Abuse or Simply Obtuse?

There is a story from England that has been making news the last few days about an eight-year-old boy that weighs a whopping (no other way to put it) 218 pounds. The authorities wanted to possibly remove the child from his home, putting forth that the child's mother was abusing him by letting him get that big. Read about it here.

A couple of things bother me about this story. Yes, I believe that the mother probably is facilitating a lot of the eating this kid is doing, and the type of food he is eating in the story is the typical meat and potatoes type meals, and those certainly do not help weight loss. But to say that the mother is abusing the child, in my opinion, is off base. Responsibility has to fall somewhat onto the child himself. Sure, he's young, but at eight years old a child has enough self-awareness to see how big he is and whether he needs to try to slim down. However, he gushes about all of the stuff he loves to eat, so he's a happy participant in his own largess. Abuse is doing something mean and cruel to a child against their will, but that is clearly not the case here.

Another concern is that possible medical conditions for the boy's obesity haven't been fully explored. That should be a priority. After all, if there is a medical contributing factor here, maybe with a physicians care the kid can lose a lot of weight. And again, medical abnormalities aren't abuse.

In the end, I believe that they made the right decision to keep the child at home. The mother is probably someone who loves that boy with all her heart, but she needs educating as to what is good for him. Let her go to nutritional classes and get him off of so many sweets and heavy carbs. I truly wish the best for this family, that they will get people helping them. Then, maybe there will be a happily-ever-after story for them.

Gastric-Bypass

MSN had a vary interesting article today from a man who had gastric-bypass surgery. Read it here. Obviously this man is very positive about it. I'm of the opinion that the surgery should only be used as a last resort. I'm not saying I would never have it done, but it would be as a "do it or die" situation. I don't think I would do it as elective surgery. I do know a lot of people who have had the surgery and looked completely different in a few short months, so it definitely works, but with some of the side effects like this guy was referring to, it still may not be quite the paradise of doing the work on your own and losing weight. Of course, the advantage with this, it takes the will power equation completely out of the picture.

The Will to Lose

You've always heard of the phrase "Having the will to win". In my journey, I'm going to have to keep "The will to lose". That doesn't mean losing, as in winning and losing, that has to do with losing weight, and it is without a doubt the most difficult part of this process. I have always been notoriously weak on will power, my wife and my priest can back me up on that. This blog is a tool to keep me focused on my goal and not to give up, as long as I have a few people out there who read this and support me. Us big people have got to stick together, so thanks to Greg Todd, who inspired me to do this. Please read his blog at www.fatguyblog.com and help support his efforts, too. He is trying to lose 100 pounds this year, and he's lost nearly 25 of them. Myself, I still weigh about the same as I did last week, right at 240. Please keep us in your thoughts as we struggle to keep the "Will to Lose" and not "Lose the Will".

The Good, The Bad, and the Vomitous

I promised that I would write about my insane regimen of herbs and vitamins, so here it is. Again, many of these things will be discontinued once my body gets to more optimal health. Right now, though, when I'm as healthy and spry as your average 86 year old, I've got a lot to do to get there.

I can tell already that following this holistic program is going to help me lose weight. How? Because I love to eat. I enjoy meal time. However, this new program makes me absolutely DREAD meals, except for maybe lunch! It is simply because I have to swallow so many pills with my meals that I can't stand the thought of sitting down to eat. Too, I get so full of pills that I don't have very much room for food left over. So, maybe I will shed a few pounds. Here is what I take:

Breakfast - 1 Magnesium supplement, 3 "Grass Pills" (unadulterated barley plants! Yum!), 1 ProstAvan for prostate health, 1 AlkaPan (more about this pill later!) and one packet of Vitamins (Men's Total Health, made up of 9 pills in the packet). Plus, one dropperfull of Motherwort (for my heart) that tastes like a straight shot of weapons-grade Jack Daniels, and 15 drops of Prostate Help, which tastes like straight vinegar. Total breakfast intake: 15 pills, 2 squirts.

