Stayed Too Long

You seem to be the first offshoot originating from GSC?

I believe it would be a beneficial study to look at the homeless and discover why they are not fat. To date, the current and past studies done, have not decreased the occurances of overeating in society. But my skepticism says it is just to obvious, and the powers that be will ignore it.

To me it is amazing all the studies that have been done finding out what parts of the brain supposedly cause us to overeat, or abuse drugs or alcohol. We can pinpoint everything, but it has not curbed the abuse! Alcoholism has been around forever but we cannot arrest it. One would expect an improvement when studies seem to identify why booze is abused, for example. But, things are only getting worse. We allocate money to fix the problem, but thing get worse. Does that make sense? Apparently it does to those who make such decisions. If you were having trouble in your home with rat infestation, say, and you hired an expert to fix the problem, you would expect results. If the rats continued you would fire the expert, and look at different solutions. Makes sense, doesn’t it? https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/alcohol-related-deaths-increasing-united-states

Unless we can get under control all of our stresses, daily responsibilities, access to tasty foods, and our decision making limits I am afraid obesity will continue to expand. And like our Social Security program, more will be taking from it than depositing into it. Medical expenses are estimated to be about 12% of all medical costs. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180208180356.htm With us boomers leaving the work force and receiving SS benefits and medicare, the pot of takers is growing. Add to that, the US population is shrinking, things could get bleak. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/31/792737851/u-s-population-growth-in-2019-is-slowest-in-a-century

Currently, I am in the process of shedding 20 lbs that was gained over the past few years. When I try to analyze how the weight gains occurred, the holidays and snack foods surface to the top. All those deliciously prepared meals and left overs are too much for me to avoid. Worse yet, all the chips and candies throughout the year are a killer. Craft beet is also a major problem, but the soaring prices has gotten me to imbibe very little anymore. Also at 300-400 calories per glass, it will pack the pounds on like there is no tomorrow. But when I look back at the 70’s and 80’s, there was no problem pushing back from the table after eating a plate full of food. An additional plate of 2’000 calories was not craved like they are today, not to mention a couple servings of apple pie a la Mode. Back then a single serving of potato chips was adequate, but now I sit down with a bag of family sized chips, and who knows when it will be deemed enough. In the past I attended Overeaters Anonymous, but it was to no avail at all. I left because everyone was always going to start a diet sometime in the future. After going to meetings for a year, and not seeing anyone lose weight, I dropped out. Now, every couple of years, I go through this ritual of losing a few pounds, hoping, maybe, the extra weight will stay off this time.

Getting off of drugs and alcohol are not simple either, and there are programs available to help. There are the 12 step programs of AA and NA, private counseling, inpatient programs, and probably others also. For those wanting assistance losing weight the is the 12 step program OA. There is also private counseling available, and for severe case, medical intervention may be necessary. The thing that got me thinking about obesity was a picture I saw of a crowd of people in 1970. Most people were trim and fit with only one person visible who was over weight, and not obese. A picture in 2015 showed many over weight and obese people. What has occurred in the past 50 years that can explain this phenomenon? There were fast food restaurants and processed food in the 70’s, yet people were able to maintain a healthy weight. My guess is portion control. It seems that once a person begins eating excess food, the food becomes a drug just like a narcotic or alcohol. It is uncontrollable and the demand for it is overwhelming, with many unable to deal with it responsibly.

If you observe a man or woman smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, you can make the assumption, if they have lung cancer, the tobacco played a major roll. Likewise, if you see a person drinking to excess, and is involved in an accident, you can rationalize the booze was a major contributer. They will probably be issued a DUI by the police. Likewise, if you observe a person who is obese eating a triple cheese burger, superized fries, and large Coke, you can make the assumtion the calorie intake has contributed to them being over weight. At home, eating large portion at a meal, will also contribute to being over weight. Tune into the television show “My 600 Pound Body” to observe how much and what obese people eat. They have absolutely no control over how much they eat in a day. You could look at food pyramids to see if they can contribute to weight gain, but first let’s get the calorie intake under control.

Being over weight and obese is a serious health problem. https://infogram.com/us-adult-obesity-rates-since-1960-1gzxop49on65mwy The cost is becoming astronomical. https://onlinepublichealth.gwu.edu/resources/cost-of-obesity-in-us/ Obesity is preventable, so what are your thoughts on why we continue to put our health in jeopardy? To me, we know it is not healthy, but continue to eat more and more. We even come up with new terms to make being obese seem normal. BBW (Big Beautiful Woman,) is a created term used to describe a woman who is living unhealthy. It is not beautiful to see someone put their health at tisk. The same describes a man who is obese or over weight. Often times, if someone mentions it, they are accused of “fat shaming” someone. But we have no problem telling someone who smokes they are putting their health st risk. If a friend is addicted to drugs, we will point out to them that it is not healthy. It seems we have a double standard on approacing health. We don’t want to “hurt someone’s feelings” by telling them they are living an unhealthy life style. I believe the path we are on will continue to make our country unhealthy.

Mike, Is it just semantics that you cannot figure out who are currently in charge at TWI? You call them the Board of Trustees and the Way calls them the Board of Directors on their web page. Same difference, no?