The results are in.
Ohio is fat. Among the fattest in fact. We rank somewhere around 11th out of the 50 states though it may just be the "lower 48" that make up these stats since Hawaiians have always been fat and Alaskans were all out shooting their dinner or campaigning and could not be reached for inclusion in any study.
I guess it's not really all that surprising. I felt a small bit of tension when I scrolled down and saw us on the list. But then I did a quick mental survey of the landscape and realized, yeah, though I don't travel much this must be accurate. It brings me back to my latest obsession which is nutrition.
Once I start reading on a subject it usually steamrolls until I've read no less than 10 or 20 books on the subject. This time I actually attended a meeting at OSU regarding re-enrolling in school to get another degree. This time in HUMAN NUTRITION. As I learn more and more I learn both things I already knew and also things I was not aware of. But through it all I believe nutrition can be boiled down to a few simple, easy steps that most of us will refuse to follow thereby solidifying my future job prospects as a Dietician. Things like: Exercise. Now. Doesn't matter how much or how intense. Something is better than nothing. Even if it's Wii Just Dance, or cleaning or walking around the block or jumping up and down ten times with your child. Something is better than nothing. Should I repeat that again? and try to eat stuff that grew from a plant instead of food that was killed every once in a while. Or maybe don't ingest so much alcohol or caffeine or sugar or fast food and so on.
But I don't think those tips are going to get anyone thin or keep anyone thin. I think a huge shift in thinking has to occur before the epidemic of obesity begins to abate. As a society we want everything comfortable and quick. That's all we ask, right? Is it really so much? For example, we want to be able to abuse our bodies with one or many substances for decades while simultaneously depriving our bodies of other life affirming substances and activities and when we come down with illness we want a cure, dammit. We want a prescription. And we want it in a little yellowish, brown bottle that we can drive through the pharmacy to pick up. We do not want it to be too large or to taste bad or to have any effects aside from PRESTO! magically disappearing whatever it is that ails us! If we can't have that bottle then our next desire is a quick, painless, and inexpensive procedure, surgery, treatment, etc. But then we want to go back home, open a beer and some chips and sit on the couch and watch "The Biggest Loser" so we can feel like it's really not so bad.
For those more motivated we want to peruse the library or the bookstore wellness sections and take home books or magazines with titles like "Lose 40 pounds in 40 days" or "Only 6 minutes a day to your perfect body" or "Lose weight and be healthy without any change in your diet." Or maybe more pills can help with this end of it. Maybe we can take a pill and then sit on the couch as the pounds and damages to our bodies melt away.
I know it's difficult. I've struggled for years with weight. And now feel it's finally under control. But only because I've made that connection between me and food and wellness. I don't just think being a healthy weight is what it's about though. I think once we decide that we want to be healthy and we know it will take major eating, activity and mindset changes and we accept that it will be for a lifetime vs. in "4 minutes a day!" then we can make these changes slowly and gradually. Instead of telling our kids they can't have the cupcake on Valentine's Day we can let that slide and vow not to drive through for dinner for awhile. Instead of having six beers we could settle on one or two. We could do push ups or sit ups while we watch TV. I dunno...
It ain't gonna be comfortable and it's not gonna be quick. But it has to be done.
2 comments:
I stopped drinking Diet Coke last Tuesday. That's 9 days and change. Why am I telling you this? Because Diet Coke makes people fat. I love it dearly, but it really effs with your body's ability to discern imitation sugar from the real stuff, thus, making you eat more. Liked the post. I became interested in dietary stuff while working at the hospital and started exercising in 2004 after seeing a dietitian show a reporter a plaster model of a "healthy" artery (with room for the blood to flow) and a "diseased" artery (with no room for the blood to flow). Excuse me, I have to go pass out now, because that vision still bothers me.
Awesome. I am trying not to sound preachy with all this stuff because really I know how hard it is. I am fascinated not only by learning the details of the body's processes but also and probably more so in our human insistence to gravitate towards things that inhibit optimal function. Soda or coffee denial is a HUGE step. Did you replace it with anything?
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