Blueberry in the mirror

Some people still ascribe to the "just push away from the table" method, but there are plenty of "skinnies" out there who eat carbage constantly and don't seem to gain an ounce.

There are the super-obese, who weigh almost as much as a piano, who swear that they don't eat very much, and when doctors start tallying, find that an easy 35,000 calories a day are being consumed.

There are those who hop on the treadmill, or elliptical, or stair-climber, and punish themselves for hours a day. Some still have muffin-tops and poochy tummies.

There are the people who have skinny arms and legs, and huge bellies. There are those who carry all their weight in their arms and upper abdomens. There are men with huge hips and thighs, and those with belly aprons that make maintaining good personal hygiene impossible. What the heck is going on?

Well, it's complicated.

Obesity is a multi-faceted problem.

It's hormonal. Too much carbage produces too much insulin to try to deal with the too-high blood sugar levels. Once that sugar gets forced into the fat cells, insulin won't let it back out. The body thinks it's starving, and "revs up" the appetite. It's a cycle that repeats itself until diabetes, vascular inflammation, heart attack, and stroke take their toll. 

It's physical. As much as we hate to admit it, exercise that increases muscle tissue (i.e., weight-lifting) causes the body to tap its own fat stores. Since muscles store glucose (sugar) as a source of quick energy, working those muscles forces them to tap fat cells to replace the glucose. 

It's mental. Men look in the mirror and automatically see John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Women see the greedy-girl-turned-blueberry in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That man could weigh 300 pounds, and that woman could weigh 125. And even if an obese woman loses half her weight, she still sees the blueberry in the mirror.

The question of the ages: Why does it have to be so complicated? Alcoholics and drug-addicts just have to stay away from their intoxicant of choice, but we all have to eat.

So what can we do? We can stick to a low-carb lifestyle to keep the insulin in check. We can participate in muscle-producing exercise on a regular basis. We can learn to love ourselves, and show it by doing what it takes to heal our bodies and minds.

We can try to see past the blueberry in the mirror.

The Bionic Broad out.