Yep. IMO, obesity is a mental problem.
But it’s a mental problem, not a disease. With enough determination, ***anyone ** * can lose weight.
Correlation does not equal causation, and you (and several others) have made that mistake with this statement.
I was also raised by parents who promoted only healthy foods (for several years, I had no idea that you could buy peanut butter without grinding it first. Very little sugar at all, sugar cereal was unheard of. Wide varieties of healthy vegetables and fruits. Balanced meals. Nothing pre-processed, ever. Pretty much the healthiest stuff available etc. etc.)
Your response to that kind of environment was to only desire healthy foods. My sister’s response is much the same. My response was a high aversion to vegetables and a love of sugar. Large amounts of icecream would have been completely ridiculous to my parents and never offered to us. Like you, my sister couldn’t possibly order or finish such a serving. I can. It’s yummy. We had the same environment, but there’s some switch that she got flipped and I didn’t. She doesn’t have to fight herself to stay thin…I have to to keep from getting fatter. I have to force myself to eat salad; for me, it’s a punishment. I have a hard time deliberately choosing to punish myself like that every day, especially when there’s such an easy alternative, even more especially when it takes extra effort to prepare the damn stuff in the first place. The same is true of most vegetables. They taste foul to me.
But, should eating healthily be someone’s highest priority above all others? I can kind of see it being a very high priority when it comes to feeding a child - but is that true for feeding yourself (assuming you’re an adult)? Is there a level for each where that slips in priority to well other needs or wants?
I just realized two things that may seem to contradict, but actually may help prove a point of mine (had I made it before now): I said that I work to eat “OK” on a limited budget. I also said in my first post in this thread that I had joined a gym. You may wonder how I afford a $78/month family membership and claim poverty. I don’t have cable or internet access at my house. It’s a trade off and for me it’s all about priorities. I once saw a speaker that told me that the key to anything (losing weight, buying a house, driving to the moon, whatever) is finding out the ‘why’ and that your ‘why’ had to be bigger than your ‘how’ - my ‘why’ is that I want to be healthy for my kids to set a good example. My ‘how’ is eliminating excuses by cutting back on some things to make way for others; IOW no cable = gym membership. So there goes one reason.
Oh, absolutely I have an unhealthy relationship with food. I consider myself a food addict and compulsive overeater; food is my drug of choice. I could get into a litany of my behavior and emotional responses but yuck. Suffice it to say that they are similar to what alcoholic friends have expressed about alcohol. I also can justify it by saying that I can support my habit (it’s relatively cheap) and I am not hurting anyone else.
That is not an excuse, but it is the reason I am fat. Until I can find a way to detach emotions from food, I won’t be able to eat healthfully. And it doesn’t seem worth it to me, which is why I have not followed through with my therapist or an eating disorders counselor.
I respect the fact that you like salad and I am happy for you, because it means you have that option when you want to eat more healthfully. I’ve never as a rule liked salad and other than the cheese, croutons and dressing (creamy for me) those ingredients are not appetizing for me. Occasionally I will eat one but it always includes meat, cheese and creamy dressing. The key is the bolded part: if it’s not as good as B&J’s, why would I settle for it when I can get B&J’s?
Who claimed it was a disease? And for that matter, can a mental disorder not be considered a disease of sorts?
The “simple” people keep coming back to the reason of laziness. There is clearly more to it than that, but let’s go with that premise.
What caused America’s epidemic of laziness?
How come? What aspects of food addiction are of benefit to you? What would you hate to lose?
Well to me, B&J’s is better because it’s a once in a while treat thing-otherwise, it loses some of its appeal.
That and I don’t like the fact that it makes me gain weight.
- Switch to a more service economy
- Longer work day
- Switch to more single-parent and two-working parent families
- Culture of fear: parents afraid to let children explore because of lurking psychos and the more credible threats, such as vehicular accidents from increased road traffic
- Culture of instant gratification: 24/7 cartoon channels, video games, and other passive distractions take away reasons for children to exercise through play
Anyone want to add to the list?
With enough determination anyone can hold their breath until they die. With enough determination anyone can get a PhD in physics, with enough determination …
It is stupid to say with enough determination anyone can …, it is meaningless.
I think it’s more of a semantic issue. When you say “extraordinarily complicated”, I think Quantum Physics or watchmaking. Something that is either very difficult to comprehend or has many many interrelated steps to worry about. Something that taxes the intellect.