Before work - 1 Dynalite Pill (for thyroid).

Lunch - Ahhhhh, sweet lunch. I only take 3 Grass Pills, 1 AlkaPan, and 1 Magnesium Supplement. Only 5 pills total at lunch lets me actually enjoy the mid-day meal a little.

Supper - 2 Grass Pills, 1 AlkaPan, 1 Magnesium Supplement, and one Packet of Vitamins (Men's Total Health PM, which is 9 more pills, sigh...) 1 Dropper of Motherwort, and 15 drops of Prostate Health. For those who are counting, that's 13 more pills and 2 more squirts.

Before Bed - 1 Dropper Motherwort, 15 drops of Prostate Help, and rub Melaleuca Oil (This stuff must come direct from the Garden of Eden) into my feet.

I can put up with the few dropperfuls of stuff, but I have always been one to avoid taking pills as much as humanly possible, and now I am taking 34 a DAY! People say, "Heath, they are not pills, they are vitamins and herbs, not pills!" Yeah? Well, it sure looks like a pill, tastes like a pill, and goes down like a pill, what's the difference?

Speaking of the pills, a word of advice: Don't read the pill ingredients unless you are willing to suffer the consequences. One of my pills, AlkaPan (3 a day), is made up mostly of pancreas (UGH!). It sounds to me like cannibalism, I'm eating someone or something's PANCREAS! And, if the thought of ingesting pancreas doesn't make your mouth water, how about this next ingredient, and I'm not kidding - Ox Bile. OX BILE! I'm swallowing VOMIT FROM AN OX, dried and in pill form!! Someone please go ahead and kill me now! This begs the next disturbing question - Who in the heck discovered that OX VOMIT had healthy properties? I keep imagining Paul Bunyon walking along with his ox Babe, and Babe is looking more green than blue. Suddenly Babe vomits a lake-sized puddle. Paul Bunyon looks at it and says, "You know, I bet that's mighty good for me!" And what is it about ox puke that makes it any different from other animals, like say, rabbit puke? How many animals did scientists have to make throw up before they found just the right ingredient, and it only came from an ox?

I apologize for sounding so negative thus far, but I absolutely HATE all of the pills. To be fair, though, here comes the good part. I have felt more energy. I don't have trouble sleeping, but now I sleep more restful. I don't have to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom. My sinuses have been better the last few days. I have a follow-up session in about 10 days, so I'll know more then about where my PH level is.

The bottom line is, I am encouraged by some of the early results of starting holistic therapy, and if I can continue to get better I am excited to see the results. Now If I can just fight the depression of knowing that pills will be a pretty-much permanent part of most of my meals from here on out.

Eating Organic Cheaply (or): The Impossible Dream

Here is a very good article that was posted about ideas to eat on $7 a day organically. Read it here. It aggravates me that you can eat all day long pretty cheap on fast food and junk food, but you pay out the nose for organic stuff that is actually good for you. It should be the other way around!

Holistic Therapy (or): "Give Me A Hit Of That Grass!"

One week ago I attended my first session with a holistic therapist. For those unfamiliar with the term, they are therapists who eschew regular medicine and doctors and treat maladies with herbs and minerals. My wife works with people who have gone and raved about how much better they felt, how much healthier they were, how much weight they were able to lose, etc. So, rather reluctantly, my wife and I made an appointment and went. I am going to chronicle a lot of this on my blog, and I am going to be honest with you in terms of what I perceive, good and bad. These opinions are mine and mine alone. I do not claim to be an expert or giving medical advice, not that anyone would want to hear my advice anyway!

First of all, let me make one point clear: The only reason I'm giving this a try is to get healthier in an overall way. I am not giving up medical doctors. If I think I have a serious condition, I am going to a medical doctor. The holistic therapy is simply for getting my body healthier so I won't have to see my medical doctor very often. It's more of a supplemental health program.

