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I am glad to announce this: http://www.lulu.com/content/288626 Go there and check it out, it is my new book! Plus, here is an essay that I received an A on in Writing class.

P. Allan Frederick
ENG 151
Prof. M. Wolfe
Obesity Final Draft
30 May 2007


It is commonly publicized in the media that the majority of Americans are overweight. Just in memory, I understand the number is around 60% and most of those are obese; an “epidemic” I’ve heard it described. There is an entire fitness industry, worth $1.6 billion annually (ask.com), focusing on loosing weight. Why are we so fat? I qualify as an obese person, therefore, I should have some license to discuss this matter. What should I do in consideration? Should I ask my government for help? Should I ask my employer or healthcare provider? Or should I just stop eating so much and join a gym. There is a stigma with being an overweight person, which can be painful. What should I do under such scrutiny? Should I ask a mental health professional for help? All good questions, some of which I intend to explore.
I want to start with personal responsibility. As I was discussing this topic with a friend, he unashamedly took responsibility for his own weight issues. At one time he was the model of perfection in physical fitness, now however, he is overweight. In essence he says HE is responsible for his condition. He says the reason anybody is overweight is because they put the food in their mouth, and hence they are overweight. This is hands down the truth, in probably the majority of the cases. I know I myself will eat the occasional sweet or burger. But I don’t think it is so simple. There are too many variables to consider. Yes, I am responsible for putting food in my mouth, but, who is responsible for what is available to me, and what the food is made of?
Here is what I mean. When I walk into a grocery store, I am exposed to a vast array of food. Usually, the first food I am exposed to is the produce section; if I follow the outer isle around the store, the theme of fresh foods continues. Produce usually goes to bakery or meat, then dairy, and so on. As a person who wants to loose weight, I know that most frozen food consist of preservatives that are not necessarily so healthy for you. To me and my family, this is understood common knowledge. To many people, this is not an issue, or even a care. Granted, I love fish sticks, frozen dinners and frozen veggies, but there is a reason why these items have a long shelf life, and it is not just because of the fact they are frozen, or so I understand it. My Mother-in-Law believes these “preservatives” are doing the same things to our bodies as they do to the food we consume. Well, this does make sense to me, but I have never read anything on the issue either way.
However, be it on a website, magazine, television program, or radio, I have become convinced that there are artificial additives to FRESH foods, which DO go into our bodies; those additives being growth hormones. It is a nasty little habit that has been approved by our government. The theory is sound. If you add growth hormones to your farmed meat animals, they will grow bigger, and produce better and bigger meat, poultry, and dairy. I have had beef NOT from the grocery store, and to me, it doesn’t taste as good as what I am used to. I have grown to love the meat I eat, the poultry, dairy, and produce that is in the grocery store; these are what I put into my mouth.
As I recall, our bodies absorb these growth hormones. We all accept that our produce and grains are exposed to insecticides, but it is not common knowledge that our produce and grains, which are fed to our livestock, are grown with those hormone additives. And, in as much as we get our nutrients from our food, so do we get these hormones. It is like injecting growth hormones into our bodies. I believe, from everything I have read, heard, and watched, it is a valid reason why we are gaining weight.
Another reason we are overweight is the socialization of fast food. I’m coming home at the end of the day, and I have a choice: bring home some burgers or cook and clean. Although cooking may have better health benefits, it is just not as convenient. We are bombarded with television commercials about fast food, and now we are to think since they serve salads, we can eat there and not feel guilty or in truth, gain weight. The real truth is they fill their salad dressings full of sugar. Even dressings that don’t have sugar in the food isle in the grocery store, has sugar in the dressings at the restaurant. My nine year old has to do her homework, I have to do my homework, both my wife and I struggle with physical illnesses that causes fatigue and chronic pain, she is tired from working all day, and we have to choose. The fast food alternative is seemingly a better choice. In the end it isn’t. The Mcleading fast food restaurant puts tons of salt and sugar in the food they serve, so our palates become conditioned to wanting more. Moreover, it is more expensive to eat fast food, a poor alternative to a healthy diet, and habit forming. If I can cook at home, I should. Even with the fresh isle pumped full of growth hormones, and so forth, it still would seem to be a better alternative. Or so I’m told.
In fact, I have been told many things over the years as to how to slim down and stay down. I have been told to eat brown rice with skinless chicken and steamed vegetables. I have been told not to eat rice because it is a carbohydrate that will turn to sugar in my body. Over the years of my life, there have been passing fads on loosing weight. First, thirty years ago, it was calories; so sugar free became the big trend in mass food marketing. Then, it was fat that was bad; don’t eat fat of any kind. Although I was eating no sugar, no fat foods, I was still overweight. Then, recently, it was carbohydrates that were bad. So all those healthy nonfat, low calorie items I was buying at the grocery store now needed to have no carbs. SO, now I need to eat foods that have no sugar, no carbs, no fat, and now nothing that has preservatives or growth hormones. What am I suppose to eat now, Air? Air doesn’t really solve the problem, and isn’t very filling.
The problem with trying to loose weight is no matter what, you must eat. Something that we all have in common, is in order to live, we must eat. We have been raised differently as to what to eat, how to prepare food, what time of the day we should eat, what type of self imposed restrictions should we have, and so on? If, like me, you come from a family of overweight people (only on my fathers side), chances are you will be fat. It is similar to alcoholics and drug abusers. If it is in the socialization of the family environment, then your chances are greater that you will follow in those foot steps. I also believe that genetics play somewhat of a role. There can be no doubt that there are people who can eat anything they please, and as much of it as they please, and still maintain a trim figure. Then, like me, there are those who gain weight just from watching the food channel on television. But, I return to personal responsibility. Being genetically enabled to eat whatever and how much ever food we want is not a license to gain weight. We are still responsible what goes in between our lips.
