One of the things that has popped up in the media lately is
the concept of the obesagenic environments (OE) that, obviously, make and keep many of us
obese. Some folk I have spoken with have
decided that OE are simply an excuse for overweight and bad behavior, some feel
it is the cast in stone truth, and that overweight is out of our control, and
the individual is not responsible for their weight status.
I stand directly between the two. While I feel very strongly that we are
responsible for our own health and well-being, I also feel that our
environments play an incredible role in how we deal with our health
status. Fighting the OE is going
strongly against the current of our society, pressure from peers, influences of
the GOONS, and the natural tendency to become zombies. However, I feel it can be done, and has been
done by people who have successfully become and stayed healthy and at a healthy
body composition.
Lets take the OE apart for a bit, so you can form your own
opinion on what it is, and how it might effect you. The components involve:
-easy access to heavily processed foods
-overabundance of drug therapies for inflammation-based
health issues
-overabundance of ‘screen time’ in youths and adults
-lack of education about proper nutrition and eating
-conditioning of the taste buds to heavily processed foods
early on in childhood
-peer pressure amongst youth to dislike fruits and
vegetables
-light pollution at night
-reduction of sleeping and rest time
-reduction in stress management techniques and outlets
-de-emphasis on physical activity
-reliance on BigAg and BigPharma for health status
-reduction in recess and physical education in schools
Overall, OE is the invisible cage of obesity and poor health
that is prevalent in our society. Breaking
free of the OE takes strength of character, perseverance, desire, and an
ability to SEE the cage our modern society has built so enthusiastically and
silently around us. We have truly become
complacent to a system that is making us dependent on it, making us it’s
slaves, and it is quietly killing us.
Escaping OE is like staging a jail break, and is often just as complex
and painful a process, but the self-awareness is quite rewarding.
Should you wish to break free from the OE, expect that you
may see some substantial changes in your life, from initial feelings of
exhaustion, to a bit of media isolation, to a changeover in many of your
friends (fat friends like to have fat friends around, and if you change your
habits and stop being a fat friend, there will very likely be push back), a
change in interests and activities. Overall,
life is going to suck, change and get better again, but will be different
forever after.
The first step in breaking free is getting a notebook, and
start to write down what you are willing to change, give up, or exchange for
your OE. And make a list of what you
wish to gain from making this change and staging your prison break.
Your second step is to look at the list above, you may be
able to add to it, as we all have different lives, and start a schedule of
small changes to make each week: small goals to overcome, small changes to
make, that will be the steps to get to your ultimate goal. Journal your journey, from data you create
for yourself to feelings of what you are going through as you move through your
journey.
The third, truly, is to follow your goals, praise yourself
for your accomplishments, reward yourself with non-food rewards. Be able to look back with pride, and use that
as a base to move forward with your future.
Know that you can alter and change your obesigenic environment, and once
you do, you can change yourself for the better.
