A Positive Direction

Moving from Morbidly Obese to just Obese is still serious but certainly less worrying. In scientific terms, a Morbidly Obese person is someone who weighs more than 100 pounds over their ideal weight. My ideal weight is 150 pounds, so at my present weight I am exactly 99 pounds over it.

Late last night I was watching TV in bed, and channel surfed, by all the exercise machines and excersise videos to the TV channel TLC that had a program airing about the Gastric bypass surgery for the super morbidly obese -over 600 lbs. The show called “ Half Ton Man “ at 1,022 lbs, Kenneth Brumley is the biggest patient Renaissance Hospital in Houston has ever seen. Kenneth is desperate to save his own life and undergoes a series of major, life-threatening surgeries. Texas has the largest epidemic of obese, morbidly obese and the super morbidly obese people in the world! It’s a very sad situation. So many people are suffering in that state from this condition. It’s really turned into a epidemic.

I did some research on the internet and compiled a list of what other people have written as to why there is an obese epidemic in North America: ( to which I agree with as well...)

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“Convenience. No one cooks at home anymore. Microwave meals, fast food, quick fixes like cookies and chips. It's so convenient that most people don't even give it a second thought.”

“Fast food. Kids CAN'T safely play outside in the neighborhood anymore.Kids don't walk or ride bikes to school any more.Video games, except those that provide physical activity.Computers and computer games. (NO physical activity). Cell Phones instead of visiting friends (not safe to walk or ride bike to friends'). More and more TV channels catering to all sorts of lifestyles.Too many cities don't have mass transit for commuters and we park as close as we can to work. Insidious marketing of sugared and fatty foods.Cutbacks at school where gym and sports go first.”

“Have you seen the movie, "Super Size Me" ??? ... it explains it very well.Too many people consume more calories than they burn, plain and simple”.

“If you travel to Europe, people are much smaller there. People walk everywhere and the food in restaurants is actually cooked there (not frozen food, heated up) The shops close so people can go home and eat normally, so it must be our lifestyle and all the artificial stuff in our food supply. It is not really nourishing, so people eat more empty calories to fill up.”

“Because people can go out and eat at any fast food restaurant and not work off the calories!!!”

“Our lifestyles have changed. In the 1960's and 70's, kids walked of biked to school, now they are driven.We now have more convenience foods, and many of us are too scared to go outside for one reason or another.”

“Fast food has replaced healthy food. And physical activity has diminished.”

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After watching this program, I am once again stimulated and once again driven to succeed on my path to a healthier lifestyle. Veggies and fruit are my friends..

Fast Food is should be re-named Fast Death Food!