Physiological Impact of Obesity Image from Drexel University College of Medicine _____________________ I couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America. --Morgan Spurlock, Supersize Me Obesity: Pandemic or Nonsense? Out of curiosity, I did a search on the term "Obesity Problem," just to see what is being said in the media and medical sites. Here is what I discovered : Obesity defined: An obese person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. If a person's body weight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese. -- Medical News Today Are YOU obese? Use this handy CDC widget to find out: BMI For Adults Widget According to the Nati

If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die. --Maya Angelou This is a difficult truth to accept: The more weight I lose, the better strangers treat me. I wish it weren't so because while this better treatment might benefit me personally, this suggests that our culture has much work to do in terms of accepting difference on all fronts. And that saddens me. I don't want to be privileged over someone else just because I'm thinner (or younger, prettier, etc.). Privilege ought to be earned, through accomplishments and good deeds, not because of superficial features, such looks, race, age, or size. As I continue to slim down, I'm going to keep this thought firmly in mind and treat all people with the respect they deserve. It would be so easy to forget where I started; this post is my reminder. Peace and respect to all.

I am the one who got myself fat, who did all the eating. So I had to take full responsibility for it. --Kirstie Alley Let me say this right up front: I have failed at EVERY diet program I have tried. Yes, in almost every case, I have taken off the weight successfully. That has never been the problem for me. I'm the Queen of the weight-loss program circuit; I have spent most of my adult life in search of the Holy Grail, the definitive answer to my weight problem. But I have never been able to keep the lost pounds off. I want this time to be different; I want to be part of the 5%-7% who keeps the weight off for two years or more. Who doesn't? None of us join a program expecting failure in our future. However, NONE of the existing weight loss programs really address weight maintenance. I believe that Weight Watchers comes the closest but is not quite there yet. Perhaps it's because there is little profit in maintenance programs. Diet programs make their

Advertising is legalized lying. --H. G. Wells When I wrote the May 12, 2011, article Shame on You, Consumer Reports , I was careful not to include Jenny Craig in any negative way, for JC did not make the decision to use the Jenny Craig sponsored trial "Effect of a Free Prepared Meal and Incentivized Weight Loss Program on Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance in Obese and Overweight Women" to decide "the best" program, but, rather, to test long-term efficacy of diet programs that provide both food and program fees to members for free. I even stressed the following: ...this article is not meant to disparage the Jenny Craig Program, which may be a fine program; I have never been a Jenny Craig member. My issue is with Consumer Reports and its research source for its rating of Jenny Craig. I believed (and still believe) that the underlying objective of the research was to prove that overall program efficacy and members' overall health would improve if

Food is our common ground, a universal experience. --James Beard The USDA's message is the same: Balancing Calories ● Enjoy your food, but eat less. ● Avoid oversized portions. Foods to Increase ● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. ● Make at least half your grains whole grains. ● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk. Foods to Reduce ● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers. ● Drink water instead of sugary drinks. For more info, go to Choose My Plate The USDA hopes that the plate as a symbol of sensible eating will be more intuitive than the old pyramid. My take: Yes, it will be easier to understand, but the pyramid wasn't all that complicated, especially with the accompanying narrative. The new logo is a start, but the government needs to go further in its efforts to get Americans to eat healthier and exercise more: ● Reward food manufacturers, restaurants, and gr

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space. --Johnny Cash Imagine this: You are a normal-weight earthling who finds herself transported permanently to Planet Skinny where everything is half the normal earthly size. The average chair is wide enough for a very slim earth person and able to hold a maximum of 110 pounds, which is considered obese on Planet Skinny. The space between table and seat in restaurant booths can comfortably accommodate someone with a 36" chest, so if you are any larger, you are resting your boobs on the table. Flying is a nightmare; you must book your flights carefully, often paying for First Class or buying two seats. In short, everywhere you go poses a hassle, so eventually you give up going out in public. Not only is the too-small infrastructure all wr

... It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. --Carl Sagan In the past few days, I have been shopping for some new shorts; my "fat" shorts are too big, and my "skinny" ones are too small. I figure I'll, more or less, be my current size for the entire summer, so I decided to buy 2 or 3 pair. Well. What a production. Now I must admit: I haven't bought shorts in about 11 years. Thick or thin, I simply dug through That Secret Closet Which Harbors Several Sizes , and, when summer rolled around, I selected the correct shorts, usually in the larger sizes. I pretty much knew which ones to choose. I thought this would be a straightforward shopping expedition. I had just a few simple criteria for my new shorts: --My butt and part of my legs/thighs had to be covered. And, PLEASE , no possibility of butt crack... --I wanted to buy shorts that were slightly snug in the butt

