Why Am I Fat?

I'm the first one to admit it, I'm overweight.  6'2" 360lbs, you can get the picture.  This is part of what started me down the path towards making this blog.  What if people back in the old days ate a better diet than we do now?  They certainly weren't fat as a rule.  Modern science and the government will point several different ways as to why this is true.  One, they will say people got more exercise back then.  This is a flat out lie, while people walked more than we are used to today, and they did more by hand, not everyone lived the Jack London life in the woods.  The government knows this but they have to lie to disguise the real truth... our food is compromised due to greed and government collusion.  You'll hear the government go on about the evils of processed foods but keep in mind they were the ones who allowed food to be compromised that way to begin with.  Companies, never knowing when to be satisfied with the profits they have attained, searched for cheaper and cheaper ingredients until most package goods could barely be termed food.  It's empty, soulless food with no nutritional value whatsoever.



So what are we supposed to do, stop eating like the ad above says?  No, that's just stupid, but we have to severely change our outlook on food and cooking.  The first thing is figure out what your weight should be, yeah it's depressing, I should be about 195 which would mean a loss of 165lbs, at 2 pounds a week that's about 1 1/2 years to get to my ideal weight.  So I'm going to pull back a bit a say my 1 year target is 260lbs.

Lets look at reasons I have identified for obesity, be honest with yourself like I was.  I think there's 3 main personality types that contribute to obesity:

The Heavy Eater - This is the oldest type, one that contributed to being overweight even back in the old days.  As the heavy eater you sit down at a meal and usually have seconds.  You eat alot of rich food, and maybe even fast foods.  Your weight gain was not fast but the more insidious creeping obesity.  You bought pants with expanding waistlines to cover the change in girth but after several years you finally look in the mirror and say "Good God what happened to me?"

The Constant Grazer - I used to see this when I worked in an office.  You're the type that sits at a desk all day whether at home or at work and you always have food within reach.  I've seen people like this come in with a fresh bag of chips, a package of oreo cookies and a 2L of coke and at the end of the day it's all gone.  You're also the first one to say "but I skipped Lunch".  This did little to affect the 8,450 calories you consumed by constantly munching all day.  According to the USDA the average person needs 2,000-2,500 calories a day.

The Nocturnal Grazer - You are the type who is most in denial about the reason for your weight.  You tell people it's a glandular problem, you eat small meals and exclaim it's so unfair you're fat because you don't eat much but at night, when everyone is asleep you're down in the kitchen munching on something.  It's ok though, nobody saw you eat that huge piece of cake or drink 1 quart of chocolate milk, those were invisible calories and they don't count.  I'm sorry, but if you consume it, it counts.

Now I know I may upset someone with all this, they'll be "outraged" (which is becoming the new national pastime) and tell me that I'm fat and have no room to talk.  Please, leave what bile you will at my doorstep as it's apparent you're still in denial.  I want to reach those of you who pause for a moment and recognize yourself in one of the groups above.  I am fat, grossly so and I am of the first personality type.  When I sit down I eat alot.  In alot of ways it's the worst of all the types because with us we get creeping obesity.  All of a sudden one day we step on the scale and it says "error"... there's nothing more embarrassing than your own bathroom scale saying you're too fat to register anymore.  I work in Alaska and weigh myself on the scales used for weighing pallets of salmon.  Yeah, I'm embarrassed to be this fat but I'm going to do something about it.  On Friday I will outline the first draft of, "The Vintage Diet".

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