Weighing In...

[TygrBright]

There is something highly significant about the emergence of body weight, attitudes about weight, the science and conventional wisdom of weight management, etc. as the topic du jour (or du weekend?) on DU. It is clearly laden with emotional baggage for a great many of us. Maybe it's the 'methadone' substitute for the flame-war junkies whose addictions were stoked so abundantly by 'the Hillary thing' and various other controversies now rendered moot or robbed of their relevance. We do love our conflict, here on DU.

At least, many of us do. I could go off into an extended riff here on the nature of the Internet and how the conflict junkies ripple out to the 'anti-conflict' conflict junkies and further out to the irony-of-'anti-conflict'-conflict provocateurs. Take it as read. We never hear from the thread-hiders (except, perhaps, the occasional snarky remark,) or those who diligently ignore conflict-laden threads and topics, or even those who quietly decide DU is just too conflict-ridden for them and steal away for a temporary or permanent vacation from the backing and forthing.

Beyond the significance of the topic as a surrogate for the sure-fire conflict generators of the campaign season, however, weight and weight-loss can stand in as an apt metaphor another challenge:

We won. Now we have to get over it.

Democratic Underground was conceived and birthed as a focal point for opposition; is it any surprise that it's attracted so many oppositional people?

(Opposition is GOOD, by the way. This is not, repeat NOT a 'can't we all just give Obama a chance and put a moratorium on criticizing?' post. Nor is it a 'we have the right, even the DUTY to criticize and anyone who tries to stop it is a (insert epithet of choice here) and a troll' post. Let's not go there, please. There are larger concepts at issue here.)

It's been said so many times that it's acquired conventional wisdom status: "Democrats are better at being the government than at being the opposition; Republicans are better at being the opposition than being the government."

But what does that mean, in this case?

America has been on a nearly three-decade binge of administrative junk food, as Republicans since 1980 have tried to destroy it in the name of 'slimming down', and Democrats have for the most part, allowed them to define the problem and acted as Republicans-Lite in the hopes of not getting our butts handed to us in yet another election.

Now we are long past the morbidity threshold, recycling toxins back into our system from critically damaged (metaphorical) kidneys and liver, immobilized by the atrophy of muscles strenuously not-used for years, swollen up with toxic edema induced by all the 'miracle cure' products. ("Supply-Side Shakes! Guaranteed to trim inches off your tax bill!" "Trickle-Down, the mystery herbs that keep free-market models thin!" "Tax Cut System! Shed government regulations in days!")

We stood on the Democratic Underground sidelines and screamed ourselves metaphorically hoarse while the GOPpies in power did all the wrong things: Crash diets, fad diets, quack products, extreme fasts, pills, etc., all in quest of an unrealistically "slim and fit" government that would cost the taxpayers virtually nothing and guarantee continued prosperity for the powerful. WE knew it wouldn't work.

And sure enough, each fad was followed by a yo-yo "bounce" that made things worse and worse and worse until we ended up in the emergency room, intubated on a life-support system of cash infusions that keep us breathing but do nothing to solve the problem and restore health. America has finally listened to us. 'Oh, god... you were right. Stop the madness. Help.' They've given the Democrats control, in the hopes of restoring some vestige of health and sanity.

It's a different set of problems now. The luxury of just standing on the sidelines and screaming "Stop! Not THAT! Try THIS!" is behind us. We now have the whole thing in our laps, lock, stock, and barrel. Every issue interrelated, every solution applied to one place affects dozens of other places.

Excuse me while I apply CPR so I can continue beating this metaphor to death. There.

So, let's start by acknowledging that the nature of a "healthy weight" has very little to do with appearances or fitting the conventional definition of attractive. Healthy weight is based on many things, controllable and uncontrollable. Genetics, bone structure, maturity, endocrinological balance, metabolic factors, and (finally) the ones that get the most attention: activity and intake.

If you're born with genes that dictate you'll always be somewhat pear-shaped, with broad hips and a predisposition to carry fat around your thighs and buttocks, it's damn stupid to waste your time trying to look like Twiggy. If you're born to have shoulders like a linebacker and a deep chest and a wide waist, trying to grow an hourglass profile is a recipe for neurosis. America, I strongly suspect, received no genetic inclination that makes a sylph-like silhouette realistic. Just examining our metaphorical heritage from ancient Greece and Rome via the Magna Carta and nascent Parliamentary democracy, not to mention the contributions from Enlightenment Europe and the classic 'Wealth of Nations' side of the family, we're a touch on the stocky side. Sturdy, solid-boned, and certainly predisposed to developing muscle tissue, given the right conditions.

