Do Some Peop;e REALLY Eat This Way

Um, I wouldn't single out overweight people. I see many thin people in my grocery store eating mostly junk, cart loads of diet soda, Weight Watchers treats, fat free this, processed that, the usual suspects (candy, chips, ice cream)yet no fruits, vegetables, whole grains or lean proteins.
No real food.


Vicki: Your post was very insightful

Dallys: You bring up many good points. You never know what's going on.
 
Charlotte, I absolutely agree with you!!! Does anyone take personal responsibility anymore?? Another irritating thing for me is when I get comments from people like 'you can eat that cuz you're thin' or 'I'm not as lucky as you are', referring to 'naturally' being thin. }( If only they saw the sweat & healthy diet that keeps me/us this way! It's about choices!!
 
I, too, was that woman on line 3 years ago. I didn't care anymore about my weight because past failures left me with a sense of "what for?" I had tried in the past to lose the extra 20-30lbs I had carried all of my life. I had TRIED to eat what I THOUGHT were healthier alternatives...low fat this and that but it NEVER worked. Why you ask...because it was all of that prepackaged, not even remotely real food, crap.

I truly think that's where much of the problem lies. So much of what we find on our supermarket shelves has tremendously misleading information on the labels. That jar of lower fat PB doesn't say "Oh, by the way there's twice as much sugar". They are even making "healthy" soda with added vitamins. Oh please!!!!!

I ran into a perfect example of this today. This 14 year-old girl who rides with us really needs to trim down a bit to continue riding some of the ponies (kind of cruel, I know, but a reality of the sport). She has lost some weight, but still has a few more to lose and is "trying" but her choices are not educated choices. It isn't for lack of initiative, I can tell you that. Today I peeked at the wrapper of her snack, a Special K bar with protein. Sure it had 10g of protein but the first four ingredients were sugar, sugar, sugar and sugar! She had no idea because they were listed as fructose, corn syrup, etc. Here the poor kid thought she was doing the right thing and it turns out that it was probably one of the worst things she could have put in her mouth. Should she try to educate herself more about nutrition...sure. But she's a 14 year-old girl, it's probably not going to happen. It's not realistic to expect our kids to do so.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel the food companies really need to meet the consumer half way and least give them a fighting chance of making healthy(er) choices. I know that would kill their profits but what I see in people's carts (and was once in mine) is so close to being poison that I find it kind of frightening now. I now look at my own cart and am proud of the abundance of life sustaining goodness that is in it. I'm proud of myself for finally taking enough interest and stock in MYSELF to learn about how to properly fuel my body. I am proud of myself for finally acheiving a body I thought I could NEVER have and FEELING better than I have ever felt in my life. When I see a cart such as the one described I don't judge, I don't hate, I don't pity. I only wish that people were better informed, because then I truly think that many would change their ways, at least in baby steps, and start to take care of their bodies and health.

Maybe I'm idealistic. But I have seen that a little information can have a great impact. There's a girl I work with who has taken on similar eating habits to mine and has lost 35lbs in the last 5 months and even my boss was motivated to start losing the 150lbs that he needs to shed (he's down 30 so far).

I'll get off my soapbox now. Please excuse if this doesn't come off as polished and eloquent as I would have liked but this is something that really strikes a cord with me and is motivating me to possibly make a HUGE career change (going into the field of nutrition). I'm sorry for rambling on.

Take care everyone,
Wendi
 
Vicki, I'm glad you posted your story. I used to be the one in the convenience store too in my bingeing and fasting days. I too was trying to cover feelings I couldn't deal with, and was judged harshly. I too believe I was a good person who didn't deserve the harsh judgments. I admit that I look down at people sometimes, but never for being overweight. Overeating is often a way of dealing with emotions, and who knows what someone else has going on in their life? It sounds like you had more than your share of troubles to deal with. I'm so glad things are better for you now. Way to go!
 
I just wanted to come back and say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive and understanding about this sensitive topic. I was really afraid to post today, afraid that I might open a can of worms but I am so happy I did. I know that many of you relate and that others have been given an inside look at what life could be like under different circumstances.

These boards have been a place of support and comfort for me through my journey, and today was just the best day ever. YOU ALL have inspired ME for a while now, and I am proud to be amongst this goup of people. Even those who have opinions different than mine, thank you for speaking what is on your mind! I hope we can all continue to learn from one another!
 
Vicki,

I am SO glad you posted and I am so sorry for the loss of your child.


>>>>>Ditto what Shelley said. Sometimes some of us are judgmental because those unfortunate people remind us of what we could be....


I don't think so. If those people reminded us of what we could be, we wouldn't BE judgmental and condemning. It is called "empathy."
 
I wrote most of this yesterday, when my connnection kept closing down on me (our server was having problems), and when I tried to post, I just kept getting a ‘page not found’ message, so I saved this to retry later (and after-the-fact, hoped that my several posting attempts didn’t actually make it through !).

