Recently an uproar has been made about
an actress being overweight. While I don't agree with the tactics of
Mr. Reed attacking the actress publicly, one does wonder what message
is being sent by the actress to the millions of children and adults
who are struggling with being overweight.
I struggle with that issue constantly
myself, though my weight is 175 lbs and am 6' tall, I am actually
slender, but I love my sweets and junk food just like everyone else,
and it is those items that pack on the most fat weight.
There is no telling what an overweight
persons struggle is, if they have one at all. We have heard of
certain deficiencys in a body’s metabolism that may cause easy
weight gain, and what may make lossing the weight harder if not
impossible. We have heard that it may be caused by stress, or lack
of ones self worth. In many cases, it is just that we have become
addicted to fattening foods for various reasons. No matter what the
reason is, it's for that person to deal with. If they choose to get
help, it's available for them. If they are happy with how they look,
then it should be OK for them to be that way, and they should be
willing to take on full responsibility for any illness it may cause
at their expense.
I do know one thing that I can attest
too, and that is how large companies have created fattening foods and
have managed to get the federal government to approve them for their
SNAP (food stamp) program, when they should not be. At the same
time, shame on the government for not giving enough money to people
so they can afford to purchase healthy foods.
Here is a perfect example: During my
homelessness, I have been able to arrange to get food stamps to help
me eat. That's $200 per month for a single person. That means, if I
want to eat enough food to 'fill' me up, I can only spend about $6.00
per day on junk food. Not healthy food, but junk food, the food that
makes me gain weight and destroys my body's health. Can you imagine
eating enough food for a whole day on just $6.00? You really can't.
That's why my food stamps usually only last 20 days at best, and
that's me staying at $10.00 per day.
I can't even buy vitamins that would
help keep my body healthy as it's not a 'food' item. Yet, you can
buy soda's, snack candy, chips and so much other unhealthy food with
the food stamps.
This maneuvering of the big
corporations to suck more money out of the government is a sham in no
uncertain terms. By forcing low income families to buy unhealthy
food, they then force them to need medical treatment more, which
means more money out of the federal governments pocket...YOUR POCKET!
Healthy foods need to be the only thing
available to purchase on food stamps, and the government needs to
keep pace with rising food costs. The last increase on food stamps
was over four years ago, and prices have increased over 30% since
then. Thus, less money to buy food, forces people to buy less
healthy food, which means more medical bills, which means more taxes.
But sadly, as with everything else
going on in this world, the American public will allow this to
continue saying it's not their problem. Or even better yet, like Mr.
Reed, they will publicly humiliate someone saying a variety of mean
things to try and shame that person or persons, while not really
understanding what the problem is, but only to make themselves feel
like they are helping address a problem, when all they are doing is
being a 'bully' and to be real honest, chicken shit by not addressing
the real issues at hand.
Life goes on...I go on
