Katie Jay’s Tips on Losing the Obesity Mindset
Just when we think it’s going to be a slow news day, we learn that Jessica Simpson is putting on weight. The Blagojevich scandal will have to take a back burner to Jessica’s reported weight problem as recent photos of her at a Florida concert emerge.
If this is newsworthy, then I guess I need to take a long break from watching the news!
Of course, what makes the story news is that it is Jessica Simpson. Yes, that is true. However, what frustrates me is the way in which our society continues to glorify sugar while vilifying obesity.
Ironically, the press embarrasses Simpson in television reports, and then takes a break for commercials that peddle sweet indulgences.
When I speak to a weight loss surgery support group about the addictive nature of sugar, and about the threat it poses to maintaining weight loss, I sometimes get a very negative reaction.
Criticizing sugar is like kicking puppies. People get mad.
America loves sugar. We may be more label conscious than we were twenty years ago, but we still hold fast to sugar’s sweet, sedative-like properties that comfort us when we’ve had a bad day. And, when we celebrate an “extra-special” occasion like a birthday or anniversary, or hit a stressful patch in our lives, who do we turn to? Our friend Sugar.
And, as we shovel it in as fast as our sporks will allow, we are all the while contemplating the newest fad diet that will immediately extricate the fat before it settles on our thighs. In fact, Simpson may be getting ready to sign a contract with one of the many nationally recognized weight-loss programs. I hope she isn’t.
Simpson is not even remotely close to being obese. Yet society has already labeled her.
As a WLS patient and obesity survivor, I know that while I am lovable now, I was just as lovable when I weighed 331 pounds — despite what the mainstream media would have to say about me. And so is Jessica.
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The author of Dying to Change: My Really Heavy Life Story, How Weight Loss Surgery Gave Me Hope for Living, and Small Bites: Daily Inspirations for Weight Loss Surgery Patients, Katie Jay, MSW, Certified Wellness Coach, is a nationally recognized expert on weight loss and weight loss surgery. She is the founder and director of the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery (www.nawls.com). An online membership organization created to help weight loss surgery patients master their eating, mindset, and lifestyle to achieve long-term weight loss success.
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