I was heavier, I could barely move much less strength train. The difference is that I don’t have excess weight pulling on my frame. I can just focus on getting my form the best it can be and getting that Iron to move.

Love Your State of Mind!

Yes, I’ve seen and heard the media personalities who portray a happy image that is supposed to be based on abandoning rules for food. Again, I’ve lived that way. While I was scarfing down the brownies and mac and cheese, I was pretty happy I must say. As soon as I swallowed however, I was NOT. I was bloated and miserable. I was lethargic and had no energy to do anything. All those simple carbohydrates that almost immediately turned to sugar in my bloodstream had me riding the crazy train. While many antidepressants are SSRI’s that raise serotonin, binge eating raises and lowers it too often, too fast for me. I was on a roller coaster that I could not exit from, forever on the highest peak that would soon crash into the terrifying curve below. As I quit eating sugar and other simple carbs, my moods began to stabilize.

Love Your Skin!

Sugar causes glycation in your skin. Glycation is the bonding of a sugar molecule to proteins or fats with no enzyme regulation. As these sugar molecules adhere to the elastin in the skin, the skin loses it’s elasticity and aging results. When I stopped eating sugar I got a few years rolled back off of my appearance. Glycation is also involved in some disease processes including diabetes. Thank God, I never had to deal with that dreadful disease!

I think you see the pattern here. I could go on. I DO love myself so I make a sincere effort to be healthy. I want the best life that I can have, free of disease and disability. While some may try to argue that obesity does not cause these things, it did for me.

Love Your Independence!

Three and a half years ago at the age of 61, I tore my life to the ground and rebuilt it brick by brick. While this has not been easy, it was absolutely necessary for me and my special needs son. At that time I was working for a major weight loss company that had me driving a lot and I was missing workouts. I was getting out of shape fast and I was still soft and fat enough that when I went up and down the THREE steps at my back door, I would nearly fall. As the pounds came off and I got stronger the steps became a non-existent challenge. Now I can climb flights of stairs carrying 20-30plus pounds with no problem. Had I continued down the path I was treading, I would most definitely be headed for a broken hip. With a broken hip comes surgery and, if you’re lucky, rehabilitation. NO, THANK YOU. I’d rather lose weight.

The next time you see these people who have made it their mission in life to drag you down the road to obesity, and all that goes with it, remember that misery loves company. I had a “frienenemy” one time who told me outright that she did NOT like me being smaller than her and if people like me would just forget about trying to be thin then her and her daughters would be more readily accepted into society. I thought that we were friends. We were not. She’s morbidly obese now and has full-blown diabetes and the complications that go with it. I don’t remember the last time that I went to the doctor because I was sick.

We all have important decisions to make every day. LOVE YOURSELF and make good ones. You will live, or die, with those decisions.