Sep

24

Those who live to eat.

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While reading a blog entitled Eat To Live Or Live To Eat? on Getfitslowly.com I was reminded of a program I saw recently that adressed this idea specifically. The program was entitled “I eat 33,000 calories per day.” It interviwed 4 different people who were morbidly obese tipping the scales at over 550 pounds each. Each one of them was bedridden and could not leave their house or even walk without assistance due to their enormous size and weight.

                This article “Eat to live or live to eat?” describes a relationship that some people develope with the foods they choose to eat. Some people use these foods as a comfort tool and coping mechanism for dealing with life’s problems. Most of the time people like this enjoy eating unhealthy foods with saturated fat and sugar content. Unfortuneatly behavior like this leads to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

            All of the people in this show had these health problems and were doing nothing to change their situation for the better. Their weight also opened the door to a host of other health issues such as increased heart size, constriction of the lungs (leading to problems with breathing), issues with blood circulation, and the inability to walk without assistance.

             One man who weighed in at over 700 pounds could not leave his bed and had to be removed from his home at one point with a forklift. His family cooks for him on a daily basis and his grocery bill usually goes up to 200 dollars per day. He eats eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, french toast, burgers, french fries, steaks, potatoes, pizzas, hot dogs, pastas, and chinese food along with four gallons of kool-aid and iced sweet tea every single day. He breaths with the help of an oxygen tank that delivers air through his nasal passages. Even though he continues to gain weight he says that he loves eating and that he will continue his eating habits even if it means an early death.

             This problem of obesity and an overall “live to eat” mentality is growing more and more common not only in America but in other countries around the world. The people in this program were all from the U.K. I believe that the number of weight related deaths will only increase in the years to come as more people don’t take the time to better their eating habits and prepare nutritous meals for themselves on a daily-basis. Fast food chains all over the world make it easy to get a “quick fix” of garbage food rather than spending the time and money to eat healthy but at the same time they are not the ones that should be blamed for this problem. People need to take more responsibility for themselves if they wish to preserve their lifespan and remain in “good shape.”