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. --Aristotle Last night, I dreamt that I was playing a high-stakes Bingo game. The prize: $1,000,000 But some of the numbers on the Bingo card were wrong; for example, "1" was placed under "I." To win, I needed just one number; unfortunately, that was the "I-1" number. I tried to tell the Bingo caller that my card was faulty. He couldn't (or wouldn't) hear me, so the game played on. In the face of impossibility, I kept rooting for "I-1" to be called. But in my heart, I realized that my winning number would never be called; the game, fixed in favor of someone else, had been stacked against me. I awakened angry and lamenting the unfairness of life. However, I have come to realize that we often play games that offer no chance of winning. Extreme dieting, defined as an eating plan that no normal-weight

Journeys --------------------------- We know a thing by its opposite corollary; --------------------------- hot by having experienced cold; --------------------------- good, by having decided what is bad; --------------------------- love by hate. ---------------------- ---------------------------------- -- Sylvia Plath (Music. Theme to “The Twilight Zone.” Spotlight, beginning as a pinpoint of light and broadening into a tight circle of light, comes up. Samantha , the fat woman, about 40, vivid red hair falling to her waist, steps into the spotlight. She wears summer clothes: a Prussian Blue knit top, white shorts, scruffy sandals. A striking woman, she stands straight and places her arms akimbo. Spotlight broadens to encompass the entire stage, which is bare, except downstage left: a car, a red Jetta, obviously well-used, is parked, its trunk open. Several suitcases, duffel bags, etc. are stacked behind the car. Music fades.) Samantha: I begin my journey alone. A journey that begins

Jennifer Semple's bus ticket receipt and ticket envelope from May 1, 1969 ________________________________ Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence . --Ralph Waldo Emerson I'm not sure that I believe in fate per se , but I do believe that a series of small decisions can move people in unexpected directions. Forty-two years ago, I made a decision that dramatically changed the course of my life. The above images represent this major shift in my life, but it didn't occur all of a sudden--a series of events, some minor and some major--led me to leave Iowa and escape to Pennsylvania, where I have lived ever since. I wrote a memoir about this shift; if you're curious, I have posted some excerpts from it here . Had I not moved to Pennsylvania, my life would have been dramatically different--how, I don't know. I suspect that my life would have been less successful, but who knows? Maybe that "movie agent" who approached me on the stree

I like meat--I never became a vegetarian. But it is hard to justify the way animals are treated on this planet. Growing meat without inflicting pain seemed a natural solution. --Willem van Eelen* In the future, lab-grown food may be coming to your local supermarket. According to a May 23, 2011, New Yorker article ("Test-tube Burgers") by Michael Specter, scientist Willem van Eelen has developed "in-vitro meat" by scraping a few cells from the muscles of animals and placing them in a special solution, where they are grown into a hamburger-type substance, which could be cooked and eaten just like hamburger from slaughtered animals. Of course, growing lab meat on a grand scale is not likely to happen any time soon, but PETA and various environmental groups are interested in promoting research efforts that would result in mass market lab-grown meat becoming a reality. At first, van Eelen's colleagues scoffed at the idea of growing meat in a petri dish, b

Everyone who wants to do good to the human race always ends in universal bullying . --Aldous Huxley I hate overweight, because it implies that there's a weight standard I should be adhering to. --Camryn Manheim The other day, Dr. Oz had some "experts" on his show who believe that fat children are "abused" and should be taken away from their parents and placed in foster care. Really? Are we getting so ridiculous here in the U.S. that we are going to hunt down overweight children and penalize their parents? Call in the Fat Police? Arrest parents? Set up government orphanages and boarding schools for overweight kids? Look. I agree that good eating habits begin at home, and, perhaps, parents need some refresher courses in proper nutrition, but even to suggest that children should be removed from their homes because of excess weight is just beyond the pale. I mean, does Children's Social Services remove kids because their parents smoke cigarettes

...I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place. And I really believe good journalism is good business. --Christiane Amanpour Yesterday, I was reading on the MSNBC site an article about the death of heiress Huguette Clark, when at the bottom of the page, I saw a form, calling for possible investigative news pieces, so I shot off the following: Hello, In its June 2011 issue, in its article "Pick your ideal diet," Consumer Reports selected Jenny Craig as the top diet plan. Unfortunately, they selected a study that had been financially supported by Jenny Craig. There are other problems with their research methodology, for example, only Jenny Craig was studied in this particular trial. So I wrote a rebuttal on my blog, picking apart their methodology: http://www.thoughtfortheday.us/2011/05/thought-for-day-may-12-2011-shame-on.html I also wrote some follow up posts: http://www.thoughtfortheday.us/2011/05/thought-for-day-may-13

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. --Joseph Campbell I'm trying to verify my sites as Norton Safe Sites, but on blogger adding meta-tags and accessing the root files are not possible. I spent half the morning trying to find Norton support, but all I get is "Nathan," a virtual assistant, who was, well, not too helpful. So I e-mailed the following to Norton: Dear Norton Support, Unfortunately, none of the [three coding] options [offered] work on the blogger platform, because blogger does not permit Meta-tags or any other kind of code in the heading, and there are no root files, at least that are accessible by blogger users. Although they do have an html gadget/widget, it cannot be placed in the head; however, it can be placed on the template, which surely could be accessible by your reviewers, no? By the way, "Nathan" was useless and could not answer my question. I called him a moron; I'm afraid I hurt his virtual feelings. Bes

