<p>iloveagoodbrew – tks for the encouragement – I just got a new high fiber cookbook :)</p>
<p>They are now saying 2nd hand smoke is so bad for you that if you have a heart condition, you should avoid ALL contact. It makes the blood vessels constrict and bingo…heart attack.</p>
<p>My DH is overweight. He has it in the genes but he also eats about 1/3 more than I do, on a regular basis.</p>
<p>I think most people do not realize that we are regularly eating whatever the big corporations tell us to eat. Sweet cereal made from corn and corn syrup? “Part of this delicious breakfast!” Soft white bread “builds strong bodies 12 ways!” Ding Dongs and Twinkies? Everyone needs a treat now and then…and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Wake up, sheeple! as the popular saying goes.</p>
<p>It seems mindless to me to eat a big portion just because a restaurant serves it, or to make poor food choices “just because” of marketing. Those are excuses, IMHO. How many diet gurus and TV shows do we have to watch and listen to to know that sensible eating habits plus exercise equals a healthier weight and lifestyle in general. Its not rocket science. I love “The Biggest Loser” but am always surprised at how the people act as if they’ve never heard it before, especially in the food prep. “butter,really, isn’t always good for us?” Doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>Congrats Timely for your weight loss. And if you can do it without becoming one of those sanctimonious ex-fatties, more power to you.</p>
<p>Some of the posts on this thread really bothered me. Okay, I admit it, I’m sensitive because I am a smoker and I am fat. You know, I never get up in the morning and say “Gee I’m glad I smoke or what can I do to stay overweight”! I doubt if you could find many overweight people or smokers who would say they want to stay that way.</p>
<p>How many times have I quit smoking over the last 20 years—uncountable. Same way with weight loss. It seems people want to give sympathy to the drug addict or the alcoholic, since they have an “illness”, well, I contend that overeating and smoking are just as strong addictions.</p>
<p>mkm56–definitely, smoking is a hard addiction. I have several friends who used to smoke & a close family member who still does. It’s tough and you feel bad for them.</p>
<p>Those donuts DO affect all of us. I read that we could save trillions in Medicare costs if we rolled back obesity rates. As it is, who knows if this program will be around when we need it.
Granted, it is VERY tough to lose weight and keep it off. Even those with money and huge support systems (like Oprah) struggle. I think we need to think about this as a societal problem and work to educate children and ensure access to healthy whole foods. It starts with the family and the schools. Even with these interventions, there will be fat people, including many with metabolic disorders. But honestly, there’s not excuse for the high obesity rates in the US now. It’s mostly bad habits, bad food and lack of activity. (Nothing against any particular individual out there who is struggling)</p>
<p>I have lost weight several times through Weight Watchers. EVERY TIME, the weight was back on again within a year. For me, the secret to keeping over 30 pounds off for two years has been running. I know, a dirty word, but I wish more people would give it a try. As a kid, I was the SLOWEST in my grade. In 8th grade, we had to run a mile and all our times were posted in the gym. I was in last place, out of 200 kids! So I said I would never run, and told my future husband never to ask me to try. Then a friend practically dragged me out on a road and made me try it, about three years ago. I couldn’t even run 1/4-mile. She had me run from one telephone pole to the next, and then walk to the following one. I would repeat that for a couple of miles. I kept at it. The key was consistency and perseverance. I found another friend who was in as bad of shape as me, and we made regular appointments to run together. It took us a couple of months, but eventually we could run 30 minutes straight. It took me a year to lose all my weight, and I’ve kept it off for two years. I’ve run many 5ks, two 10ks, and two half marathons. It cracks me up how many people tell me, “I could never run!” Bull crap. Unless you have an extreme medical condition, you can run. It really is a secret a lot of people don’t know about, which is too bad. It really is your loss if you don’t give it a try.</p>
<p>^That is awesome, MaineLonghorn. I also swear by running for weight- and health- maintenance. When I started, I could not run a block. But I started very slowly, and it took me 3 years before I could run/jog 3 miles without stopping. Now I try to do 3 miles everyday.</p>
<p>It is very difficult to lose weight. But it is just as difficult to maintain a healthy weight. Just because we are slim does not mean we have it easy. I pay attention to every single thing I put in my mouth everyday. You have to do this when you live in America, otherwise you will most likely end up fat - that is what the statistics prove.</p>
<p>My left knee would disagree with you about running. (Damaged it due to a running - and tripping injury, back before the arthroscopic procedures that seem to fix even the worst of knees.)</p>
