Obesity and addiction

[goldfinch]

Family meals growing up were around the table and was a wonderful family time. We would talk and talk. We would make up stories, often going around the table, each person adding to the story. Fun times!

The food was typical 1950-60s fare. Meat, potatoes and overcooked vegetables. Food wasn't the important part and I don't recall anyone wolfing down their food.

I became obese, as did my sisters. My brother is skinny. He has the worst eating habits as far as quality of food choices (He is autistic and would eat the same thing day in an day out if given the chance. He won't eat vegetables or fruit.)

[Skip]

Thanks, lph! ::waves::

Thank you for the article link, Oakleaf, I enjoyed reading it. The book looks pretty interesting too, I will have to look for it next time I'm at the library!

I really like the idea of re-starting one's relationship with food in general, instead of just following the "is it healthy" route. One of the concerns I had when I started tracking what I ate was that I would eventually get caught up in number-crunching the calories of each meal instead of focusing on what the types of food I eat does for my body. I'm sure many people don't always realize what their bodies are capable of, especially when they are properly fuelled. And cycling is certainly one of the best ways to reverse that!

Thank you for the answers, limewave, Crankin, and goldfinch. I think it's great to see the differences in how meals and family-time are viewed because I don't think it's something a lot of people consciously think of. Like in the article Oakleaf linked to, I like how your families are involved in the process of the meal, not just eating it. I think it says a lot to see how you all try and establish a good mentality towards food for your family.

Jezbael, when I was cleaning houses I dropped about 15 pounds (from an already healthy weight) in a very short amount of time and I was starving all the time. I wasn't comfortable at all unless I was being active or eating. After quitting that job, I knew I was going to gain some weight back, but it still felt very uncomfortable when that happened and it's very hard to try an unsee what I was like even though I'm at the same weight from when I started cleaning houses.

[Serendipity]

Occasional poster here! This is an amazing thread with so many thought-provoking comments.

As a person that, at 54, has been challenged for many years to maintain a healthy weight/lifestyle with varying degrees of success, I continue to be baffled by a couple of things:
- food seems to be the only addiction that others (friends, relatives, even strangers) feel free to judge and comment on. Rarely do I hear comments about smokers, people’s consumption of alcohol or drugs, but it seems okay to comment/judge perceived overeating or unhealthy eating – much like limewave’s earlier comments.
- It’s the only addiction that one has to learn to live with in the sense that you have to continue eating. For example, I quit smoking many years ago. While it was difficult, the situation was straightforward – I quit or I didn’t – I didn’t have to figure out how to have one or two cigarettes and not go off the deep end. While I’m not suggesting that living with any addiction is easy, with food obviously you have to continue to eat to survive. It is a never-ending challenge to satisfy that need without succumbing to cravings, temptation, etc. etc.

Food for thought (pun intended).

[Pax]

Wonderful thread!!

A few thoughts to share: I grew up in a household with parents who had lived through the depression, and a military father who had served in many Asian countries where he "saw children eating out of trash cans and starving in gutters". This translated to the "clean plate club" mentality at our dinner table where you were required to finish the food on your plate regardless of appetite. This was never an issue when we were kids as we were intensely active.

It wasn't until I was injured as a firefighter that I started to put on weight, I kept "cleaning my plate" but wasn't active enough to burn off all the excess calories. Going from extreme activity to sedentary overnight wreaked havoc on my metabolism, and additionally to help alleviate the disappointment of losing my career, I ate. This started a pattern for my 30's and 40's, gaining and losing the same few pounds, considering myself fat but fit (excellent BP, heart rate, cholesterol, etc.), but never comfortable in my own skin.

Now, at age 51, I seem to have hit upon a workable way to drop weight. Looking forward to getting to a point where I'm finally comfortable in my (now somewhat saggy) skin.