My Other I first became aware of my fat when I was two. Yes, I think that awareness came first, that moment when a blob of fat jiggled into memory, unblocking Jungian canals of prehistory. It was only after fat-consciousness that I became aware of me as an entity in and of itself. In an instant, I went from nothingness to a wiggling amoeba to a suddenly complete human being sitting on a horse on a merry-go-round. My breath caught me by surprise, almost as if someone had jumped from behind and frightened me into existence. Now, what? Colors, sounds, smells, touch, and taste flooding my body. Feelings– wild and random and terrifying, like a sea of voices screaming in tongues, pushing me under. I can’t breathe! Then, something–someone?–moving through the canals of my brain– organizing, filing, and deleting. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....AIR! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...! I wasn’t feeling dizzy as the merry-go-round spun around and my horse pumped up and down, like a wave ebbing and flowing and ebbing and f

"Sorry, my flock, you must go back to earth. No room in the cloud." --God ______________________ Well, with prophecy you got to see what happens. --George Noory It's dangerous to base predictions on The Bible, which is basically a good book with good intentions, but it's a divine-inspired text transcribed and filtered by humans, who often have their own viewpoints and agendas, no matter how holy and pious they may be. I'm not sure why some people take the Good Book so literally. But the truth is, some day, the world, as a living thing, will end, so the prophets of doom are right about the event but wrong about the time. I think we'll have some warning, perhaps thousands and even millions of years lead time; the laws of physics will dictate when and how the world will end. Today is a new day. Enjoy!

"Oh, no! Where am I going to put all these pious earthlings????" _____________________ 2011 AD--On May 21st, Judgment Day will begin and the rapture (the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will occur at the end of the 23-year great tribulation. On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation). -- eBibleFellowship Actually, according to the ebiblefellowship site, today is only the beginning of the end, so I will likely still be around to post on May 22. According to ebiblefellowship , the rapture begins today: The Bible teaches that on May 21st, 2011, only true believers elected by God to receive salvation will be raptured (taken up) out of this world to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with the Lord. So if some of the people you know--especially those who are deeply religious, have been tossing around today's date ad nauseum , and take the Bible literally--are missing, then you will know that the

You Are Invited! ♣ --- ♦ --- ♥ --- ♠ WHO : The Mallorys, Bacons, O’Flahertys, etc. WHAT: Family Reunion. WHEN: June 20, from 10:30 a.m. to ????? WHERE: The Lake. COST: A favorite dish, plus $25.00 per couple, $7.50 per child, to help defray the cost of renting The Northwest Quadrant of the Winnehaha Pavilion. RSVP: Sally Millhouse, (712) 555-1234 SPECIAL NOTE: We’ll be sitting for family portraits! ________________________________ Follow Samantha as she prepares for the family reunion. As she hunts for artifacts for the family display, she finds this old letter: Oct. 29, 1959 (I am sorry this is late) Dear Auntie, Thank you for the $10 for my birthday. I will buy a pretty red pink blue dress you will like (I hope). I am skinney now, dr. Noonan put me on a strick diet (ugh!). Lettuce, cellery and cottage cheese. I HATE Mrs. Niles died last month, Nana says she wieghed over 500 lbs, I would DIE if I weighed over 500 lbs. I am in the St. Bonyfi Boniface chior now, we sang at Mrs. Nile

According to CNNmoney.com , a group called Corporate Accountability International is calling for the ouster of Ronald McDonald. Very Interesting, but it's not likely going to happen. As long as the money continues rolling in, the red-headed spokesclown will remain as a McDonald's mainstay and icon. Corporate Accountability International contends that McDonalds' product--fast-food--is making an entire generation of children sick and overweight and will ultimately shorten their lifespans. I have noticed that children are getting fatter; just go to any school or read any article with photos of kids, and you will see for yourself. When I was very young, very few fast food restaurants existed. That is not to say that you couldn't get a greasy burger or fatty hot dog at the local diner or carhop (or even at home), but it was a big deal, not an everyday meal. Moreover, kids generally ate out less and exercised in a more natural and organic manner, playing outside, doi

I'd go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked . --Eminem You can spend the money on new housing for poor people and the homeless, or you can spend it on a football stadium or a golf course . --Jello Biafra I thought I had heard everything, but this story shocks me. As if it's not bad enough to find yourself and your kid without a place to live, now you're being arrested for enrolling your kid in the "wrong" school. According to News of the Weird (this specific snippet published in the May 17, 2011, issue of the York Daily Record ), Tonya McDowell, a homeless parent, was arrested for "felony theft" for "stealing" $15,686 in educational services from the Norwalk, Connecticut, school district. Read more in HuffPost Education McDowell, no fixed address, has apparently lived, off and on, in Norwalk, but at the time of registering her son at Brookside Elementary School, she was living with a fri