Lessons from "The Biggest Loser"

 

I absolutely love the show "The Biggest Loser;" it's so motivating to see people excited to lose weight and make real changes in their way of life.  I have watched just about every season so far, except when Anna Kournikova was brought on as a "trainer" (that is intentionally in quotes, I mean, really...Anna a trainer?? Please!!).  Now that Jillian is back, all is now put to rights in the world of "The Biggest Loser!"

If you've kept up with this season so far, you know that they've included kids in the competition who have been classified as "obese."  The focus with the kids is a little different than the adults; the trainers visit and train the kids on a rotation at the ranch, but also at the kids' homes.  The other difference between the kids and the adults is that the kids cannot be eliminated from the competition.  The kids' nutrition and exercise education also includes helping their parents make different decisions about what sorts of activities their child should do, as well as how to stock their pantry with healthy foods.  Great stuff!

Every participant (kids and adults) on "The Biggest Loser" must provide a short video interview as to why they want to be a part of the show, and what led them to this place of bad health.  It was very interesting to see the difference between the kids' personal videos that provided the reasons they were on the show, and the adults' videos.  The kids very plainly felt that they were obese because of habits they had built on their own - in other words, they provided no excuses for their weight but owned up to personal behaviors that led them to obesity.  It was common for some of the adults, however, to say how other people and circumstances have led to their obesity, while avoiding discussion of the impact of personal choices.

Seeing the kids' honesty is completely refreshing and provides hope that anyone struggling with their weight does not have to have a "victim mentality" about their struggle.  So what can we learn from these kids' "Why Videos?"  I think some of the following things can be kept in mind as we strive to kick bad habits and adopt new ones!

1. Own up to the part you had to play in getting to your current circumstances.  The only way to move forward is to recognize that your personal choices had a major part to play in where you are now, regardless of what other people have said or done.

2. Choose to make a change for yourself.  Realize you don't have to be the victim in your own life anymore.  If you have poor health due to your life choices, tell yourself that today is the day to change, create a healthy goal for yourself, and then figure out the steps that will get you to completion of your goal.

3. Get accountability. The kids on "The Biggest Loser" realized they needed help to get better, so do you!  Find a team of people who will help you get to your goals!

Your Own Personal...Stomach Pump??!!

There is a new product in testing that I see as one of the most disgusting abuses of our current medical knowledge.  Aspire Bariatrics has created a "personal stomach pump" that can pump out the contents of your stomach 20 minutes after eating a meal so that it will not digest or turn in to fat.  It then inserts water into the stomach so that you feel full.  The main issue this company is having in getting their product accepted and on the market for consumers is its difficulty in getting rid of large chunks of food, as well as many types of processed foods; which, let's face it, most of our diet is processed food!

My first thought after reading the article (and watching the lovely video about how the stomach pump is installed and works) was "Really??!!"  It's almost comical that certain members of the medical community are literally banking on the fact that we can be so lazy as to choose to install a permanent fixture on our stomach to drain it instead of learning how to stop stuffing our faces and set our forks down!  It's actually pretty insulting, and now I feel like this...

I hope this makes you a little angry, that as a public we're perceived as being this foolish and ready to make drastic changes instead of making easy (and more cost effective) choices of eating different (healthy) types of food, and exercising instead of sitting.  I also hope you become a little perturbed that a medical form of bulimia is on its way to being acceptable for people to practice.  And what exactly is the "science" behind this product?  How is it acceptable to drain your stomach of the very nutrition it needs to fuel every single system in the body?  Simply stated, this is going to be a fancy (and expensive) way to starve a person.

What do you think?  Below is a link to the article (it's pretty short), and there is a video in the article that shows exactly what the stomach pump looks like, and how it works.


Personalized Stomach Pump