As I said, I was rather reluctant to go at first. I had heard of several people getting over very serious diseases, including bone cancer, using natural medicines instead of synthetic medicines, but I have never been a huge follower of the au naturale, new age type movement. I do not keep up with what herbs and minerals and so forth are good for. I had heard of Saint John's Wart, but I'll be darned if I could figure out what was so special about this man's skin lesion that they would name something after it. (Yes, I know now that it is "wort", not "wart") I expected the therapist to be a flower power child of the sixties named Sunstar or something like that. Instead, she was a very friendly, middle-aged, somewhat clinical, ordinary person. She did exude a touch of hippyism, but at least she didn't wear a tye-dye lab coat. It was regular white. Her assistant was also quite friendly.

My blood pressure was a bit high, so I'm concerned about that. After giving a urine sample (fortunately I had to pee, otherwise we'd have been there all night!), my PH level was 5.8, which judging by the doomsday look on their faces was not good. Normal is supposed to be somewhere around 7.6. Oddly enough, my wife's level was the same as mine, 5.8. Below 5.0 is dead, so what I gathered is that I've got .8 of a foot in the grave.

She had me jump up on a massage table and started pressing pressure points on me to see if any of them hurt. Some didn't, but a few did. These obviously pointed out trouble spots. Now, I'll have to admit, this part was pretty cool: If a spot was sore, she would lay a packet or bottle of herbs on my stomach and the soreness would immediately disappear or be greatly reduced. I later found out that these were the packets of vitamins and herbs she was going to prescribe me. To sum up the exam, she found deficiencies with my thyroid, heart, pancreas, and prostate. She then gave my some bottles; some with pills in them, some liquid with droppers in them. She also discovered I had a rib out of line and popped that back in, and that my right leg was 1/2" longer than my left leg (which was somewhat puzzling, since both feet touch the floor!). I didn't know if there was anything she could do about that except put me in a medieval torture device or something, and she didn't say anything was odd about it, so I let it go. Come to find out, my wife was just the opposite, she was longer in her left leg. I guess opposites really do attract.

Now for the part I didn't like: The bill. The initial session was about the same as many physician's office visit fee, but subsequent follow-ups are much cheaper, so I am pleased with the cost of the sessions. However, when someone says, "Think of the costs of the vitamins, herbs, and minerals as an investment for your health...", what they really mean is "I installed sound-padding on the walls to reduce the decibels of your scream when I tell you how much you are fixing to have to shell out". The sessions are really reasonable, but its the supplements and sprays and vitamins and herbs that cost! and Cost! and COST! In my next post, I will detail the insane regimen of what I now take, but fortunately I was told that this is only temporary until my body detoxes itself, which should take a couple of months. Wow. I never figured that I would ever go to detox. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, but here I am in friggin' french fry rehab.

My wife and I are going to give this a serious go, though. After my session, I went out and bought a case of water instead of soda, and I haven't had a soda in over a week now. I also picked up some organic grape juice. I really want to try to make this work. I started taking my herbs and vitamins the next day. One of the pills I take (8 a day!) is green and tastes just like grass that you would pick out of the dirt. I looked at the ingredients and it said "100% pure, unadulterated, dried BARLEY PLANTS!" MMM-MMMM! Nothing like the taste of sod first thing in the morning! I call them my grass pills now. I soon found out, though, that there was something even more disturbing in one of my pills. Find out in my next post...

Heeere They Come To Save The Daaay!

There's a new video game for teens and pre-teens that targets the danger of obesity. Read about it here. I have mixed feelings about this. I do not doubt the sincerity of what they are trying, but I wonder how effective it will be. Their main target (teens and pre-teens who are already overweight) consists of many video gamers who sit all day in front of their consoles, eating chips and swigging sodas, and wearing astronaut diapers so that they won't be bothered by having to go to the bathroom while they are playing "Halo". They do not get outside and exercise very often. So, if this game of bad puns (Obeez City and Col Esterol, etc.) catches on, I predict that these same gamers will be playing the game while sitting all day at their console and still swigging chips and sodas. I don't see them switching to celery sticks and carrots. It'll be just another game to these "Generation i" kids (That means the internet generation, as opposed to my generation, Generation X, which means the geezer generation to them). Kids now have so many choices for inside entertainment, they don't have to go outside to keep from getting bored. So, I'm not sure if giving them another reason to stay inside and play a game instead of going outside and exercise is necessarily the right thing to do.

