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Conquering Obesity free article |
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I chose to write this article because the problem of obesity seems to be endemic in our society. The answers to it lie in understanding the reasons behind it coupled with practical tips that can turn a person around.
So why are an increasing number of adults and children becoming obese in our society? I'm going to start by listing the reasons and then offer some guidance to overcome them.
1. Food industry marketing.
2. Food industry focus on profit above consumer health.
3. Inadequate food labelling and health warnings.
4. Inadequate information for consumers to make informed choices.
5. Apathetic and lazy attitude of parents towards health.
6. People with priorities that are unhealthy.
7. Irresponsible parenting - ignorance begets ignorance.
8.A schooling system that fosters 'intellectual robots' instead of 'free thinkers'.
9. Low self-esteem of parents and children.
10. An oppressive society that demotivates the individual.
11. Psychological Stress.
12. Poor diet and addictive eating - 16 useful tips for you.
1. Food Industry marketing.
Each food manufacturer obviously just wants to sell its own products and looks to the most effective way of doing that. Even if they have a nutritionally poor product, as long as it tastes good, then their advertising will do the rest (push the emotional buttons that are generally linked to sex or sport or something of that nature).
2. Food industry focus on profit above consumer health.
I think the header says it all - commercial businesses do not care enough about their consumers. They only care enough for their own Public Relations and to improve their profits.
3. Inadequate food labelling and health warnings.
We applaud a company that produces products that have no artificial colours, flavourings or preservatives and yet they will lace you with excess salt to make their products more palatable! People are being 'hook winked' by companies because they are not aware of the practice of food manufacturers.
It's a sad fact that most consumers do not read food labels (they obviously don't care what they put into their bodies!) and if they do, how many of them have the understanding that sodium means salt? The average Western person gets 20 times the daily requirement of salt they need and this excess is a contributing factor in obesity and many illnesses including hypertension (leading to heart attacks and strokes), stomach ulcers and stomach cancer (the Japanese have a high incidence of stomach cancer due to their high salt intake).
Food manufacturers should be legally forced to label food and drinks with the following health warnings:
1. This product contains a high level of Saturated Fat
2. This product contains a high level of Polyunsaturated Fat
3. This product contains a high Salt content
4. This product contains a high Sugar content
5. This product contains the poison, Fluoride*
6. This product contains the harmful sweetener, Aspartame**
7. This product contains the potentially harmful sweetener, Saccharin***
8. This product contains the potentially harmful sweetener, Acesulfame K***
9. This product contains the potentially harmful preservative, Sodium Nitrite/Nitrate***
* Read www.culturechange.org/e-letter-braincontrol.html
** Read www.dorway.com
*** Read www.sweetpoison.com
In doing so consumers would start to become more informed in their choices of foodstuffs.
4. Inadequate information to make informed decisions.
How can you have adequate information to make informed choices when you have an industry motivated purely by profit? Consumers are not yet sophisticated enough to read every food label so the responsibility has to be on manufacturers to inform them of their superior products compared to the potentially harmful products of their competitors.
5. Apathetic and lazy attitudes of parents towards health.
Unfortunately the attitudes of parents tend to flow on to their children and so the responsibility of children's health must lie with their parents, and not with school teachers or the government. The basic problem stems from poor education and a lack of self-love. The latter of course is the spiritual journey we are all on whether we are conscious of it or not.
Learning how to take care of our bodies should be part of our schooling curriculum and that, of course, is currently our government's responsibility. As they are obviously reneging on their responsibility then it is up to individual parents to become more aware of how their bodies work, the nutritional content of foodstuffs and the harmful nature of artificial sweeteners, preservatives and fluoridated drinking water etc.
6. People with priorities that are unhealthy.
The health of your body is ultimately determined by the health of your mind. If you follow a pristine lifestyle, it means that you have pristine communication between your mind and your body. If you are in perfect health, it means you have a beautiful mind whereas if your health is impaired, then your thoughts about yourself and your environment are less than beautiful.
Scientists such as Dr Bruce Lipton have now proven this mind/body connection - scientifically. See my article Dispelling the Genetic Myth for more details about this.
It is a fact that most people are not focused on their health but are focused on everything other than their health. I don't think I need to list the many neighbourhoods that one's mind can be held up in! All you have to do is ask yourself where your thinking is on a daily basis to appreciate why you are not in perfect health. If you want to conquer obesity and return to perfect health then you need to focus on the knowledge in this article and make a conscious effort to make the necessary changes in your life.
7. Irresponsible Parenting - ignorance begets ignorance.
I want to labour this point strongly because I think the poor health of our children and a lot of the social problems we have today can be laid squarely at the feet of ignorant, irresponsible parents. And I think it's about time that nationwide classes were set up to teach the parents of unruly kids how to become more responsible, and how to control their kids, and how to get respect from them. If we don't do this then we are going to see more children killing other children and eventually children killing their own parents!
Respect is not something that one gets automatically with age or position but rather it is something that has to be earned by virtue of one's impeccable personality traits.
Education is the answer to all of society's problems but unfortunately, where schooling is concerned, we have authorities that are motivated purely by improving exam results - to shout about their improved performance - to get more votes.
8. A schooling system that fosters irresponsible 'intellectual robots' instead of responsible 'free thinkers'.
If you've got half a brain you'll know exactly what I mean without me having to spell it out for you! Has this got anything to do with conquering obesity and anti-social behaviour? It absolutely has.
The problems we are facing are coming directly from a 'spiritually derelict' uncreative schooling system coupled with the deliberate sidelining of the parents role and responsibility in bringing up their own children! When I say spiritually derelict I am not talking about religion but about the spiritual side of our nature, which is the creative aspect in us.
