This is a blog where I talk about how fucked up my relationship with food is, and my current battle against both genetics and the processed food industry to be healthy.
Why are we here? What made me decide to write this? I miss writing, and I stopped doing it because I am lazy. Because I am lazy, I am in this situation.
Ok, that was a lie. That trope, about laziness? It is a lie. Fat people are not lazy. I mean, I guess there definitely are lazy fat people, but there are also plenty of lazy non-fat people too. Yet, this is an argument you see parroted all of the time, it is part of the stigma of being overweight. You are lazy, you don’t work hard enough, you gotta lose some weight. Get off the couch and excercise.
That shit sucks. It isn’t helpful, and it looks past the insane amount of other factors that cause certain people to hold on to more weight than other people. Weight is both determined by genetics and learned behaviors. It is addictive dopamine releasing high calorie foods, delicious calorie filled sparkly beverages, coffees loaded with calories and all of the stuff you enjoy. These foods were literally designed to give you that dopamine hit.
Do you call an addict lazy? They simply have to just stop taking a drug right? That is the easiest thing in the world right, to just stop doing something? It just isn’t that simple. Addiction is genetic. Experts say that at least 50-70% of addiction is heritable, and those with a high pre-disposition to addiction are as much as 4 times as likely as the average person to be come addicted. 1
Addiction is also a matter of your environment as well. Those who grow up around drugs or alcoholism are more likely to become addicted as well. Where you live, who you associate with, and what barriers you have towards treatment all matter 2
So don’t be a fucking asshole and blame fat people for being overweight. It just isn’t that simple, there is so much more to it than “laziness”. While yes, like any addiction or situation, a person needs to actively want to get better and do things to change their situation, it isn’t just as simple as “put down the hamburger”.
What does this have to do with food?
“Food addiction” is not currently recognized by the APA as an eating disorder, but research on this topic is ongoing. Further investigation is important in the battle for obesity, and this field has seen a massive amount of growth in research. What exactly food addiction will be defined as is unknown, but that is what the medical community will argue about. Simply put, eating food releases dopamine, doing drugs releases dopamine, gambling releases dopamine. The hormone dopamine is key to many types of addiction, and it is present in food consumption.
Brains are wired to desire calorie dense foods. Our savannah dwelling ancestors needed every scrap of food they could find to survive. Consumption of food that is higher in calories releases the hormone dopamine as part of our brain’s reward system. This was wired into our brains eons ago to better help us survive the dangerous world of pre-history. Hell, we wouldn’t be here if our ancestors didn’t survive, right? This is a gene (or set of genes) that, in the world of plentiful food, is no longer necessary for survival.
This 2015 study, discussed in obesity society, points to a few specific genetic links that show that people with these specific genes have a greater activation in the orbitalfrontal cortex (the part of the brain associated with taste) when looking at images of calorie dense foods, compared to images of non calorie dense foods. Some people have brains that “crave” calorie dense foods more than others. 3
The other issue with obesity is that, over time, it conditions the body to remain in homeostasis at your current weight. 4 This makes sense, as it is very beneficial for a person to be able to hold onto their weight for survival. Leptin, which is a hormone produced by fat cells, signal your brain to stop hunger cravings when it is full. People who are obese are thought to have a resistance to this hormone that messes with their ability to know when they are full.
Ok, I asked “Why are we here?” Why are we here?
I am addicted to food, morbidly obese, and I am both genetically and environmentally pre-disposed to develop obesity. This I am sure of. Based my family history, relatives and overall observations, I know that I am pre-disposed for weight gain. I am one of the very many people in the USA with an obesity diagnosis, with a completely fucked up relationship with food.
Obesity is a disease, full stop. This is not just a failure of self control or willpower, it is a chemical, hormonal and genetic imbalance that we all have to varying degrees. Remember this, you don’t shame people for having a disease, you help people and encourage them to treat their disease.
This blog exists to look into why this is, what made me the way I am, and what I am going to do about it. I hope to post weekly, and discuss my various trials and tribulations, ups and downs, and overall progress.
I want to end this with the note. If you, like me, are obese and have issues with your weight and your relationship with food. Know that you are not alone, and it is not all your fault. You can get help, you can get better, and the future is bright for the war on obesity.
- https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-researchers-delve-deep-genetics-addiction
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924064/
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151105103957.htm
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-molecular-reason-why-obese-people-have-trouble-losing-weight/