Several posts mentioned nutrition education, and how parents should teach their children how to eat well, and how with so much info about eating well out there, how could anyone not.

Where is this nutrition education? I'd say the majority of Americans get their 'nutrition' information from television: ads meant to encourage them to buy products. Think of the kind of stuff that is sold in TV food commercials. (I've read people who say that one good step to improve one's health is to avoid buying any foods advertised on TV.) The best info on nutrition is in books and magazines, and most Americans don’t read that much (except perhaps for light summer ‘beach novels’).

Go to almost any school, and you'll find vending machines selling junk (with maybe a few token 'healthier' items). What kind of message does it send to have schools indirectly promoting junk food?

The idea of 'personal responsibility' comes up a lot as well. That's also an argument that crap-food manufacturers love to use to take the focus off their shilling unhealthy non-foods and their opposition to taking vending machines out of schools, etc. I highly recommend reading "Appetite for Profit" by Michele Simon. It was one of my first summer reads this year(I read like mad during 'time off'--a dozen or so books so far! This was one of the most enlightening). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. I admit that I always blamed fat/unfit folks for being the way they are. I'm not saying I've made a 350-degree turn around and am now completly non-judgemental, probably far from it, but "Appetite" got me thinking of things in a different way, very much in line with some of what Wendi is saying above.

I'm always amazed at what some people have in their shopping carts (most of which I don't consider 'food') : processed cookies, chips, frozen pizza, mac and cheese, so much white flour, chemicals, sugar....and diet soda! But that's pretty much the standard American diet (for which SAD is the oh-so-apt acronym).
 
Gosh, what a disturbing and judgmental thread.

I often wonder if feelings of superiority over others stem from some well of insecurity. Can we only feel good about ourselves if we think we are better than others?

Vicki, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Marie
 
> ANYONE can read the
>headlines on the magazines at the grocery check out counter
>for free that shout out the benefits of exercise, green
>veggies, no sodas, the rising diabetes epidemic, etc., etc.

I have to disagree that information on healthy eating is that available to most people.

>I have no respect for these voluntarily uninformed,
>unhealthy toxic people.

I'm not so sure they are 'voluntarily uninformed.' Where would they get their information? With so much misinformation, partial information and disinformation spread by food manufacturers, it's hard to know what information is valid. When you go to a grocery store, you really have to search for the healthier foods (unless you spend 95% of your time there in the produce aisle).
 
> Another point that
>should be made is that food addiction is extremely difficult
>to conquer. Unlike drugs or alcohol we must consume food.
>There is no going cold turkey from it that's for sure.

And there are so many substances in processed foods nowdays that are actually added to make the foods somewhat addictive (excitotoxins), in addition to the high-sugar, high-processed flour goods which raise blood sugar and give a quick boost of 'borrowed' energy. Even many natural foods have 'natural flavors' in to boost the appeal.
 
> As I was reading through this thread I was
>amazed at the hatred aimed at obese folks. Hating them,
>scorning them does not help them. In fact it makes them feel
>worse. They are people with feelings, and problems, and
>because their issue is so visible they have to deal with this
>discrimination everyday.


I am often judgemental about people like those described in the OP, but even I was rather appalled at the hateful tone of some of these posts. :-(
 
kathryn,

you hit the nail on the head for what i was referring to in my post. i hold no judgement for anyone's weight, i know what a struggle it is for people. and i know that there's no way to know whether or not someone's eating habits stem from emotional distress, a disease or simply ignorance. it's the latter that i take issue with. and weight holds no place in that issue. it's people (my brother in law and his family are a perfect example, as i referenced in my first post) who choices are based purely on convenience and not hearing their kids whine at the supermarket, rather than on any nutritional value. having been in the situation of trying to helpfully inform them (even at their request!) and seeing idea after idea of a healthy alternative shot down because of time or "the kids will never eat it" (try!) i find it frustrating and hard to understand.

i know that there are many, many people out there who are struggling with weight and stress and depression and disease, and i am not speaking about them at all. i also know, however, that there are many more families just like my brother in law's in this country, and i find that so sad.
 
>I wouldn't single out overweight people. I see many thin
>people in my grocery store eating mostly junk, cart loads of
>diet soda, Weight Watchers treats, fat free this, processed
>that, the usual suspects (candy, chips, ice cream)yet no
>fruits, vegetables, whole grains or lean proteins.
>No real food.

How true!
Some people eat crap and it doesn't show as much as on others.
 
>And many of these toxic bodies are on food stamps... They are
>poisoning themselves at our expense then getting preventable
>medical care (always at the ER, by the way) at our expense,
>too. I have no respect for these voluntarily uninformed,
>unhealthy toxic people. I apologize in advance to those of you
>who are related to some of them, but it is inexcusable.