When you have a society that stifles creativity then you are always going to have problems in that society because society is working against the very essence of human nature - the creative spirit. I could go on and on about this but like I have said - I hope you are aware enough to at least appreciate what I am touching upon here. Taking away the power of parents and stifling the creative spirit in our wee children are critical factors in social breakdown.
9. Low self-esteem of parents and children.
If you don't believe in yourself and value yourself then you're not going to be bothered about your health and how you look. Low self-esteem is commonplace in society and it comes from a lack of understanding of what you really are, indeed, what the true nature of your being is. Please refer to my article To be a Somebody or a Nobody?, for more on this.
If one is brought up in an environment that is not loving but is filled with argument, criticism, ridicule, abuse, and is exampled by parents that are themselves lacking in motivation and consider themselves worthless; then chances are one is going to have a low opinion of oneself.
The journey of self-love is so important for the mental and physical health of every individual. You will never be obese if you really love yourself - that is a scientific fact.
10. An oppressive society that demotivates the individual.
Is it really any wonder that society is straining at the seams when we see in Britain that the richest 2% own something like 60% of the wealth in this country? The rich continue to get even richer and the working classes are kept just above the bread line.
A fair percentage of our youngsters are growing up with little or no hope of a bright future because they have learned to suppress their creative talents in favour of a schooling system that rewards those that simply have good memories, yet have no real interest in what they are being taught.
We have created a society of 'drongoes' that are merely slaves to a system that enhances the riches of a select few. Even the budding entrepreneurs amongst us eventually hit the proverbial brick wall because the 'top seats' only seem to go to those in the 'inner circle' that invariably have been to Oxford or to Yale.
People that are demotivated will look for emotional gratification every day and unfortunately for some that means food.
11. Psychological Stress.
I am only going to list here the points you need to consider because I have written a separate article about Psychological Stress. All of the following aspects of consciousness will adversely affect your body:
a. The inability to tell the truth
b. The inability to live your truth
c. The inability to 'let go' of past experiences
d. Living your life for other people
e. Comfort eating due to emotional turmoil
f. A lazy attitude
g. A greedy attitude
h. Being addicted to food
12. Poor diet and addictive eating. Here are a few useful tips for you:
1. The world's longest-lived civilisations eat less food than the rest of us so generally eat less.
2. Never skip meals (unless you're fasting of course) because this slows down your metabolism and thus causes your body to use less and store more. It is better to eat 4 or 5 small meals a day than 1 or 2 large ones.
3. Try to have 10-20 minutes exercise before meals as this will speed up your metabolism. A brisk walk will do it.
4. Look for simple ways to increase your level of daily exercise, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator and walking to the shops instead of getting in your car.
5. It has been proven that your daily energy levels will be higher if you have a high protein breakfast i.e. quality cereal with milk, sardines on toast, live yoghurt.
6. If you hunger between meals eat a piece of fruit. Bananas are particularly good because they are high in potassium (antagonist of sodium), high in naturally occurring fibre, high in complex carbohydrates (providing a slow release of energy), contain vitamin E for stamina and are only 100 calories on average.
7. Try to restrict the consumption of red meat to once or twice a week, as it is low in fibre and generally high in fat. Try to get the vitamins/minerals from lower down the food chain. Red meat slows your system down and you'll always struggle to lose weight if you eat too much.
8. If you eat meat, try to eat mainly white meat and alternate this with fish on a daily basis. Also try to have one or two 'meat free' days each week. This will make you less sluggish.
9. Cooking destroys a lot of vitamins/minerals in food as well as breaking down its natural structural formation, so obviously the more fresh and natural your food is, the better it is for you.
10. In general terms, the more varied your diet is, the better your nutritional uptake will be.
11. If you must drink with your meals try pineapple juice as this contains enzymes that aid digestion.
12. Remember, everything in moderation. If you can't eat a biscuit without eating the whole packet then don't buy biscuits! Be fussy about what you buy because it will end up on your dinner table.
13. Eat intuitively. Let your body tell you what it needs and learn to distinguish this from addictive eating. If you crave for certain foods you could have a food allergy because we are often allergic to the very foods that we are addicted to!
14. Try and restrict your intake of stimulants like caffeine, guarana, taurine etc. to 3 or 4 drinks a day as these give 'highs' and 'lows' in your energy levels and if you drink diuretics like coffee and tea then keep yourself hydrated by drinking low sodium bottled water in between meals. Drinking water in between meals will also help to detoxify your system.
15. If your diet is high in processed and/or cooked foods it's always a good idea to take a good quality multivitamin/mineral tablet each morning with food, one that contains Copper and is not too high in Iron.
16. Undertake the simple exercise described in my article Emotional Mind-Hooks. Mastering your emotions will balance your hormone flow and help to stop any comfort eating.
Finally, ask yourself the question, can I go a day without eating? And if you can't then you are addicted to food. Do not underestimate what I am saying here. Mastering your addiction is paramount to your spiritual progress and consistent with the good health of your body.
If you are addicted to food, it means that your cellular receptor sites, that are normally free for nutritional uptake, are being blocked by molecules of emotion (the chemicals of your addiction). The result is less nutritional uptake for a given amount of food intake than would otherwise be the case for a non-addicted person.
The addicted person then has to eat more to get the nutrition their body needs (hence the weight problem) or if they don't eat more then their body doesn't get sufficient proteins and this causes the advancement of ageing.
The above scenario applies to any addiction because every addiction causes a cascade of emotional molecules, that block cellular receptor sites, that are otherwise used for nutritional uptake. So could your anger be making you fat? Absolutely!
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