A Weigh In & More Ranting...

I weighed in at 284 and 4 ounces, which is a pound loss since my weigh in on the 12th - this is good news.  Hopefully it'll keep going.  We'll know on the 20th, when I do my monthly photo update (maybe, this month hasn't exactly allowed me to weigh in on my regular intervals). 

I just got in from the store.  I decided to put the whole family on this low sugar lifestyle.  It's way more expensive this way - I have two sons who are virtual black holes that suck down a week's worth of groceries in a couple of days - but I figure if my younger son has the same problem I have (as demonstrated by his chronic headaches, moodiness, lack of concentration, depression, low self esteem, etc), then it can only help him.

Meanwhile our wallets take another beating.  And I have to say, I'm pretty p.o.'d about it too.  Again it comes back to how corporate America rapes the obesity epidemic for its own gain. 

Case in point.  A pound of ground round at 20% fat, is approximately $1 a pound.  A pound of ground round at 4% fat, costs upward about $3 more.  That is a significant difference.  Tampico Juice, filled with sugar, is about $3 for two gallons.  Tropicana Healthy Choice made with Splenda $2.99 for a half gallon.  Popsicle frozen fruit treats were 2 for $3, whereas the cheap frozen sugar water in a plastic tube is $3 for a five pound box.  Kool Aid, 4 or 5 packagees for a buck whereas something like Crystal Lite is over $2 for a canister.  Regular white bread is about $0.60 whereas no sugar added whole grain bread is over $2.  Whole wheat spaghetti, $1.59.  Regular Skinner type pasta, maybe $0.80 or so.  Thank Goodness for Hunts Sugar Free Spaghetti Sauce that only cost me $1.09, the low carb option was over $2.  I don't think I even have to explain the difference between $1 bag of sugar and $5 Splenda or $10 Stevia.

It's like food manufacturers slap the term "low fat", "sugar free", or now "low carb" on their label they can jack up the price by $1 or so more AND GET IT.  And the people who can't afford it, are destined to become a statistic in the obesity epidemic.  

There was an article recently about how studies show that poor and fat go together:

http://www.alternet.org/story/14913

Government programs like WIC allow for free milk, whole cheese, processed cereals, beans, white rice, peanut butter.  People on welfare - the working poor - have to budget their monthly food budget woefully short (I believe when I was on welfare back in 1992 and had a family of 4, we got a budget of $300 for the month in food - that works out to be $75 a week to feed 4 people.  Things like tuna helper or hamburger helper become a staple meal because you have to make your money stretch.  I can't even tell you how many dinners amounted to Jiffy cornbread ($0.33 a box), pinto beans and rice. 

And people wonder why obesity is an epidemic.  <RME>  You have fast food restaurants stuffing you full of fat, salt or sugar and calling it a "value".  You have food manufacturers attatching themselves to the newest diet craze and jacking up their prices to feed into the craze.

Don't EVEN get me started on the diet industry.  It's a multi million dollar booming business that feeds off of the desperation of people who are stuck in the same cycles of yo yo dieting.  The Atkins craze is the latest Claim to Shame.  My mother was recently diagnosed with high cholesterol due to her low carb lifestyle.  That, coupled with my niece's kidney failure means out of my family alone, 2 of the 4 low carb participants were adversely affected.  But everywhere you look there's another Atkins friendly product.   Even Slim Fast has gotten in on the craze.

And let's talk about Slim Fast for a second.  They recently fired Whoopi Goldberg because of her inappropriate comments about President Bush.  Had they never seen her act?  Did they happen to miss her show?  Maybe they blocked from their mind the Black Face Ted Danson Roast incident so many years ago.  Regardless they decided NOW she has gone too far. 

Slim Fast, a company that makes its money by telling people if they replace one or more of their daily meals on a thick, chalky, gritty, NOT chocolate shake tasting concoction that spends 220 calories per serving, they'll lose weight.  Everyone has a product that will "for sure" get you results.  Try this piece of equipment, this pill, this meal supplement, this book and you'll break through that wall that has kept you obese.

Horse puckey.

The only way you're going to lose weight is to get real.  Get real about what you're eating.  Get real about what you're doing.  Get real about why you allow yourself to stay at the weight you're at.  It's emotional, it's spiritual, it's physical - it's the whole package.  And the diet industry doesn't WANT you to put that connection together because their livelihood depends on a fat America.

I'm just so sick of it.  I'm sick of people getting rich while other people are dying.  They're dying.  All these diets aren't the answer.  Education is the answer.  Stop robbing the people that can afford a healthier lifestyle, and throwing all the crap to the people who can't. 

See what happens when you take my sugar away?  No more seratonin euphoria. 

I'll do my best to keep my rants to a minimum.

But I make no promises.