Pages

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Food Addiction vs Drug Addiction

 A recent study suggests that food addiction and drug addiction have a very similar brain response. Well, I didn't have to spend a ton of money on research to tell you that! Addiction is addiction, but my real question is how does a food addict give up food when we need it to sustain life?  An alcoholic or drug addict can choose to never drink or use again, not so with food addiction. Food addiction is much harder to conquer and stay clean, because you still have to use your "drug" every day. That is why so many people go up and down the scale all of their lives, because you can be under control and lose weight for long periods of time and all it takes is one weak moment or several to send you back up the scale and into full blown relapse. I admire people who can lose large amounts of weight and keep it off for long periods of time because the amount of self control that takes is mind blowing.

It always amazes me to hear people who have never had a weight problem talk about over weight people like we are just lazy or stupid. I doubt they would say the same nasty things about people with other substance abuse issues, we just happen to wear our addiction on our bodies for everyone to see.

I really hope this study will open up some discussion about new ways to treat obesity. People with severe substance abuse problems enter in-patient treatment, well maybe that is something to consider for severe food addiction as well.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Kirstie and Maks Take a Great Fall

I was watching Dancing with the Stars tonight and the unthinkable happened, Kirstie and Maks fell! I could not believe my eyes, but they got right back up and performed beautifully.
After watching it back about 8 times, Maks clearly had an issue with his hip and it gave out and they went down. He was in pain during the rest of the performance, but they both continued on like the professionals they are. Later in the evening, after the show, Kirstie wrote on her Twitter  @MaksimC.,,I salute you...U r a gladiator...A champion...I'm honored to be your partner. Maks responded with  "To all of the fans...I'm sorry! It will never happen again and I will never 'fail'! To @kirstiealley you were ..FLAWLESS! In more ways than one!"  Awe, so sweet!

The problem is, there are people out there that are going to blame this on her weight. They were just waiting for this to happen and it did. I know she is still a big girl, and I am not naive to the fact that her weight could have contributed to the fall, but Maks is a professional dancer, they had practiced this move many times before, and he survived. It was an accident on live television and I fear Kirstie is going to get persecuted for it.

I am probably more sensitive than most people about this subject, because I was teased and ridiculed all of my life due to my weight issues. Kirstie put herself out there and did this show for people like me, to show the public that big girls can dance and look good doing it. You have bullies like George Lopez, trying to destroy all of the good that Kirstie was achieving on the show by comparing her to a pig, but thank God that backfired on him. I just hope this unfortunate fall did not open the door for other bullies to have a reason to ridicule her, just for trying to better herself and lose weight and have fun doing it.

Kirstie really does get the last laugh however, because she is the one who gets to dance with a hot guy like Maks every week. She even got a kiss and that ain't too shabby.

"Winning"! Take That Charlie Sheen

Everyone seems to being using "winning" since Charlie Sheen had his meltdown and made it the popular thing to say. I am using it because, well I feel pretty good about my eating the last week, and since it is only Monday, I hope this week will be just as good.

My husband is in San Diego on a business trip, so I only have to feed myself and the dog for the next few days. The dog is pretty easy to keep happy as long as her bowl is full, and I decided to keep it simple with  my food choices as well.

I bought some Amy's Organic frozen dinners. I had this one tonight.
It was very good and only 250 calories. The fat content was low, but there was a bit more sodium in it than I would have liked, that is the problem with most frozen entrees. I had a strawberry and spinach salad for lunch because strawberries are fresh here this time of year. It was so good I ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it! I am still doing my Lean Shakes for breakfast and I will have a shake every other day for lunch.

I am leaving Friday for a conference in Nashville, and I want to make good food choices while I am there, even though I know it will be hard eating out for three days. I will keep using all of my Xyngular products on the trip, and that won't be difficult, since it is a Xyngular conference! I hope to come back with a ton of great new information about the products and how to use them.

Here is to a great new week and all of us being "winners"!!