Heavy

So it is official. Whenever you lose weight you always lose it in the places that you don't want to first, especially if you are a girl. Case in point my boobs...lol. Now this shouldn't bother me except that one of my friends that I hadn't seen since October said to me, "Oh wow Cassandra, have your boobs gotten smaller?" To which I responded, no and that I didn't think so. To which she responded, "No I'm pretty sure they are smaller." Then she turned to her boyfriend who is also one of my really good friends and asked him if they were smaller. He made a wise decision and said that he didn't know. Funny how that works out huh. You try to lose weight and it goes there first. Crazy! My sib however told me that there was one way to ensure that my boobs wouldn't get smaller (she's an advocate for implants...lol).

Anyway, today's blog post is not going to be about my boobs, instead I am going to tell you about a new docudrama that premiers on A&E January 17. The series is called Heavy and will follow 22 differnent obese individuals who are suffering from severe health consequences due to their obesity. Each episode will be an hour long and will talk about two different individuals per episode. The documentary style footage will follow the individuals during their change for a six month period.

The thing that will make this particular series different from those before it is that it is not a competition show. It depicts the day-to-day struggles of the individual during a lengthy treatment program. A&E wanted this to be like nothing before so they sought out to different production companies to be a part of the filiming process. This resulted in something never seen before, a look at those who are dangerously obese who have to learn to live healthier lifestyles or they will die. The series also takes a look at the individuals understanding and root of their food addiction. Viewers get a first hand look into the lives of the person, seeing their daily struggles, pain, what their loved ones have to say, any kind of self doubt that they may have with overcoming their weight problem will be right there for all of us to see.

The first episode will be about two different 37 year olds from Houston, Texas. Tom and Jodi. Tom's story talks about how he was a big deal football player back in his hayday, but due to depression his body jumped up to 638 lbs. Tom suffers from a myriad of issues including sleep apnea, edema and the inability to sleep more than two hours. We will witness his struggle to get his life back before it is too late.The next story that we will see (on the same episode) will be that of Jodi, a recent stroke survivor who weighs in at 363 lbs. We will witness the critical juncture with her health. Jodi's weight is preventing her from getting to do her favorite thing and that is to sing, especially with her brothers in a band. She also is now having problems keeping up with her husband and two children.

Like most shows of this style on A&E (shows like Hoarders, Intervention and Obsessed), I assume that it will be just as intense as those (Intervention really gets to me every time I watch it). I was thinking that this show could be a wake up call for me and anyone else out there wanting to tackle the weight battle. You know see how bad it could get and exactly where we don't want to end up. I also thought that it may be inspirational for me or anyone else to see these personal stories and how the individuals have overcome their struggle.

To me real life achievement is where it's at. To see someone who was able to reach their goals amazes me. I don't know about you, but I would much rather watch and be inspired by someone who has been in my shoes than by someone who has been fit their whole life and never struggled with weight yelling at me and telling me how easy it is to be fit. They don't know, they've never had a problem due to their awesome genetics and super cracked out metabolisms. I'm not jealous (well hell maybe I am), I am just much more inspired by those who have overcome. What do you think? Is Heavy maybe something that you would consider watching? It starts next Monday on A&E at 10/9c if you are interested. I'll watch it and tell you what I think. You should do the same (and by that I mean tell me what you think of it).

New Book Finds That Obesity is Not One’s Fault

I was scanning today’s medical news on medicalnewstoday.com and came across an article posted today about a new book written by award winning health authors Mannie Barling and Ashley Brooks. According to their statistics they found that two-thirds of American adults are in fact overweight. Barling and Brooks try to create a “sane approach for better healthy” by answering the biggest question for those who have dieted and failed. The question they attempt to answer is “Are you addicted to chemical food ingredients or is the addiction just in your mind?”

Obviously knowing the credibility of the authors is important and luckily for us the writer of this article gives us just that. I don’t know about you, but I like to know the legitimacy of the information I get. I’ll start by giving you a little background on Barling.

Emanuel Barling, Jr., is a retired lawyer, a businessman, obviously an author and a colocrectal cancer survivor. Crohn’s Disease and IBD. Just like those he is reaching out to in his book he too has suffered from weight and obesity caused by prescription drugs, food allergies and having issues with chemicals that are common and constantly found in food from the grocery store, restaurants and fast food places as well. The thing that I thought was really cool was that Barling has been researching information for this book for 13 years.

Ashley F. Brooks, is a R.N., actress/model and an author now. Brooks has survived third stage liver, kidney and pancreatic disease that was caused partially because of genetically modified ingredients and addictive chemicals commonly found in packaged foods. Brooks who has spent most of her life trying to control her weight because of her acting and modeling career has obviously been exposed and tried every possible fad diet. Due to her medical background Brooks has experience and knowledge in nutritional, holistic and environmental medicines. Dr. Theron Randolph, founder of environmental medicine was who Brooks studied under so she shares his expertise in this book.

Now that we know we can trust these writers and that they should know what they’re talking about I’ll tell you a little bit about the book (well at least what this article says because in all honesty I haven’t read the book).

This is there fourth book and it is entitled “It’s Not Your Fault, Weight Gain, Obesity and Food Addiction. They describe the causes of food craving, overeating and food addiction. The authors also talk about dangerous and addictive chemicals that food manufacturers use. These chemicals cause the compulsive and even obsessive eating that is in fact the cause of today’s obesity statistics.

Overeating to the point of being obese is the leading addiction problem in the United States, that surpasses tobacco addictions and alcohol as well. America has the highest obesity rates in the entire world.

"Americans did not get fat overnight nor did some mosquito spread a deadly virus that causes obesity," said Barling and Brooks.

One person who has read this book said that they were able to lose a whopping 80 pounds and another person claims to have lost 20 pounds and they say they are still losing more.
"I'm having great fun already with the book. Fascinating read. And extremely informative. I'm appalled at the extent of my ignorance." - Barbara Paskin, BBC.

If you would like to read this article in its entirety you can do so by clicking on it here. Is this book something you would consider reading? Do you think that reading stuff like this helps you to lose weight or not? I read somewhere that when you are trying to lose weight you should read about it so that you are constantly thinking about it. In my case I’m writing a blog and researching health and weight loss everyday, so I guess I could certainly say from my POV (point of view) yes I think it helps, but I love to get your opinions on this. Let me know how you feel about it.

My family and I are doing our Christmas get together today and instead of doing a dinner or lunch they have decided to just have snack foods, which could be good because that means I can eat something healthy beforehand. The problem is that there is more than likely going to be lots of dessert around which I’ll have to try to stand firm to resist. Wish me luck lol!