<p>I always enjoyed it. Now, it is much more of a challenge to keep weight off.</p>
<p>“Have any of you checked out what is on the shelves of a food bank? Mac and cheese, canned ravioli, salty canned soups, lots of junk.” - Loosing weight could be done on ANY food. As Harvard study showed, “Eat less” is the best diet. Just it less! In addition, people who use food bank, don’t they have food stamps? Can they use food stamps on fresh produce instead of soda and boxed jusnk food? It is ALWAYS somebodys fault. But if it is really not your fault at all, does it help you to blame somebody? Nope, you have to do what under your control, take personal responsibility, or you will be stuck with misery and spread this misery to the rest of us and more so to people who are close to you.</p>
<p>Regarding running…no…not every one can do it. I did it for 25 years and my knee says no more. So does my doc. I just eat differently and less plus do other exercise. Running is NOT for everyone…but for those who do it, it’s great. I know. I miss it very much. </p>
<p>Regarding the Western Diet and whose fault it is. Yes, in the end we all have personal responsibility for making good choices. But our society, culture and government can have an impact. Serving fried chicken nuggets in school doesn’t help. Subsidizing the corn industry so they can continue to make and sell cheap horrible high fructose corn syrup products and other junky processed foods doesn’t help. </p>
<p>IMO, we need to attack this on a number of angles. Education, incentives for healthy food production and consumption, even penalties for junk (kind of like cig taxes or higher premiums for fat people and smokers). </p>
<p>Yeah, we’re spreading the misery for sure. Personal responsibility doesn’t seem to be working on it’s own. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have rising obesity rates EVERY year. Let’s get real…</p>
<p>MiamiDap,
Your comments show a lack of insight into the environments that many urban and rural poor live in. These environments frequently have no supermarkets; the only stores available for groceries are 7-11s, or bodegas. The prices are high and fresh produce is rare. Food stamps do not provide enough for people to buy lots of high quality foods even if they had access to those kinds of foods. With food stamps, families will buy the cheapest food available to stretch their food dollar. Walk into any Walmart and you can easily locate the most inexpensive food. It is highly processed, salty, high fat food. Poor people are making rational economic decisions and, unfortunately, that results in the purchase of poor quality food. Hence the high rate of obesity among the poor in the US.</p>
<p>The only way my husband will ever lose weight is with the help of a psychologist. He works out - a lot - but eats - a lot. Overeating was programmed into him as a child…his parents must have been the founders of the Clean Plate Club. </p>
<p>He HAS to finish food. He is unable to throw away food - even spoiled leftovers in the fridge. When the leftovers are on the verge of spoiling (and to him, that means weeks old rather than days old), he wil eat them all. Yesterday at lunch he ate the equivalent of at least three full sized meals, just to finish what was in the fridge.</p>
<p>It’s sad to think about. I’m sure that he received high praise from his parents for being a good eater, for cleaning his plate, etc. He eats these mass quantites of food and I’m sure a part of him is waiting for mommy (me?) to praise him and instead, we’re just disgusted at him.</p>
<p>But no therapy for those who don’t think they have a problem. He thinks we’re being wasteful if food is ever left on our plates. In his mind, he is being the righteous one.</p>
<p>“Personal responsibility doesn’t seem to be working on it’s own.” - There is no single person in a world or government agency of any sort that can make an individual to eat more or to eat less. It is not possible, period. Even surgery that make stomach smaller is only 50% successful (and 100% stupid, by my account, because you can shrink stomach to some degree by just eating much smaller portions). Only person him/herself is capable of either incresing or degreasing their calorie intake, move more or less. I am talking about adults. Kids are parents responsibility and part of parents job.</p>
<p>hunger and nutrition is more complex than simply opening or shutting your mouth.</p>
<p>i dont believe that weight is an ethical issue, you are not virtuous because you are slim and you are not immoral because you are overweight.</p>
<p>I have mentioned this issue earlier-but in case my link was missed
[Food</a>, Inc. | 2009 Seattle International Film Festival | Robert Kenner | USA < Films](<a href=“http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=28794&FID=123]Food”>http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=28794&FID=123)
</p>
<p>He HAS to finish food. He is unable to throw away food - even spoiled leftovers in the fridge. When the leftovers are on the verge of spoiling (and to him, that means weeks old rather than days old), he wil eat them all. Yesterday at lunch he ate the equivalent of at least three full sized meals, just to finish what was in the fridge.</p>
<p>has he ever been treated for depression/ocd?