State of My Union

This is where I am at right now. I weigh 239 pounds and I am 5'10". Ideal weight for me is around the 180 mark, but I'll be happy to just get below the 200 threshold. I did lose about 20 pounds last year, starting at 260. However, if I really focus on my goal, maybe I can get below 200 by the end of this year. I am starting to get a few complications from my weight, most notably Diabetes Type II. My doctor says that with weight loss, I can easily control it or eliminate it. I can only hope.

I can tell I'm out of shape. I get winded going up a flight of stairs. If a mugger were to chase me, I'd make it about ten yards and he'd get me. I've seen fourth graders that can lift more weights than me (and THAT'S embarrassing, especially when they are girls!). I sweat like Bill Clinton at the Playboy mansion, and I have sleep apnea (I also suffer from sleep apathy - that's where I dream that I really don't give a crap!).

I am addicted to Diet Mountain Dew, but I am slowly breaking myself of that habit. For the past five days I have drank only water with cinnamon sticks (natural blood sugar controller), organic grape juice, and a few small glasses of milk. I've got to admit, drinking a lot more water has taken a little getting used to, but I do feel a little more energetic. Plus, my singing voice has gotten much clearer, less muddy sounding than when I was drinking so much soda.

One of my other addictions is potato chips, fries, etc. Today is the start of Lent, so I am giving up potato chips. That's forty days, for those not familiar with Lent. Maybe after forty days without them, it'll be easier to give them up pretty much for good. Wish me luck.

I'll write soon in depth about my experiences starting a new holistic therapy program. I've only just started it, so I'll have a lot of questions and thoughts on it, but I am giving it a go. It's pretty interesting, though, so maybe some of you will learn something new. I know I have.Well, until the next round...

Heath Bar 101

Welcome to Belly Up to the Bar. I chose the name because of my nickname, Heath Bar, and the fact that I have a very large belly. I have gotten plenty of laughs with jokes like:

"I just got out of the Army recently - I'm on maternity leave"
"I am better than Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras, in French, literally means 'Fat Tuesday'. Heck, I'm fat seven days a week!"

or

"My wife is from Hawaii. When I met her relatives for the first time, they were so happy they said that they were throwing a huge Luau and killing the fattest pig around to roast. I was excited about this until they started chasing ME around with their knives!"

To tell the truth, though, I'm tired of using fat jokes to get cheap laughs. I'm just plain tired of being fat, regardless. I work as the sales manager for a motorcycle and ATV dealership, and a lot of times I'll answer the phone and some guy will say, "I was talking to a salesman there the other day, and I can't remember the name of the salesperson I was talking to, but he was sort of a big guy..." They won't come right out and say it, but you know they mean "The fat dude."

And, if I ever hear somebody say "You've got dickeydo disease. Your belly hangs lower than your dickeydo!" or "You've got dunlop disease. Your belly has dunlopped over your belt!" again, I can't promise to be liable for my actions.

Obesity is a very serious condition, though, and its no fun to go to your physician and seeing that label on your file. And, look at the news, they are always talking about how fat we're getting, complete with a camera view of a lot of fat people walking down the street. They never show their faces, either, just a shot of their belly. I'd like to apply for that modeling gig. Maybe I get a few extra bucks. Regardless, I want to go ahead and dump the pounds. I don't want to be living my Golden years in my late thirties. I'd like to save those until my seventies, at least.

So, this blog is going to deal a lot with weight and my journey to get healthier. That is not the only thing, though. If there is something on my mind, regardless of what it is, I may write about it. I hope some of you enjoy this blog (I hate the word 'blog'. It sounds like something you'd blow out of your nose!) and will comment on what I write and encourage me. Thanks for reading, and 'Belly up to the Bar, Mate!"