I like to drink alcohol, but my drug of choice is food. When I'm stressed out I can easily binge on mashed potatoes, cookies, cake, Krispy Kreme doughnuts....any number of things, but those are my favorites.
I think a lot of people in the United States anesthetize themselves with food. It feels good. It releases endorphins. It's comforting.
I think a lot of people in the United States anesthetize themselves with food. It feels good. It releases endorphins. It's comforting.
I guess it sounds odd, but it was difficult for me to come to the realization that stopping on the way home for a few hot Krispy Kremes after a stressful day was not a reward. It was a punishment. I really thought I deserved those doughnuts. After all, I was a woman scorned.
Turns out, I didn't deserve that at all.
I'm working hard now on undoing the damage brought on by comforting myself with food. One of the ways I've stayed motivated is by watching "The Biggest Loser" this season. Last night they played an "80's trivia" game of sorts. Some of the things they mentioned really affected me. I've had this in my mind all day.
I remember the 1980's well. It doesn't seem that long ago. I was a young adult. Look what we've done to ourselves with our eating habits since then.
According to Prevention Magazine, since 1980 the obesity rates have doubled.
The National Institute of Health classified obesity as a disease in 1985.
The percentage of Americans with diabetes has increased by 300% since 1980.
Twenty years ago U.S. teenage boys drank twice as much milk as soda. Today they drink twice as much soda as milk. (I personally think that's a very conservative estimate).
Today the most commonly purchased women's dress size in America is a size 14. In 1985 it was a size 8.
Today women between the ages of 20 and 39 are eating an average of 385 extra calories a day compared to the 1980's. That's enough to gain 26.7 pounds in one year.
Does this freak anybody else out?
I'm working hard now on undoing the damage brought on by comforting myself with food. One of the ways I've stayed motivated is by watching "The Biggest Loser" this season. Last night they played an "80's trivia" game of sorts. Some of the things they mentioned really affected me. I've had this in my mind all day.
I remember the 1980's well. It doesn't seem that long ago. I was a young adult. Look what we've done to ourselves with our eating habits since then.
According to Prevention Magazine, since 1980 the obesity rates have doubled.
The National Institute of Health classified obesity as a disease in 1985.
The percentage of Americans with diabetes has increased by 300% since 1980.
Twenty years ago U.S. teenage boys drank twice as much milk as soda. Today they drink twice as much soda as milk. (I personally think that's a very conservative estimate).
Today the most commonly purchased women's dress size in America is a size 14. In 1985 it was a size 8.
Today women between the ages of 20 and 39 are eating an average of 385 extra calories a day compared to the 1980's. That's enough to gain 26.7 pounds in one year.
Does this freak anybody else out?
1 comment:
. . . yet another reason I pedal ten miles a day.
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