I'm also guessing that we are past the physical plasticity of early youth and the chameleon ability to adapt to change of adolescence. It's hard to evaluate endocrinology with so much damage done to our body already, and we know that our metabolism is severely out of whack right now. We might have to carefully observe how we respond to various therapies to get some idea of what will be the best way to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Let's also acknowledge that we might have to take some temporary measures, to preserve life, that might add a little to the difficulty of achieving our long-term goals. Bariatric surgery is a last-ditch extreme and can often do long-term damage to the body, so we won't (hopefully) go there. But we might have to. We will definitely have to stop eating "diet candy" and "low-fat chips." We might even, given the terrible state of our nutritional deficiencies and endocrinological imbalances, have to substitute stuff with actual FAT in it. And stuff with minerals and trace elements, like fruits and vegetables.

We can't trim the quantities too drastically, either. We have metabolic maintenance to consider for our poor, abused, mal-nourished, overweight body. We have to absorb enough calories to let our metabolism adjust slowly, stepping up a little at a time as we increase our activity rate.

In fact, it's far more important (at this point) WHAT we eat than HOW MUCH we eat. We have to examine the labels and eliminate a lot of nutritionally-barren but calorically-dense stuff. Which is EXPENSIVE! This can't be done on the cheap, and that's one reason malnourishment takes the form of obesity in our culture-- the ready availability of dense calories with little or no nutritional value. Not only are quality calories not cheap, they demand a further investment of time and effort to prepare-- time that is not available to someone already malnourished to the point where they have only two viable states: Making a paycheck, and totally inert.

So, here we are on Democratic Underground, facing a lot of difficult truths and unpleasant realities, nominally part of the Party In Charge of fixing the flabby, gasping, glassy-eyed wreck that is our body politic.

I bet everyone here has their pet dietary prescription, and everybody knows exactly where to start for the best and fastest results. And that information can be useful and helpful. But please, let's remember a few basic principles:

1. We are not trying to turn into a supermodel. We want to be the best 'physique' that healthily serves our long-term needs. Perfection is not an option.

2. We may have to do some things that hurt at first, and seem to delay progress or even send us in the wrong direction temporarily. We're on life support, remember? We can't start climbing rocks or kick-boxing right away.

3. Long-term health is achieved by long-term change. Long-term change happens slowly in small increments, with each increment becoming habituated as we go.

4. Stress hormones inhibit weight loss and promote weight gain. It's entirely possible to have conflict and disagreement without creating stress-- we just have to be mindful of keeping a respectful tone, tolerating differences, and above all maintaining a sense of humor.

Finally, parting words from someone who's left weight issues behind after half a lifetime of neurotic obsession:

Health is a good thing and we should all be trying to maximize it, but it doesn't help me or you for me to judge your health and habits or for you to judge mine.

Health has nothing to do with appearances, other than the glow of confidence and comfort with our own bodies that healthy people have.

We live in a society obsessed with appearance over substance. Appearance matters, a little, but not very much.

Anyone shallow enough to judge only or even primarily on appearances merits compassion. They see so little of the riches around them, and pitifully narrow their choices of mates and friends.

If you love the way you look, others will, too.

prolixically,
Bright

[annabanana]

1. very nice

well done. .

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Excellent!

I'm one of the "pears" who will never look like a super model, and who cares? I'm at a healthy weight. I would hope those who feel unhealthy, at whatever weight, check it out with a doctor. Since I've worked at this clinic, I've found that some folks can't lose weight because of food allergies--once they know what they should/shouldn't eat and stick to that eating plan, they lose weight. The key is feeling healthy. If you don't, there could be a less-than-obvious reason for it that should be addressed.

[yellerpup]

3. Thank you for the cool drink of water.

Clear and refreshing. Just what we need. K&R!

[Bluzmann57]

4. I'm fat

It's my fault. I know it. I'm trying to lose weight by eating differently and walking daily. It gets cold here in the upper Midwest, so walking outside is not always an option. At my last checkup, my doctor said I'm still reasonably healthy. I'm also bald. That's not my fault. It's called genetics. Such is the case with some overweight people. Either they have a hormonal imbalance, or they are just lazy slobs, like I have been. But you know what? I think my mind is reasonably sound, in spite of the number of brain cells I have killed in the past. I think I have a good heart. Even my ex wife says I'm a "gentle giant". And that's more important than if a person is eye candy, a knockout type.

[BReisen]

5. Wow - so well said, on all it's levels! n/t

[Jim Sagle]

6. It all means we're turning on one another like scorpions in a bottle.

We need to stop.

Please.