Food is a drug
I am a runner. I am also not your typical runner. I am 6' 2" and weigh 210-215 lbs. I am considered "overweight" by the BMI measuring system. I have a large waist, love handles and a jiggly gut but I can run long distances that other people are scared to attempt. I know what I look like and I've pretty much come to terms with it. But, as many of you know, I've come a long way in regards to how much I weigh.
I was 300+ lbs 7 years ago but have struggled my whole life with my weight. I was a big kid growing up, I was a big kid in college and turned into a big adult. I have a love of food. I listened to a podcast recently at UltraRunnerPodcast.com that hit the nail right on the head with what I struggle(d) with. The interview was with a guy named Russ Thomas who has lost over 200 lbs just by watching what he eats and running. He made a statement that made so much sense with why I, and for that matter so many people, struggle with being "overweight" even though we exercise. We as a society have turned food into a drug instead of fuel to keep us going everyday.
He made the statement that makes so much sense. I am paraphrasing but it sounded like this, "as a food addict, food is the only drug that you absolutely can not live without. Drugs and alcohol you can live without once you break the chains of addiction, but food you absolutely have to have to survive." Think about that statement!!! Until I heard that I never realized that I truly am a drug addict. Most people that I know are too.
Take my employer for example. I have been blessed with being able to work at a company where I am provided with free lunch everyday. That's right FREE LUNCH. This is not your typical sandwich cart lunch either. It is a full course meal. You have the option of selecting a main entree, salad, soup, sandwich or whatever you want and it's real food.
A few weeks ago our company decided to make a shift in the menu and got rid of all high sodium, high fat, high cholesterol food and start incorporating more healthy food (lots of veggies, baked fish, low sodium soups). It has been great as it is a lot of food that is similar to the food that I eat at home. This company though employs a lot of people that have worked here for 20+ years and have been given free lunch the entire time. When it was announced that the menu would be changing I thought there was going to be a anarchy against the company. The first day people were planning what the rotation was going to be like to drive to McDonald's every week. These people could not even begin to imagine how they were going to survive without pizza, cheeseburgers, fries, potato soup, tenderloins, etc. Since the menu change people have decided to forgo FREE lunch and go to restaurants around the area to get their fix. Tell me how food is not a drug.
I'll admit that I am not playing the "holier than thou" card here. I still have my weak moments. Mt. Dew is a problem for me. It's everywhere I go. I can go to the store and it's in the case in it's glowing bottle or out of the fountain at work staring at me and I pick one up. I have limited myself to once a week though but I look forward to that one day. I also love pizza and can't stop eating it 99% of the time until I feel like I am going to explode. Food gives me a high and a lot of the time it leaves me craving more and leaves me incredibly sad at the same time.
I look at my body with all of the stretch marks and still ever present gut and feel sad at what I let myself become. Like a recovered meth addict that has to look at their fake teeth because their drug of choice eroded their teeth or the recovered alcoholic that looks at the scar on their mid-section because they required a liver transplant, I am constantly reminded how my drug has affected what I look like. I know that some of the fat around my belly is genetic but most of it is brought on by bad choices.
For a very long time food controlled my life. I prided myself on the record that I had at IHOP of eating 25 pancakes in 2 hours. For those of you taking count, that is 2750 calories (not counting the syrup on top) and that was not my first meal of the day. That was dinner. So I had at least 2 meals already that day. That day was probably a 4,000 calorie day but looking at the picture of me with my waiter that night I looked happy. It was a facade. Food made me feel like I could accomplish something. Ugh!!! What a joke.
I still struggle with it but I am much more in control now. My wife has made me realize that it's not about the amount of food that I eat, but what I eat. I've changed my habits to be more of a "part-time vegetarian". I eat 100% vegetarian 2 days a week focusing on non-processed food, whole food. We eat well balanced meals now and always have fruit and/or vegetables with every meal. We incorporate whole grains & natural foods (quinoa, barley, brown rice) into every meal. When we eat meat it is meat from animals that aren't being pumped with fattening agents or other chemicals. We eat deer meat instead of beef. We eat pork from hogs that are not pumped with chemicals to fatten them up. We are passing this on to our children with the hopes that we can change their future equipping them with a taste for non-processed or minimally processed foods. My hope is that they can look at food not as something that they have to have to fill a void but that they use it as a needed element for survival. I can't change society, but I can hopefully prevent my kids from becoming drug addicts.
