quote:

A lot of times poeple have big emotional problems and they feel that the only thing to turn to is food.

I think for a lot of people, it's just letting it get out of hand. Eating because you're craving something not because you're hungry. I do agree it can be used as a way of dealing with emotions, but not as much as just a sheer lack of moderation. And with resturaunts, it's hard because fast food is extremely unhealthy and normal resturaunt servings are much larger than they should be, yet we feel compelled to eat it all.

I am done for now.

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Do they carry it at the grocery store or a specialized store?

Grocery store. Usual there's a special section for diet foods (like for diabetic people), so it's there.

I know some obese people. Wieght just isn't gained form being fat and lazy. A lot of times poeple have big emotional problems and they feel that the only thing to turn to is food. In some cases parents are to blame because the children aren't working the job and doing the grocery shopping, the parents are, which means that if that parent didn't consider how healthy something they were buying for the household to eat is. THEN THEY NEED THE TALKING TO!

moderation is always a good rule of thumb too.

I guess I should have mentioned this before...I'm also a very picky eater.

The only fruits I like? Bananas, cherries, and strawberries. I need to try grapes again---I only remember not liking them as a kid. I like lemonade and orange juice...but can't stand eating the fruit.

The vegetable situation is even worse.

But I like the idea anyway, even if I don't think I can use it. And I really like the diabetic chocolate idea. I haven't heard of it and had never stopped to think that there would be chocolate for diabetics. Do they carry it at the grocery store or a specialized store?

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Does anyone know of a way to have a healthy desert? I love chocolate and caramel and cookies and all kinds of sweet things. But, while I am dieting, I don't want to eat any of them because they're not healthy. So any healthy deserts that still taste as good (or nearly as good)?

Buy that diabetic brand of chocolate...I think it's called 50 or something. It tastes just as good as regular chocolate, trust me. Or what you could do is get a normal Hershey bar, make really really small slices of it (like shredding but I'm not sure if that's the name of it), and put if over a fruit salad. There you get some chocolate, filling your craving, but not too much.

its all about metablolism. not just excercixe

I agree with Horselover14 and missblake. I want to eat healthy, I really do. But my parents and I all have sweet tooths. My mom and I are both trying to diet while my dad goes out and buys ice cream. Really good ice cream. Now it doesn't tempt my mom---ice cream makes her sick---but it really tempts me. And I keep saying, "Don't eat it, it's bad for you," but then that turns into, "You can have a little bowl, that's not that much ice cream and you can work it off tomorrow."

So you see, I could eat healthy if my house had healthy food in it. Right now, the only fruit we have is bananas because my mom knows I like to have one for a snack in the afternoon. And there's pickles in the fridge. And whole grain bread. That is the extent of the healthy food section in my house.

And, before you say it, no, I can't ask my parents to buy healthier food. You see, my dad does the grocery shopping and he's not a healthy food eater like my mom and I (and, therefore, he weighs the most). I don't want to deny him the food he wants simply because it tempts me...and I can't ask him to buy extra food because we're not well off enough that he can go out and buy one set of food for him and one set of food for my mom and I.

Instead, I have tried to first of all strengthen my will power. The ice cream example probably doesn't show it but I've come a long way. Before, I would have had a giant bowl of ice cream. Since then I have reduced down to a medium/large bowl of ice cream all the way down to a small bowl of ice cream. Eventually, I'm hoping to not give in at all. I have also focused on smaller portions. Even though we had one of my favorite meals last night (breakfast for dinner), I said no to a second serving of white rice. The only "seconds" I had was a second biscuit. Now if I can only have a small bowl of rice for "firsts"....

And I have a question: Does anyone know of a way to have a healthy desert? I love chocolate and caramel and cookies and all kinds of sweet things. But, while I am dieting, I don't want to eat any of them because they're not healthy. So any healthy deserts that still taste as good (or nearly as good)?

quote:

Originally posted by Horselover14:
it's hard for a healthy minded kid to live in a house with parents who don't know any better.

i just hate it....i became a vegetarian, and the only vegetables in the house currently are frozen or canned...there are FOUR boxes of cake mix; somehow my mom missed the memo that tomatoes are healthier AND more delicous to me than yellow cake. gross...yellow cake...(looks disgusted)

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I'm not forcing it. This is just ME. This is how it's been for a long time.

Well cause its been that way for a long time doesnt mean its good for you. Also, most people with eating disorders deny vehemently that there is anything wrong with them, and don't consider them selves skinny until they 20 pounds underweight. i'm not sayign you have an eating disorder, but just that you should be careful. the starvation limit for people is 800 Calories, any less than that and your body will go into starvation mode, and store fat and start eating your muscles and organs instead, in order to stay alive. so couldnt you at least just eat a little bit more throughout the day to get yourself above that limit?

......... and niether should discriminitory a$$holes like yourself

Wow. I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. I have to reply to this bull****.