that sounds like anxiety/compulsion to me.
My H won’t even touch leftovers unless I creatively " re package" them.</p>
<p>My husband is another plate cleaner. His twist on it is that he has to clean every plate on the table. If you leave something on your plate, he’s got to eat it. He also has to eat every time someone else does. In our house, we have several different schedules. So he eats when he’s hungry and then every time another family member eats in the house. We put our son into an after school program this year, which was supposed to free hubby up to exercise, but it seemed to have the opposite impact. He now has no anchor in his afternoons and so spends three hours every day resting or eating.</p>
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<p>Yes!!! Mine, too. Now it’s one thing to finish that last silky scallop or the last few bites of fillet mingon that your teen left on her plate. But c’mon, restaurants give you enough french fries to feed an army - those do not have to be finished!!!</p>
<p>One time we tried a new restaurant. Five of us ordered five different things and the food was virtually inedible. We were all hungry but hardly put a dent in our food. I was about to talk to the manager about not paying for it when Husband asked for five to-go boxes to take all five plates of terrible food home with us! He said, “maybe if we put some sauce on it…” Over the next week he consumed all that terrible food.</p>
<p>this is really interesting- my husband* is an addict*, but I have never thought about that while I think it creeps into other areas, food is an area that changes mood, but he doesn’t seem to have issues there.</p>
<p>When he drank ( he has not had alcohol for about 10 years after intensive treatment), he would feel compelled to finish my glass of wine when we were at a restaurant, to argue he was drinking " because he was thirsty" and he has quit smoking for over a year at a time, but is still smoking tobacco . </p>
<p>He also has a really hard time not accepting any piece of junk the neighbor tries to talk him into in order to clean out * his own* garage, and I have to physically pull him away from secondhand/tool stores. ( how many tool boxes can you fit into the garage?)</p>
<p>He gets really involved in things ( like reading after work) and has a hard time stopping even in order to go to bed ( he has to get up at 4am)
I should talk however, I go out into the yard at 9 am* for a minute*, and don’t come in the house until he gets home from work at 3pm</p>
<p>But food- he is good with. He eats a reasonable amount- and even though he would rather eat a lot more fatty and meaty things, he does try almost anything I make, even though he occasionally picks some of the veggies out.
;)</p>
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<p>Yup, that, too. He can’t throw anything away. He also takes things from other people’s curbs on trash day. Husband really isn’t a beer drinker but one time someone put out half a case of Keystone, so H took it. It has literally been in the garage fridge for at least 5 years. </p>
<p>I don’t know if this is really a sign of an addictive personality or OCD or depression…I see it as a result of his parents’ extreme frugality. They don’t throw anything away ever either. When a person rewarded as a child for never throwing away food, and if the person’s father brags about how clever he is to have built an entire room out of wood and doors and windows that others threw away, it’s not surprising that those issues would carry over into adulthood.</p>