The Next Hundred Pounds

DEFENDING HEALTHY CHOICES

I just watched the second episode of Jamie Oliver's new show, Food Revolution, and I am just gobsmacked that:

1. Six year olds, presented with a variety of very common vegetables, could not correctly name a single one;

and

2. Children in the West Virginia town of Huntington, and who knows, perhaps across the nation, are not given forks and knives with which to eat. They eat with their fingers or a spoon.

Chef Jamie's got his work cut out for him, and it's clear that he had no idea what he was getting into. I don't think he was at all prepared for the suspicion and hostility with which the town's redneck population would greet a furriner with a funny accent who they perceive as being there to "tell them how to live their lives".  This is not to say that all the locals are hostile rednecks, but there are a fair number. And to be completely fair, there are hostiles who clearly aren't rednecks, and rednecks who clearly aren't hostile. But the obstacles seem overwhelming. Many people are very set in their ways and extremely defensive about changing; and they are defensive about their food.

I can understand being defensive about my food, and about others being critical about what I eat. I understand because I spent so many years feeling that way. Why did I feel that way? Because I'm not stupid. I knew I was not eating as healthfully as I should, and it was reflected in my body. I didn't need to be told I was fat and unhealthy. I knew it. I just didn't want to accept it. And perhaps most importantly, I did not want my comfort taken away. I didn't know what would replace it.

It's not easy to make major lifestyle changes. There are reasons we get to be the way we are. But when something that is not good for us takes over our lives and informs every single decision we make, that is simply unacceptable. We are not free then; we are enslaved. And it does not have to be that way.

We do not have to accept poor health, especially when much of it is based in what we eat and how we move (or fail to move). It's a bad health decision, it's a bad financial decision, it's a bad spiritual and quality of life decision. But to change, we first have to admit that there is a problem. We have to commit to educating ourselves about nutrition and exercise, and I don't mean from commercial or even government sources. Government information on nutrition is extremely biased and influenced by lobbies. And you can't trust the people who are making money off you to tell you unbiased truth about the products they sell. Of course they are going to cast it in the best possible light, and the less scrupulous ones are going to do their best to obscure facts, or downright lie.

Each one of us has to take responsibility for our own health and education. And we have a responsibility to pass good information and habits on to the children in our lives. I don't have kids of my own, but I hope that when my nieces and nephews see how we eat and exercise, it will influence them. I hope when they stay with us and see that our pantry has no junk food, and that when the family as a whole goes to a fast food place Aunt Cindy doesn't eat, they will ask questions.

I'll be keeping an eye on Oliver's Food Revolution. I'm rooting for him. The issue of good food goes so far beyond taste; it really reaches into every aspect of life and of society. I believe that only good can come of making better health a top priority. Go, Jamie!

EMPATHY

Tomorrow's blog will be very special  and a new event for The Next 100 Pounds. I'll be interviewing Kim Witman, the director of Wolf Trap Opera  in Vienna, Virginia, and an inveterate blogger herself.  Kim speaks very frankly about health and fitness as they relate to the young, aspiring opera singers she mentors, and gives us a glimpse into the work these young singers do. If you live close to Washington, DC, you should treat yourself to a trip to Wolf Trap to hear some stars of tomorrow!

Last night while puttering around the kitchen, I had the TV on and caught a bit of the Biggest Loser. They were introducing the new season's contestants, and this involved making them strip down to skintight workout shorts (unflattering bra tops without much support for the women) and weigh in front of a stadium full of people. As I watched one huge man, so large he could barely walk, shuffle towards the scale, tears began to roll down my face. I wept through the rest of the weigh-ins. Some of these people weighed over 500 pounds. Not only did they have to strip down in front of all these people (who, I gathered, were their friends and loved ones), but on discovering their weight had to introduce themselves to the camera and say how much they weighed. One poor woman who had not been on a scale in years burst into tears when she realized that she weighed 264 pounds, and was unable to complete the introduction.

Now, I am not really a Biggest Loser fan (although I did once actually apply to be on the show --- a story I'll tell another time). The contestants are helped, but they are also exploited, and many of the regain the weight once they are out of the limelight and no longer have Jillian Michaels or Bob Harper breathing down their necks. They lose the weight fast, and it's not surprising that it comes back on fast, too, when they aren't starving themselves and working out six hours a day.

But what made me cry for them was the humiliation. Really. Really? I know this is supposed to be entertaining and all, but is it truly necessary to make these people publicly humiliate themselves under the guise of it being for their own good? Is it really necessary to make them strip, show their bodies, step on the scale for the first time in front of the world? And what about the people who get sent home, especially early on --- how must they feel, having gone through all of this and then being sent back to the environment that contributed to their problem, all but empty-handed?

I know they sign on for it. And I know why: hope. They hope to finally beat whatever demon drives them to obesity. They are finally at the point where they will do whatever it takes --- in this case, leaving their families and jobs for six months, doing a lot of very difficult mental and physical labor, educating themselves, and yes, jumping through whatever hoops the producers can concoct. Baring their souls and their bodies, showing in the most public way what many of them have, no doubt, traditionally done all they could to hide. And yes, facing public humiliation.

 I have certainly been there, and I'm willing to bet that if you're reading this blog, chances are you have been, too. We all know what it's like to want so badly to lose that damned weight that we will try crazy things. Insane diets. Ridiculous programs and products. Over-the-top exercise routines. Risky surgeries that we may not be mentally prepared to reap the benefits of. No, I think we all know why they're there.

I also cried for those people because I remember what it feels like to be that big and spend every waking moment wishing I wasn't. Wishing I literally fit in --- fit in the airplane seat, fit in the pretty clothes, fit in the role of someone perceived as beautiful and desirable. And I wasn't particularly unhappy when I was fat. I thought about it all the time but I still had pretty good self-esteem, all things considered, and dressed pretty well and didn't let being fat stop me from whatever I wanted to do. Still, that pain was always there, right under the surface, and I suppose seeing those people just brought it back.

I wish them all the best. I hope the show does what it's supposed to do for them, teaches them how to eat and work out better, how to deal with their food issues. I hope they are successful in losing weight and keeping it off. They are the Biggest Winners, just for trying.