Everyone sees obese kids (and, by the way, obese and overweight cannot be interchanged, they are classified differently) as lazy couch potatoes and that's just not the case. Yeah, it's true for some of them. But not all of them do that. Many are depressed. (I've read in magazines before that depression is rising with obesity.) It's not as easy to start a whole new lifestyle of diet and exercise when you're fat and depressed. Many have diseases and disorders that cause them to gain unnecessary weight. That's not their fault. And obesity is also genetic. They could've been destined to be fat from the beginning. Is that their fault? No. Also, most kids don't start feeding themselves until they're at least 11 or 12. My boyfriend is 18 and his mom still cooks for him. It's partly the parents fault if they're fixing fatty foods and feeding them to their kids. The original post of this thread makes it sound like kids want to be fat. And that's definitely not true.

Yeah, I agree that laziness is unacceptable as an excuse for being obese. But I also wish everyone would open their eyes and see that not all obese and overweight kids are lazy.

I've read through alot of the different points and i just have a small veiw on what everyone here is talking about... right now i am researching, I have to give a persuasive speech over the topic... Is obesity not the epidemic the government ... What are your veiws on this ...... I think i'll just start a whole new post ... please comment on it ...

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It is one thing to say that obese people should not be treated as those who have an illness and quite another to say they deserve to be mocked

I agree. Why is it when somebody hears about an anoxric girl (guy) they automatically go ohhh that so terriable! How can we help but when they hear about somebody who is obese they go oh well she (he) did that to themselves they're just to lazy to do anything about it.
They are both dieases and should be treated as such.

It is one thing to say that obese people should not be treated as those who have illnesses, and quite another to say that they deserve to be mocked. And sometimes it is not their fault: In general, most people who are fat do not want to be.

And cowgurl, you should tell your doctor: Some signs of mild malnutrition are not easy to see in a 15 minute checkup if he/she is not looking for them.

i haven't read all the old replies, so this may or may not be a repeat. but i'm a veteran, i can do that. and i am overweight, so here's a perspective from someone who lived it.

i'm in 10th grade right now. when i was in 6th grade, i developed tourrette's syndrome, OCD, and anxiety. i was teased by my peers and i isolated myself from them. i ate a lot. as in, six granola bars at a time, etc. now i'm about 40 lbs overweight for my height, age, and body type. i try to eat healthy, and generally i do. but i overeat healthy foods (several servings of something, or large snacks, etc.) because i have a habit of impulse eating left from middle school. i'm trying hard to take the weight off. this summer, i'm going with a friend of mine to a camp for overweight children and teens that she's been trying to get me to go to for a year now. can you honestly tell me that i deserve to be taunted by my peers and the fashion industry alike?

actually, for the record, i personally feel that the fashion industry is "teasing" me more than my peers by not making clothing styled for teens that fits me, so i have to shop in the petites department of marshalls and filenes instead of the juniors department.

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Originally posted by yogore:
Have you told your doctor how little you eat?

Have you ever thought that if it's causing negative effects on my body, he would notice, no matter what I have or haven't told him?

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Originally posted by Aguagon:
Sorry for the double post, but I meant to comment on this:

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Originally posted by Horselover14:
And I think that schools need to become more involved in the fight against America's growing obesity epidemic...no more candy and coke machines in the halls and better food in the cafeteria. You'll have kids moan and whine but it'd be worth it in the long run.

I disagree with the removal of unhealthy foods from public schools. In elementary school, yes, I think we're better off not providing the options of candy, chips and coke, because kids that young are neither mature nor informed enough to make healthy choices. By middle school, however, almost all kids have received at least basic health information and are at an age where they can begin to exercise some personal responsibility. Sheltering kids from the world of fatty, sugary foods only works for so long; as soon as these kids leave their school, they'll be bombarded by ads and opportunities to drink Pepsi and eat Snickers. Part of making healthy choices is literally making healthy choices, and that's a skill we need to be teaching children at a fairly young age.

As for the part about "better food in the cafeteria", which I take to mean schools offering a wider variety of higher quality healthy alternatives, I'm behind you 100%. When given a choice between a gray slab of mystery meat and expired milk or a candy bar and a Coke, a very health conscious person might actually choose the latter.

You do have a point about how sheltering kids only works for so long. I think that a nutrition/health course should be required for highschool freshmen (forgive me if this is a standard requirement, I'm homeschooled so I have no clue).

And I think that parents should be more educated about health as well, it's hard for a healthy minded kid to live in a house with parents who don't know any better. Also, we should make an effort to make healthy foods more readily available. Part of the reason why so many people eat the unhealthy stuff is it's cheaper.

Another of my major "args" with health is dieting. We need to figure out some nationally recognized way to let people know which diets will actually work and be good for you in the long run and which will just help you loose fabulous amounts of pounds that will be gained back when you quit. For example, the Adkins diet craze is thought by many scientists to be terrible because in the long run it can be very bad for a person's health.

Have you told your doctor how little you eat?

quote:

Originally posted by yogore:
You can force yourself to be unhealthy... Just because you take vitamins doesn't mean you're healthy. you have some pretty screwed up veiws about that. You need to talk to a nutritionist and get some help planning a good diet.

It sounds like your body is reacting in an unhealthy manner.

I'm not forcing it. This is just ME. This is how it's been for a long time.

Yeah, well, nutritionists aren't always right. They also come up with the fad diets that never work. What did I say in my last post? I said MY DOCTOR says I'm perfectly healthy. You think I'm lying?

Oh, it is, is it? Wow... I'm not overweight... my brain works efficiently... I'm strong... my bowel movements are regular and normal... damn, I am one unhealthy s.o.b.