Stay Strong, Run Long,
Tha Messenjah
I was 300+ lbs 7 years ago but have struggled my whole life with my weight. I was a big kid growing up, I was a big kid in college and turned into a big adult. I have a love of food. I listened to a podcast recently at UltraRunnerPodcast.com that hit the nail right on the head with what I struggle(d) with. The interview was with a guy named Russ Thomas who has lost over 200 lbs just by watching what he eats and running. He made a statement that made so much sense with why I, and for that matter so many people, struggle with being "overweight" even though we exercise. We as a society have turned food into a drug instead of fuel to keep us going everyday.
He made the statement that makes so much sense. I am paraphrasing but it sounded like this, "as a food addict, food is the only drug that you absolutely can not live without. Drugs and alcohol you can live without once you break the chains of addiction, but food you absolutely have to have to survive." Think about that statement!!! Until I heard that I never realized that I truly am a drug addict. Most people that I know are too.
Take my employer for example. I have been blessed with being able to work at a company where I am provided with free lunch everyday. That's right FREE LUNCH. This is not your typical sandwich cart lunch either. It is a full course meal. You have the option of selecting a main entree, salad, soup, sandwich or whatever you want and it's real food.
A few weeks ago our company decided to make a shift in the menu and got rid of all high sodium, high fat, high cholesterol food and start incorporating more healthy food (lots of veggies, baked fish, low sodium soups). It has been great as it is a lot of food that is similar to the food that I eat at home. This company though employs a lot of people that have worked here for 20+ years and have been given free lunch the entire time. When it was announced that the menu would be changing I thought there was going to be a anarchy against the company. The first day people were planning what the rotation was going to be like to drive to McDonald's every week. These people could not even begin to imagine how they were going to survive without pizza, cheeseburgers, fries, potato soup, tenderloins, etc. Since the menu change people have decided to forgo FREE lunch and go to restaurants around the area to get their fix. Tell me how food is not a drug.
I'll admit that I am not playing the "holier than thou" card here. I still have my weak moments. Mt. Dew is a problem for me. It's everywhere I go. I can go to the store and it's in the case in it's glowing bottle or out of the fountain at work staring at me and I pick one up. I have limited myself to once a week though but I look forward to that one day. I also love pizza and can't stop eating it 99% of the time until I feel like I am going to explode. Food gives me a high and a lot of the time it leaves me craving more and leaves me incredibly sad at the same time.
I look at my body with all of the stretch marks and still ever present gut and feel sad at what I let myself become. Like a recovered meth addict that has to look at their fake teeth because their drug of choice eroded their teeth or the recovered alcoholic that looks at the scar on their mid-section because they required a liver transplant, I am constantly reminded how my drug has affected what I look like. I know that some of the fat around my belly is genetic but most of it is brought on by bad choices.
For a very long time food controlled my life. I prided myself on the record that I had at IHOP of eating 25 pancakes in 2 hours. For those of you taking count, that is 2750 calories (not counting the syrup on top) and that was not my first meal of the day. That was dinner. So I had at least 2 meals already that day. That day was probably a 4,000 calorie day but looking at the picture of me with my waiter that night I looked happy. It was a facade. Food made me feel like I could accomplish something. Ugh!!! What a joke.
I still struggle with it but I am much more in control now. My wife has made me realize that it's not about the amount of food that I eat, but what I eat. I've changed my habits to be more of a "part-time vegetarian". I eat 100% vegetarian 2 days a week focusing on non-processed food, whole food. We eat well balanced meals now and always have fruit and/or vegetables with every meal. We incorporate whole grains & natural foods (quinoa, barley, brown rice) into every meal. When we eat meat it is meat from animals that aren't being pumped with fattening agents or other chemicals. We eat deer meat instead of beef. We eat pork from hogs that are not pumped with chemicals to fatten them up. We are passing this on to our children with the hopes that we can change their future equipping them with a taste for non-processed or minimally processed foods. My hope is that they can look at food not as something that they have to have to fill a void but that they use it as a needed element for survival. I can't change society, but I can hopefully prevent my kids from becoming drug addicts.
Stay Strong, Run Long,
Tha Messenjah
Comments
Thanks for listening and linking,
Eric