Man, this is cold. Has it occurred to you that the least nutritious food happens to be the least expensive? Or perhaps that having to work two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet makes it necessary to buy prepackaged (and again, cheap) foods? Sorry to break it to you, but a healthy diet costs a lot of money. That, IMO, is an injustice far greater than someone (God forbid) needing to be on food stamps.
 
Wow, Marie, you sound like you've read some Alfred Adler (he was a psychologist and I follow his principles in my practice)!!! That's exactly what he theorizes. Here's an excerpt from a paper I had written. It's long, but I find it pretty interesting. Basically, Adler felt we all deal with feelings of inferiority and try to copensate throughout our lives. We can choose to do that in a healthy or unhealthy way.

Inferiority, Superiority and Compensation

Inferiority feelings "in and of themselves are not "abnormal"…it is only when individuals act as if they were inferior, develop symptoms, or behave as "sick" that we see evidence of what in the medical model would be called pathology and what Adlerians call discouragedmor the inferiority complex. To oversimplify, the inferiority feeling is universal and "normal"; the inferiority complex reflects the discouragement of a limited segment of our society and is considered "abnormal"" (Corsini & Wedding, 1989, p. 79).

In addition to what Adler termed "organ inferiority" (that everyone has stronger and weaker parts of our anatomy), he also discussed "psychological inferiority" (the beliefs we hold based on perceptions we make throughout our lives based on life experiences) (Boree, 2006). To cope with these inferior feelings, we utilize "compensation" which makes up for perceived (psychological) or real (organ) inferiorities (Boree, 2006). For example, the inferior organ can be strengthened or other organs can be overdeveloped to compensate for the weakness or one can psychologically compensate by becoming adept at those things in which we think we are inferior (Boree, 2006). To reemphasize, inferiority feelings are normal; the inferiority complex leads to being an individual becoming discouraged and have misguided goals.

Another way to compensate for feelings of inferiority is to develop a superiority complex by feeling superior in an effort to hide true feelings of inferiority (Boree, 2006). While Adler believed that striving for superiority or perfectionism motivates and moves the individual from one stage of life to the next, developing a superiority complex is an unhealthy way of dealing with feelings of inferiority (Boree, 2006). "The superiority complex involves covering up your inferiority by pretending to be superior. If you feel small, one way to feel big is to make everyone else feel even smaller! Bullies, braggarts, and petty dictators everywhere are the prime example" (Boree, 2006, p. 9).

Boeree, G. (2006). Personality theories: Alfred Adler. Retrieved on 4/14/ 07 from http://webspace.ship.edu/cboer/adler.html

Corsini, R. & Wedding, D. (1989). Current psychotherapies. (4th Ed.). Itstaca, IL: Peacock Publishers.



Lorie
 
I was really worried about signing up for the road trip. Mostly because of threads like this that pop up on this board from time to time. The judgement and intolerance is horrifying! Well, I went ahead and signed up for the road trip because I want to workout with Cathe, but I have to say I am still worried about spending a weekend with folks who are so likely to judge my body and what I eat. That doesn't sound like a very fun time to me.
 
Ivorygorgon, please don't worry about the road trip. I don't remember any complaints from the last one about anyone feeling inferior or like they were being judged. If you look at the pictures, there are all kinds of shapes, heights, ages, and one male! When you one look at my saggy, jiggely thighs and you will immediatly feel better about yourself! Of course, I will probably be covering them up with long pants.

Everyone seems to forget one thing here. All the crappy food tastes so darned good!
 
>Everyone seems to forget one thing here. All the crappy food
>tastes so darned good!

Unless you change your tastes, then a lot of it tastes too salty, too sugary, too artificial.

I think one problem is that food is seen as both 'pleasure/fun' and 'nutrition.' Many people can't get beyond the pleasure/fun aspects of food, and we often see images of groups of people having fun eating 'fun' food (you never see images of people having a great time sharing a mixed salad!).It's almost like some people are 'nutritionally immature' when it comes to eating, never getting much beyond 'it tastes good' as a criteria for food selection. (And not realizing that people who eat a 'healthy' diet find that their food tastes good, since they themselves never developed the taste for it. And when you're eating a lot of processed foods---with artificial flavors, lots of salt, sugar and processed grains--most healthy foods just don't seem that tasty.)

I used to be much more attracted to sugary, artificially-flavored, fatty, junky 'food.' Things like whole grain bread were repulsive to me! I would always go for the white, 'so-soft-you-can-compress-it-into-a-ball-of-paste' bread. Now, THAT kind of bread is repulsive to me.

I used to drink 2-3 bottles of Pepsi a day. It tasted good to me (and I'm sure the caffeine-like theobromiine in it helped get me addicted). After I gave it up (and it was hard at first: I definitely had at least a psychological addiction to it), and months later tried some, it tasted artificial, too sweet, disgusting!
But, if I would have gotten past that first disgusting taste, I have a feeling it wouldn't have taken long for it to start tasting good again.
 
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