Its Not So Simple
3/10/2005
Alarm bells ring louder and louder, yet America continues to be over-fed, overweight, and ironically under-nourished. Diet books soar to the top of the New York Times best seller list, talk shows fill their schedules with weight loss experts and personal testimonies, stomachs are stapled, potions and pills are hawked ad nauseam, adolescents are shipped to summer camps (fat farms), and now doctors are beginning to enter examination rooms with tape measures around their necks instead of the traditional stethoscope. For anyone who hasn’t noticed, we have a weight problem, especially here in Indiana.
The leaner and sometimes meaner are tempted to say, “It’s so simple. These overweight people just don’t have any discipline. I know what they should do. Eat less. That’s their real problem.” Unfortunately, words of advice like these are as effective as plugging a hole in the roof with cheesecloth. There are too many holes.
Over-eating, overweight, and the more extreme form of this condition, obesity, have deep seeded foundations. Buried negative feelings, most often inaccurate and erroneous, arising at birth or in the first ten years of life, produce damaging consequences. These “*Feelings Buried Alive Never Die...” but instead manifest themselves physically and psychologically as illnesses, and spiritually as alienation from God. (*This is also the title of the book written by Karol K. Truman which comprehensively deals with this important concept)
After years of study, observation and counseling, Karol Truman and other health professionals have compiled the probable buried feelings, which cause illnesses. For those suffering from the various forms of an overweight condition, Mrs. Truman advises self-reflection regarding the possibility they may be: using food as a substitute for affection, unable to express true feelings, craving closeness, putting on emotional armor, feeling insecure, feeling a sense of self-rejection, or they may be seeking love and fulfillment. David Briscoe, a macrobiotic health counselor who has been working with obese individuals for the past 25 years, comments that he often observes sadness and depression, often hidden by an outer layer of anger and hostility. Changing an overweight condition is not so simple.
Few things are more personal than our weight. If there is too much of it, black clothing is said to be somewhat of a camouflage, but that color is hardly cheerful. Excess weight is there for all to see unlike other conditions which can be conveniently hidden for a while. Extra poundage carries with it a propensity for various adverse health conditions which are well known. Even the airline industry is weighing in on the topic. Officials recently said their fuel costs are rising due to the increased weight of today’s passengers; bigger people will equal bigger ticket prices.
This article previously stated that overweight individuals may want to consider the possibility they may be using food as a substitute for affection. Unable to express true feelings, feeling insecure, feeling a sense of self-rejection, but wanting closeness , love, and fulfillment an overweight individual can easily become emotionally armored. Early childhood is the likely place to discover the roots of these feelings and the people who sadly and usually unwittingly promoted them. Karol K. Truman, the author of Feelings Buried Alive Never Die makes a very convincing case that forgiveness is the vital first step to a resolution. We need to forgive those who have hurt us in the past.
It may have been a father or mother too busy and distracted or emotionally wounded themselves, unable to show love and affection to their children, who instead used the immediate indulgence of food to make their offspring at least temporarily happy. It may have been a father rejecting the gift of a daughter when a male child was hoped for. Sexually abused girls often armor themselves with weight to make themselves less attractive. Authoritarian, fundamental, falsely religious households tend to be very repressive environments where childhood self-expression is throttled. Divorce is extremely unsettling. Children commonly feel rejected, unloved, and insecure. The scars may last a lifetime.
The story behind extra weight and the strategy to lose those pounds may not be as simple as many would like to believe.
back
to top
|