There is a produce industry gaining momentum which is becoming more frequent in some grocery stores, and it is Organic Food. Organic food is food which is not pumped full of hormones and preservatives and special insecticides and so forth. Organics are grown naturally. However, the main hindrance in buying organics is the price. Sometimes the prices for organic foods are double non-organic, or more.
What are the solutions? I think eating organic food is perhaps the alternative. There are organic meats, grains, produce, and diary. This includes chips, cereals, soups, and just about anything that could come otherwise. Again, the serious issue is the price. As the FDA controls the food industry, I wonder how much responsibility the US Government is willing to take. Here is where you may think that I am getting paranoid. But please take all this into consideration. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration, the Government sanctioned organization over seeing the Food and Drug industries, much like the IRS does for our taxes) and its upper management is filled with professionals that used to work for pharmaceutical companies and food industry professionals. They, the upper management, still continue to have a relationship with these individuals. My understanding is everybody knows everybody, they are all in the same circles, and they all maintain personal and professional relationships. They are a close nit group of people. This, along with the nonsensical truth that the Food industry is making people fatter, the FDA has declared Obesity as a disease. The Drug companies can’t treat a “syndrome” with prescription drugs, only diseases. So, the friends of the drug industry, who are also the friends of the food industry, are allowed to create drugs to cure obesity, or even worse, their drugs are manufactured to address the results of obesity: heart disease, diabetes, cholesterol, etc. So, in review, the FDA, who are friends of the Food and Drug industry, allow the food industry to make bigger and fatter products, which in turn make us bigger and fatter, which in turn create a need for us to spend more money in the drug industry. It is all about money. This is a tight nit “boys club” that is making money off of our health. By the way, it is my understanding this is not a national secret, and if you know where to look, this can be verified by yourself; probably some online work. Again, organic fresh food seems to be the way to go.
I think if they wanted to, the Government could totally change the obesity “epidemic” in this county, or at least seriously curb it by creating a federally funded weight loss political and social environment. It could safely be said that the FDA and the industry they serve are too large for the Executive branch to take on. It would take all three branches of the Government to possibly affect the current condition we are in. However, there are ways of going around these things. One of which would be Legislative programs constructed to benefit the American public.
How about a tax break or refund for people who register themselves through their healthcare provide as obese, and lose weight and meet their weight loss goal? That might provide an answer. How about not charging sales tax on Organic food? What about giving the Fitness clubs and organizations (Weight Watchers, Curves, Gold’s Gym, etc.) huge tax breaks for success? I know that these organizations thrive on us NOT loosing weight and staying in perpetual need of these companies, but if we made it more cost efficient to create success, then they might become more successful. How about increasing the mandate for public schools to offer only low-carb, low calorie meals for all students? Why not, they will not allow peanut butter on the school premises if only one child has a food allergy. Childhood obesity can be just as dangerous as a food allergy. Why not have computer generated item by item tracking systems of what your child is eating in school? Again, this leads us back to the FDA’s plan to make a fat country which will rely on pharmaceuticals for life. But this could be combated. It wouldn’t’ harm children of any size and shape to eat a low calorie, low carbohydrate diet. How about Organic Growers be given tax free profits? Or, how about putting on a fat tax on fast food, both on drive through/over the counter sales, and wholesale; this would provide income for the Organic Growers to get their tax benefits? How about having stars do PSA’s (Public Service Announcements) on tackling obesity and/or eating organics? Why not have annual tax refunds for anybody who can prove that they lost weight and went down to their ideal size? This of course would have to go through the health industry, which would provide more income for the health industry. The goal would be to provide a way to shift the money’s put into our getting fatter, into our staying thin.
Many people eat excessively due to unattended emotional needs. They feed the heart with comfort, and that comfort comes in the form of food. Food can be a good friend. It makes you feel good. It gives to you without making any conditions. It doesn’t complain, it doesn’t fight back, it just gives. It gives and makes you feel better (not to all people). So, we eat. If we are lonely, we eat; if we are bored, we eat; if we are angry, we eat; if we are down, we eat; we eat, we eat, we eat. Surprisingly, those emotions rarely make us want to get up and exercise. The truth is, exercise boosts our endorphins, and that makes us feel better. It just doesn’t come naturally to some people. Many times, as children, when we are feeling these emotions, we are fed to make us feel better.
With this in consideration, perhaps, along with eating organic food, we need some therapy. We need to be taught, or given tools to learn how to not feed our emotions with food, but to deal with our emotions. We must be given the tools to deal with the stresses of life and process our feelings. This doesn’t come naturally either.
Lastly, the solution to loosing weight, other than eating organic food and taking therapy, is exercising. It is good old fashion getting off your butt and get moving. I take several small walks with my dog everyday. If I didn’t, I would be much worse off. However, I know that I personally have to increase my exercise in order to take off the pounds. Regardless of how much hormone induced foods, or fast food I eat, if I don’t exercise, I’m finished. Exercise makes you feel better, it boosts energy, and it activates our brains and imaginations. One problem that many face is that they have indulged in being obese for so long, it has affected their wellbeing to the point where their health is not permitting an active life, and they are barely able to exercise at all
In conclusion, living a life of obesity may be due to a combination of reasons, and combinations of excuses, but it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. It may take baby steps, slowly switching to organics, income permitting; slowly stopping the fast food habit, which would allow you to buy organic food; slowly figuring out your emotional dependencies on food, and slowly starting to exercise. It will take hard work, but I know that I’m up to the challenge. I say, don’t judge the fat person, for they have a lot going against them. In fact, befriend an overweight person, you just might be the influence they need to change their life, and become the person they want to be.