Obesity Epidemic - a Personal Downward Spiral

So let's say that junk food is ok in moderation, it 's no secret that too much of something isn't always a good thing, but what happens if the things you eat or do in moderation alter the way your body works, keeping you craving more of it, and over indulging far too often?

I was always a skinny kid. From the time I was a toddler to about age 10, while I was growing up during that first decade of my life my family was pretty much poor, We rented a house from my grandma that was less than a dream home, my father worked a meager job fixing lawn equipment, while my mother who had worked in retail, came home to save on daycare costs, and because we only could afford one car.

As a child just entering the K12 public school system, my daily meals consisted of cereal in the morning, usually cornflakes, or puffed wheat or rice (the cheap stuff in bags). Lunches were school lunches, which I usually just ate the tater tots every day, because the meat offerings were disgusting, and whole milk, or chocolate milk. At home after school, I would usually eat nothing until dinner time, when we would rotate meals of hamburgers on regular white bread, and hot dogs. A special meal in our house was cube steak, and vegetables.

The first time I remember having soda was around age 6, when my Grandma who was trying to keep me quiet on a long car trip. She decided to impress me by saying how big and delicious a 32 oz. Big Gulp from 7-11 was. At home the only time we had soda was with pizza on occasion, or with Taco Bell. Pop was never a big deal for me until I was 10 years of age, and strangely coincides with my childhood weight gain.

Junk food was something that I never really had as a young kid, only on occasion when I would spend time with my Grandma or other family members would I have things like a bag of Doritos, or a snack cake. It just didn't matter to me at that time in my life. I didn't know what I was missing.

At age 10 my family's financial situation went on what could be called an upswing, both parents were working, my older sister had moved out, freeing up living expenses at home. My Dad had a strange way that he bought food, we never kept it in the house, the refrigerator was home to condiments only, and occasionally a loaf of bread. Each night my mother would pick my dad up from work and we would go to the local grocery store, and buy that nights dinner. This continued night after night, year after year.

What changed at this time was my dad started giving me three dollars a day, and would say go to the store and get something to eat until dinner. This was essentially like giving a loaded gun to a child. This was when I begin to slowly kill myself. I would go to the party store and spend the entire amount on junk food, twenty five cent bags of chips, soda, and later on, believe it or not I would buy an 8oz. package of Colby cheese, and bag of chips, and eat the whole thing. I would spend my weekly allowance on deli cheese which I would eat once a week with a box of crackers, and soda.

If you are reading this, then you are probably think that I caused my own weight gain, and you would be correct, I will never dispute that I made bad choices in life when it came to my eating habits. However as a child at the age of ten when this all started, I believe that I can't be held accountable alone, due to my young age, lack of education, and no regulation from my parents. Absolutely I knew what I was eating was bad, but I didn't see how I was doing things any different than other people, I watched my friends eat, and we ate the same amounts of food, I could never understand why I gained weight and they didn't. What it came down to was I didn't know what I didn't know. Calories in versus calories out, I didn't know that eight ounces of cheese and 4 ounces of potato chips had more calories than 12 ounces of meat, and vegetables.

As I got older I made the situation worse, I got a paper route so I could have money for things like video games, and maybe even save for a car later. I bought a few video games, but mostly I bought food, at age 14, I realized I could order pizza, and not share it with anyone,

I'm writing this article to sort this all out in my own head, and maybe help others who are seeking answers for their weight gain, or for their children. Since I became an adult, I got married, and had a daughter who is two years old as of this publishing. I have made some progress in bettering my health mostly through educating myself on the internet, I will continue to exercise, and more importantly be regulating what my child eats, and teaching her as much about nutrition and overall fitness as possible.