Dreams and Soapboxes

I had Australia-related dreams last night, so I can do a dream post.

1. There is a movie version of McLeod's Daughters that I've never given much attention. My feeling is I'm too used of the TV show, and wouldn't want to see other actors in their roles. But then I find out Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia is in it. That makes me more interested.

2.
This next one was more hypnagogic than full dream. It happened when I first woke up. My eyes were open and I could see the bedroom; but my mind was still in a dream. A phrase pops into my head. It's that Australia beats the Royal Family in terms of obesity. In other words, they have more of an obesity problem than the Royal Family. I think to myself that this makes no sense. The Royal Family is so small compared to the population of Australia.  Also, the Royal Family is wealthy so they can probably afford private chefs and personal trainers.

3. This is not Australia-related, but I'm going to share it anyway. I'm in The Goonies story. It's toward the end, and we should soon find the pirate ship with all the treasures. But now we've gotten out from underground. We're in some building...maybe a country club? We walk past a door and Anne Ramsey comes out. She grabs one of us. I think I'm relieved at first that I wasn't grabbed, but then I feel maybe being grabbed would have been the best way to get back down underground.

Then I think I'm with my mom instead of The Goonies. It's just me and someone else—either my mom or someone who has an aura like my mom. We go into a boardroom with people having a meeting. There's this idea that we should pull up the tile and then we can do underground that way. So we do that. In order to distract the people in the meeting, I start singing 500 Miles (Peter Paul and Mary one, not Proclaimers). A few people sing along, but then I have the whole room singing.

Later I'm alone and still trying to find the way to the underground. But I realize I have to pee. I decide I'm going to have to pause my search and find a toilet. Fortunately, I quickly find the woman's room. There's something blocking it, but it looks easy to move.

So, that's my dreams. Now I'm going to step briefly on my dream-inspired soapbox and talk about obesity. I've been reading news websites about the whole thing, along with the comments that people make. The big news now is that Australian scientists are saying moderately overweight elders might live longer than their normal weight, underweight, and obese counterparts. This means that doctors can stop encouraging grandma and grandpa about going on a diet. We can stop picking on Santa Claus. We can put away the carrot sticks and take out the homemade cookies on Christmas Eve.

As far as scientists seem to know, we still need to be concerned about obesity in the younger populations. From what I understand, there is a huge health risk in being obese. I think, though, that we should probably stop worrying about people who are slightly overweight unless they have a specific health condition that is known to improve with weight loss. We should certainly stop encouraging healthy weight individuals to become super skinny.

As for people who are obese.....

I can't say I support the fat-is-fine movement. I did for awhile....I think as a backlash from having an eating disorder. But now I think people should at least TRY to get to a healthier weight (whether they are too thin or too fat).

What bothers me is the nastiness directed at obese people. People act as if it's so easy to lose weight. Just eat less and exercise! Get off your lazy ass. Stop eating fast food!

It is NOT that easy. For some people, food is an addiction. Now what does an alcoholic do in their steps to recovery? They stop drinking! We don't tell them to reduce the amount of alcohol. We don't tell them to drink in moderation. They're told that they need to give it up all together.

Well, guess what. You can't do that with food. You can't stop eating all together...unless you want to die. So food addicts have a huge battle to deal with. They need encouragement, understanding, and compassion. They don't need snarky nastiness.

Okay. I'm going to get off my soapbox now.


11 comments:

  1. I agree with you on the "can't just quit eating" - so it's really hard to lose weight (or deal with any other eating disorder actually). Can't just quit and call it good.
    That's tough.

    but enough on that.
    I dreamt (this is two times now) about my neighbor (female).
    I don't actually have a thing for her or anything (promise). But if I don't tell someone I've dreamt about her - I think it'll just fester and become worse. Maybe I'm wrong.

    oh - I can't remember what - oh wait I can. um... well.. hey I'll just email you! (and tease everyone else)

    hahahahahah

    ReplyDelete
  2. HappyOrganist, I often wonder that. If I tell someone about a new interest, dream, crush, etc, will it diminish it. Will keeping it secret make it fester and get stronger?

    Although with my Australia secret, it didn't become strong UNTIL I let it out in the open. I'd casually mention it to other people once in awhile. But for the most part, it kept quietly in the back of my mind. Once it was out fully in the open, that's when it blew into this huge thing.

    I wonder if you'll end up having a thing about her. Sometimes dreaming about people gives me a thing about them. For me, it usually works that way. I think I more often get "things" about people I've dreamed about than I dream about people that I have things about.

    As for eating, I remember my dad used to say something about the future and eating. Maybe his idea was we'd take pills instead of eating? But then that's kind of sad. There's such a social aspect to food as well.

    Eating is SO complicated...for eating disorder people and everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eating too much is not a problem I have but you make an interesting point about quitting alcohol, cigarettes or even drugs. You just stop and as you say, you can't stop eating.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Andrew,

    It's a struggle for me to limit my intake of food. I have to really put my mind to it. But I know of other people (like Tim) who are much better at moderation.

    I was talking to someone about it once. She says she can buy a bag of Twizzlers (red licorice sticks) and just eat one a day. If I get a bag of those, they're gone in about twenty minutes. If they're not gone, I'm obsessing about them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HappyOrganist,

    Trouble can be fun ; )

    Hey, do you watch Lost??? I don't think you do, but I'm not sure.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you so much Dina for standing up for me... or wait. Was it in general you were talking about obese people?
    I have gained a few pounds and realize it is so tough to lose it. SIGH!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Farila,

    Yeah. It can be very hard to lose weight. There ARE effective ways to lose weight pretty fast. The problem is they're not diets that people want to stay on for life.

    My question is how many people who have lost their weight, kept it off?

    I know many people (including me) who lost a ton of weight, but gained it all back within a year or two.

    I can't think of anyone who lost weight and then kept it off.

    I see people who find this new diet. They get all excited because it's working for them. My feeling is: Hold your applause until you see where you are five years from now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dina, I don't watch Lost - but I laugh at people who do =D (my husband, that is)

    ReplyDelete
  9. HappyOrganist,

    I laugh at us too!

    Although I'm going to miss it. I got all teary-eyed watching it last night.

    ReplyDelete