I’m going to wander into a topic today that might get me in trouble.  I hope and pray that I can speak clearly without anyone wrongly perceiving what I’m saying or getting their feelings hurt in any way.  This is a topic that is touchy to say the least, but I wouldn’t “go there” if it wasn’t something that was weighing on my heart.

Last night I was watching a bit of TV before the Olympics and a piece on the Half Ton Woman came on TLC.  They started the segment about obesity in America and showing the ways we are literally eating ourselves to death.  People are being cut out of their houses to leave.  Coffins and graves are even triple the size.  I don’t know all the details of Renee’s story, I’m sure they leave out a lot for television, but she’s a 29-year-old that lives in Texas.  She’s my age.  And as of when this program originally aired she was topping the scales at over 900 pounds.  According to family members she had always been overweight, but several unsuccessful events in her life made her turn to food as her solace and at age 25 she was over 500 pounds.  She was in a car accident later that year that broke her leg and made her bedridden and she’s been that way ever since.  Renee has two daughters, ages 13 and 8.  This program was all about the doctor’s finally telling her that she had less than a year to live if she didn’t do something.  She chose the very risky bariatric bypass surgery as her fix.  I did not watch the end of the program to see the results.

Anyway, this made my mind whir.  I’ll be quite honest; some of my opinions and feelings on food are completely cluttered and unhealthy, as I flirted a little too close to the edge of an eating disorder many years ago.  However, despite some of the things I’ve said, I’ve come a long way in recent years and have what I feel to be a healthy outlook on diet and nutrition.  You need food to live.  It is essential.  Food is fuel.  That is not to say that you can’t enjoy it (I do!) but when it comes down to chemicals…food is fuel.  In order to be the best Sarah I can be I need to put in good fuel.  I get that.  I also know that I tend to be a stress-eater.  Unless I do some amazing mental circus tricks to get me out of the loop I eat when I get stressed.  The eating doesn’t help me mentally at all but I think it does.  Does that make sense?  In this day and age I think food is a comfort for lots environmental and psychological stresses we put on our bodies and it has just gotten out of hand.

Why is it easier to tell someone to quit smoking because it is going to kill them than to tell someone that their weight is crushing their organs?  As a society we put way too much importance on weight.  If people actually knew my number on the scale I’d probably be looked down upon.  Weight is relative.  Health is what’s important.  BMI and body fat percentage ratios are a far better measure.  It’s taken me 5 years to learn that lesson but it’s true.  Back to the question; weight is a taboo topic.  People are touchy.  I’m touchy!  I get it.  Again, I also know that not all overweight cases are in relation to food.  There are lots of physical conditions and medications that can make you overweight.  You can’t help that.  Please, please understand, as I write this I am not talking about the folks that can’t help it. I am writing this to the people that look to food to solve their problems.

Why does it take getting to the 900 pound mark for someone to say, “You are going to die if you don’t do something?”  It makes my heart hurt.  I think this is one of the reasons I like watching The Biggest Loser.  While some do not agree with the show, I think the basis of it is right.  You are providing encouragement, teaching health and exercise, and providing contestants with an alternative way to live their life.  I don’t think it’s healthy to lose so much weight so fast, but that’s just me.  The part I like is the teaching.  Society is not teaching us anything other than self-gratification and excess.  If we hurt, we eat.  If we’re sick, we eat.  If we’re depressed, we eat.  If we’re celebrating, we eat.  WE.  EAT.  See the trend?  One thing we fail to realize is food is not going to solve any one of our problems.  It makes us feel good in the moment and then not so good the next.  Do you see what I said there?  It makes us feel good and then it doesn’t.  Sounds a bit like a drug, right?  If we’re eating because we’re stressed then we need to find the root of our stress and deal with it.  If we can’t get rid of the stress then we need to find another outlet for relief.  I’m glad that the BL contestants get the benefit of this learning, but I wish everyone could have such teachers and counselors.  I won’t lie; I need it sometimes.  Luckily for me I have CrossFit, Trainer Brian, and encouraging friends.  While everyone can’t have CrossFit or Trainer Brian, I do hope that I can be an encouraging friend to someone struggling with life and looking to the wrong outlet to solve their problem, whether it be food, drugs, pornography, or alcohol.

I’ll hop off my soapbox now.  I hope and pray that none of what I said offended you, but if it did then maybe you’re one of the touchy people that need a little self-reflection.   That’s a very harsh thing to say, but at some point everyone needs to learn that we need to be happy with ourselves.  I think I would be safe in saying that 80% of the people that use food as an addiction are not happy with themselves.  It is not wrong to enjoy eating or food- we should!  Some of my friends are fantastic cooks and I enjoy everything they make…in moderation.  I think there is a line.  It is not for me to determine; everyone is different.  I think it goes back to what I said earlier; if we use food to continually make us feel good then we have a problem.

Well this post certainly meandered and chased a few rabbits.  I never said I was a good writer! J This post was meant to be encouraging and also to charge those of us strong enough to help others to do so.  We can all be life coaches.  It’s a hard topic but one that definitely needs to be discussed.  Let’s help one another get to the point that “you’re going to die if you don’t do something” is not a phrase we have to hear.

TODAY I LOVE: the power of prayer and free speech

SONG OF THE DAY: “Before It Breaks” by Brandi Carlile