Ian
I saw him the other day in the chemists.
It’s funny isn’t it – for the whole of infants and Juniors I sat just across the room from him, and I haven’t ever once thought about him.
It was his voice I recognised first, and then the Pharmacist called his name.
‘Oh my God – it’s Ian from school’.
OK I’ll be honest.
That wasn’t what I thought.
I thought in my nine year old voice: ‘Oh My God – that is probably the most overweight middle aged man I have ever seen…. and it’s ‘Fat Ian’ from school’.
Which is pretty harsh, like children can be with each other.
But that’s what we called him.
Fact was, that’s what people used to call overweight people, directly to their faces – which makes us very uncomfortable now.
Feels cruel.
Not helpful.
Back then, school classes would have a ‘fat kid’.
Not all classes, but some of them.
It was an unusual thing, a bit of a novelty really..
And now it’s not.
Watch your local secondary school tipping out for the day.
The shape of the children is shockingly different.
Type 2 diabetes didn’t exist in 1980 in adolescents.
It’s a huge issue now.
I had a chat with Ian.
He was getting medication for his diabetes.
He brought it up actually.
I wouldn’t have.
He asked what I did now, so obviously the whole weight thing came up.
His mum and dad were overweight, his dad ran a mobile shop.
They sold crisps and sweets, Rola Cola (remember that?),
and he literally had sweets on hand 24 hours.
He still lives with his mum and dad and helps run their business, now a corner shop.
There was a girlfriend on and of for a year or so, about fifteen years ago.
His entire life has seen him put up with people shouting at him in the street, sniggering behind his back, and people whispering to each other pretending not to look.
Because he is overweight.
He has had a toe removed and has really dark rings under his eyes.
And has to have his trousers made specially.
What we didn’t really know then, but absolutely know now..
is why that is.
It was all that sugar.
When you eat sugar, and push your liver to the limit
(which it does – sugar is a liver toxin)
Your pancreas releases insulin
Insulin is the energy storage organ turns sugar into fat – that’s its job.
It blocks your brain from getting the message that you’re full.
So you feel hungry, and tired.
Which makes you slump on the settee, not want to exercise,
and eat.
That’s always been the case,
but the difference now is that sugar is in EVERYTHING.
They took out the fat, and pumped things with sugar, so we would eat them.
And we ate more of that, the ‘low-fat’ stuff, in an effort to stay slim.
So whilst there was one Ian in a class, because he was addicted to sweets,
Now we an epidemic of children who are overweight addicts.
Sugar is MUCH more addictive than Cocaine.
Would you wipe off the table, roll up a £20 note and tell someone to only do one line?
Or buy bottles of gin for an alcoholic and tell them to just have a sip.
The food industry funds Universities who produce ‘evidence’ that stretches half truths to suit their business purposes.
They sponsor sports events.
They play down the negative effects of what they sell, and
spin the rest, with bright colours and words like
‘Fresh’ and ‘Tempting’.
And they made so much money that they can afford to do that REALLY REALLY well.
And very very frequently – everywhere you look.
There’s sugar in formula milk
for God’s sake.
They want them addicted to their products as young as possible.
Which doesn’t help Ian, whose medical problems and sugar addiction is going to make getting to a healthy weight bloody difficult.
This is the first time in human history that more people die from obesity than starvation.
- …the first time people have a lower life expectancy than their parents.
- … that being overweight in the UK is more symptomatic of being poor than rich.
Nearly 40% of secondary school children are obese.
This is squarely because of sugar.
Yes it is.
We know this for sure now.
People are addicted to something that they are surrounded by, that makes them overweight and ill – and manipulated at every turn by the companies that profit from them.
Baffling people with an onslaught of half-truths and clever marketing.
Why wouldn’t they? Businesses exist to make money.
And THEN feel total weak-willed, stupid failures for putting on weight or not losing it.
You can’t win that fight. They are bigger than you.
The only way to get out unscathed is to turn your back and walk away.
Unprocessed food.
Don’t add sugar.
That’s it.
Simple but not easy.
You don’t need to pay anyone, or go anywhere, or buy anything to tell you that.
But, like an alcoholic might need to go into rehab, or Alcoholics Anonymous, or someone talks to Frank…
And while some people manage to go complete cold-turkey
People do best with support.
And accountability.
FACT
(and you know I don’t mean a public weigh-in/shaming session with rounds of applause, followed by buying low-fat cake)
Actual help.
With truth.
And no BS.
Or tricks.
Or excuses.
And if you want us to do that for you, we will be starting our online programme – Wise & Gorgeous: The Project, shortly.
That was only a ‘sort-of’ sales pitch there.
Because the truth is, we’d like everyone to join our free FB group and do our free workouts on Youtube, and cook the recipes we send out
….get really healthy, and not need to do The Project.
Not a problem – we’ve got loads of things on the to-do list that we could get on with instead.
Overweight parents have a much higher risk of bringing up overweight children.
If you do what you have always done, you get what you have always got.
And nothing changes.
Only apply if you are ready to do something different.
p.s. why not head over to the FB group and let us know what you thought of this post..
And if you want inspiration – read the threads and see what people have been up to.
Reckon it might change the way your day goes.
Click the picture for our FREE – Little Guide To Getting Into Shape