I Waged A War Against My Obesity and I Plan to W.I.N.!

My Friday morning bus ride to an office where I sometimes work in downtown Durham, North Carolina, demonstrated graphically what I have come to realize both intellectually and from a practical perspective as well. Too many of us--and by this I mean African Americans and Hispanics--are seriously overweight and obese. This 9 am bus was full, with 32 of the 38 passengers being African Americans and Hispanics, ranging from infants to seniors, like myself. One of every two of us appeared to be overweight or obese, including me. There were six people on the bus this morning who were not African American or Hispanic. Only one of them was obese. In fact, one young African American mother, severely overweight sat down beside me carrying her 10-month-old plump, rotund son.

As I surveyed this scene, I thought about a quote from Eric Finkelstein, the director of Public Health Economics at Research Triangle Institute International, who, in response to the question: "Why are the obesity numbers so high in the South?" said: "It's actually got more to do with minorities. Minorities are more likely to be obese. So if we have a disproportionate number of minorities, it's not surprising we have a disproportionate amount of obesity. If you look at a state like Colorado, which has low rates of obesity, they have very few minority people living there."

The data screams dangers ahead! Researchers predict that over the next 50 years, we could see life expectancy rates dwindle as more people die sooner because of obesity related diseases. According to researchers, about 16 percent of today's children are overweight, and another 15 percent are at risk of becoming too heavy. Each of these young people risk having type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. One study reports that obesity currently reduces life expectancy by four to nine months. Other research reports the following: if childhood obesity continues unabated many of today's youngsters will live shorter lives because of the health toll of being heavy at such a young age; minorities will be hit hardest because they have had the greatest increases in obesity rates, coupled with limited health care access.

David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital in Boston and a renowned pediatric endocrinologist, was quoted five years ago in a USA Today article as saying: "Childhood obesity is like a massive tsunami headed toward the United States."

On the epidemic's other side, analyst Dan Mindus of the Center for Consumer Freedom, a non-profit coalition of restaurants, food companies and consumers, was quoted in the same article as saying: "This study--the one that Dr. Ludwig co-authored--is just a half step removed from science fiction. It uses discredited methodology, and it makes dire warnings that are not supported by its own data."

Well, five years later, I don't need the study to know that Mindus and his group consitute just another mouthpiece for a food processing, food services and food delivery industry that combined with a suspect health care industry has convinced far too many of us to become addicted to suicide.

Journalist Greg Critser published a book in 2003 titled: Fat Land--How Amerians became the fattest people in the world. Several glaring paragraphs in the Introduction virtually leap off the page, filled with warning:

"Today, Americans are the fattest people on the face of the earth (save for the inhabitants of a few South Seas islands). About 61 percent of Americans are overweight--overweight enough to begin experiencing health problems as a direct result of that weight. About 20 percent of us are obese--so fat that our lives will likely be cut short by excess fat. More than five million Americans now meet the definition of morbid obesity; they are so obese that they qualify for a radical surgical technique known as gastroplasty, wherein the stomach is surgically altered so as to keep food from being digested . . .Children are most at risk from obesity. About 25 percent of all Americans under age nineteen are overweight or obese, a figure that . . .has doubled in thirty years . . .Obesity itself is slowly moving into the middle and upper classes, but the condition disproportionately plagues the poor and the working poor. Mexican American women aged 20 to 74 for example, have an obesity rate about 13 percent higher for those living below the poverty line versus those above the poverty line. Diabetes occurs at a rate of 16 to 26 percent in both Hispanic and black Americans aged 45 to 74, compared to 12 percent in non Hispanic whites of the same age."

Critser also wrote:

"In a rare moment of industry scrutiny a few years ago, the Centers for Disease Control surveyed twelve thousand obese adults to find out what, exactly, their doctors were telling them. The results were arresting. Fewer than half reported being advised to lose weight. A separate study sharpened the indictment: Patients with income above $50,000 were more likely to receive such advice than were those with incomes below. As the Journal of the American Medical Association noted, 'The lower rates of counseling among respondents with lower education and income levels . . .are particularly worrisome, because members of lower socioeconomic groups have poorer health outcomes.'"

Before I move on to discuss what I perceive to be viable solutions to this epidemic, let's first define the term obesity. According to the American Obesity Association, a nonprofit educational and advocacy group, obesity causes some 300,000 premature deaths each year and accounts for an estimated $100 billion in annual health care costs. According to Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, and Katherine Battle Horgen, in their book Food Fight, published in 2004: "In the United States, obesity now contributes more to chronic illness and health care costs than does smoking."