Eating right is more like running a footrace. It’s the same few simple steps, done over and over and over again. My inability to run a marathon is not due to any underlying complexity of running, it’s due to me not being motivated enough to train myself to do it. Eating right isn’t inherently complicated, we make it complicated because we want to run that 10k race in 5k.
- Switch to a more service economy
This explains lack of activity, but not laziness.
- Longer work day
- Switch to more single-parent and two-working parent families
Those sound like less lazy, not more. It would explain less time for home cooking, though. And research into good food choices. But not laziness.
- Culture of fear: parents afraid to let children explore because of lurking psychos and the more credible threats, such as vehicular accidents from increased road traffic
This doesn’t explain mental laziness. Fear, however, could cause someone to self-medicate with food.
- Culture of instant gratification: 24/7 cartoon channels, video games, and other passive distractions take away reasons for children to exercise through play
I think you’re on to something with this one. It could explain mental laziness as well as physical.
Partly true, but it’s still more complicated than “eat less.” Look at the controversy over carbs and fat over the past 20 years. There’s still no consensus. To dig through what little data there is is a confusing thing. And how do you eat less, but enough so that the 10k race is bearable? That can be hard to figure out for some people. That’s why most diets fail. And then add in the emotional aspects, which run very deep in a lot of people.
That adds up to a lot of complexity.
tdn, while I did quote your “epidemic of laziness” line, I was really looking for cultural changes that have contributed to the “epidemic” of obesity, especially in children. I do believe if a person starts lazy at a young age, it will be harder to overcome, but there are lazy adults who were active most of their young life too.
[shakespeare]Hey nonny no.[/shakespeare]
Well,
A) If you’re going to eat stuff like that, at least you should slap it in between two slices of bread, like real people do. 
2) It’s getting on for time for you to stop blaming stuff on your parents, and accept responsibility for your own choices. :dubious:
^) It seemed like a reasonable comeback while you were throwing stones. 
You couldn’t make me on the best day you ever had and with a panzer division just a phone call away, sugar tush.
Food is the only thing that makes me high. It’s the only thing that has any glow about it, any life or excitement or anticipation. Without it, I have nothing.
That’s not quite true; I have some interactions with other people that I look forward to and enjoy, but then they are over and what am I left with? Food. It’s always there; there is a 24-hour supermarket if I really need something. It doesn’t disappoint me or judge me or scare me. When I am freaked out about the world, I can retreat and be alone with my silent friend. When I realize that a human interaction is coming to an end, I think of the next step that will comfort me and that’s food.
There are a lot of drawbacks too but in the end the balance still falls toward the food side. Everything else that is good comes to an end but food remains.
Thank you for asking. I know I am not the only one and maybe someone else will recognize themself in what I am saying.
I wasn’t blaming anything on my parents-just saying that I was raised not to ever throw food away, and it’s a habit of mine.
Besides, like I said, mushrooms with hummus is yummier.
And shouldn’t that be “sugar tits?”
Truce?
Wow. This statement makes me incredibly sad for you. Even your clarifications of it later in that same post are heartbreaking.
Have you tried conning yourself into fing comfort in more healthy comfort foods? Do you like a wide variety of differnt foods, or only a few? If you don’t mind spice, it is amazing what kind of high you can feel after a really spicy vegitarian indian meal, I get a bigger high off one of those than a bowl full of Ben and Jerrys.
It takes lots of time and some effort, but it should be possible to train or con yourself into getting comfort from healthier foods than the typical ‘comfort foods’.
Even half healthy foods like toasted cheese and sweet pepper sandwiches are better than deserts and will give as much comfort.
I have been able to go without desserts that give me a sugar high and then a crash. I am actually more into fat (cheese, meat) than sugar like candy; ice cream has the sugar and fat I crave.
OA and I think other programs use HALT: don’t let yourself get too hungry, too angry, too lonely or too tired or it’s that much harder to not take the compulsive bites. I lack the discipline to follow the advice!
Thanks to everyone for your concern. I am glad that I know what’s wrong with me, but sad that I can’t seem to do anything about it. Didn’t mean to hijack the discussion.
Are you serious?
You offer that second paragraph with a straight face, and have the gall to direct people to an explanation of logical reasoning?
Physician, heal thyself.