By definition, " . . .obesity is a chronic disorder that affects tens of millions of Americans . . .www.healthatoz.com) Here are some indicators of obesity. If you are 6'0" tall and weigh 221 pounds or more, or 5'5" and weigh 180 pounds, you are obese. If your BMI (Body Mass Index) is 40 or above, or you are 100 pounds overweight you are considered severely (morbidly--death dealing) obese. You would be diagnosed as severely obese (killing yourself with your eating ) if you are 5'3" tall and weigh 226 pounds, or if you are 6'1" tall and weigh 303 pounds.

Okay, I am clinically, yes morbidly obese. But I vow not to stay that way! I will solve this problem. It's virtually meaningless to me how, or even why it happened. As the late Ray Charles often said: "It is what it is!" In other AC articles, I might even write about the how and the why, but what's most important is what will I and others similarly situation do to take control of our health?

I will W.I.N.

I Won't ingest suicidal energy.

As I am using the term here, suicide refers to a death that is planned, intentional, caused by a method of the person's choosing and results in death. So if I'm addicted to so-called foods that lead me to become morbidly obese, then I'm practicing addicted sucidie. Suicidal energy is the pseudo-energy produced by a wide variety of stuff masquerading as foods, particularly snacks, that seem to "pick us up," but in reality provide nothing meaninful to our bodies. Sugars, especially fructose, and sodium appear to be the main triggers of suicidal energy.

We require food for three reasons: 1) " . . .to provide energy necessary to allow the heart, lungs and other organs to function, as well as to empower us to perform external work, 2) to provide building blocks that include certain raw materials (e.g. proteins, most minerals) used to manufacture blood, skin, bones, hair and internal organs). The body constantly replaces and renews every cell on a daily to monthly basis; 3) to provide catalysts, those chemical compounds (e.g. vitamins, enzymes, and some minerals) necessary to facilitate the chemical reactions that convert food into energy and into bodily organs."( The Wellness Revolution, by Paul Zane Pilzer). Empty energy--with no accompanying nutrients--comes in a wide variety of snack foods high in sugar and sodium.

Consider what Critser reported in his book cited earlier: "Barry Popkin and his associates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the dietary patterns of 8,493 19-to-29-year-olds over the period 1977-1996. The results showed that not only had snacking prevalence soared, but so had the number of snacks per day . . .The demographics of increased snacking lso revealed a new and disturbing trend: the most avid snackers were the poor. In the same period the snacking rate per day among low-income whites increased the least while snacking by Hispanics and African Americans increased the most. The greatest increases were in the poor-to-middle-class South . . .As Popkin concluded, 'This large increase in total energy and energy density of snacks among young adults in the U.S. may be contributing to our obesity epidemic.'" (Fat Land, Critser, p. 41).

I will Ingest the chain of life daily.

In a neat little book--Better Health with GNLD-- written with the endorsement of GNLD, a 50-year-old international food supplement manufacturer, Loren Brink wrote: "It is an accepted fact that every living thing is composed of six basic components: protein, carbohydrates, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and fatty acids called lipids and sterols. These six elements can be thought of as the links of the chain of life. Each link is important andout any one, life is impossible." To ensure that I ingest the chain of life daily, I will re-grasp nutrient control. Nutrient control means simply the extent to which a food consumer exercises control over the nutrients that go into your food. I have already stopped eating so-called "fast food," which I consider to be super dangerous. Now, I will reduce eating out by 50% immediately and by as much as 90% by the end of the year. I will build my fruit and vegetables network by asking my gardening friends to give or sell me what they grow that they don't need. I will educate this gardening network to build healthier soils so we get more crops with greater natural nutrients. I will invest in this network. I will strengthen my food supplementation strategy

I will Never eat anything just because it tastes good!

That's what I mean by I will W.I.N!

I invite you to join me in this H.E.W. epiphany. This acronym stands for Health, Education and Wealth-creation. Many of us, far more than at any time before, seek to build life-changing wealth, but quality health, and particularly quality health education must precede our wealth creating ventures. We must not only do the right things, we must also do them in the correct order. Let's WIN our health back! Then wealth-creating ventures become much more fun!

See you at success!