In morbid fascination, I caught part of "I Eat 33,000 Calories a Day" on TLC. What struck me, other than how sad and terrible the lives of these poor, desperate food addicts were, was the color of the majority of the food they ate. It was a study in beige, brown and tan. Piles of eggs, hash browns, chips, baquettes, hard cheeses, chocolate bars, cookies... piles and mountains of monochromatic food.

(BTW, the song has no relevance, I just heard it during a rainstorm yesterday and liked it).

Except for the occasional splash of ketchup, there was an absence of any other color. Most of the foods were high-glycemic carbs that would provide a "rush" of sorts to the body, which would be followed by a crash afterward. The insulin response in their body could not possibly keep up with all of that. I didn't watch enough to see if any were diabetic, but with the food choices and the sheer magnitude of those foods, it's almost impossible that they're not at least Type II. One man ate $28 worth of chocolate bars a day (amongst many other things). That's $10,220 a year in chocolate. Twinkies would definitely fit on the plates I saw laden down with golden brown and beige foods.

Addiction is addiction. If these people were alcoholics or heroin addicts, I'm sure there would be those who pitied them and hoped they'd get treatment, but also those who lacked sympathy and showed sheer disgust... but the general reaction to the super-obese is almost standard: "Ewww, grosss" and repulsion, "How did they ever let themselves get that way?" Precious little sympathy is spared for these super-sized people. It's sad because *there most definitely is* something messed up with their wiring that is leading them to seek salivary stimulation at such an extreme level. I don't believe any of them enjoy becoming housebound or receiving the horrified stares when they do get out.

My mother-in-law ate herself to death. In 1987 she finally died from the effects of over-eating. She was 4'8" tall and at least 330 lbs (that's the last weight she would acknowledge). She had diabetes - complete with bleeding retinas and diabetic neuropathy. Couldn't feel her feet. She stepped on a thumb tack once and had it in her foot for over a week before someone heard the "tap, tap, tap" as she moved the few feet across the kitchen from her chair to the fridge and realized the sound they'd heard all week was from her foot. By then it was badly infected. She was stuck in the bathtub twice and EMS had to be called to get her out. Still, she was addicted to food. Food provided some immense, beyond natural, satisfaction to her that she could not seem to control. And it killed her - her heart was the size of a melon when she died at the young age of 58. You would have never have known she was ony 68. She looked more like 90. The color of her foods of choice? - Beige and golden brown (the golden brown of deep-fry, to be exact)

There's another type of monochrome menu that's equally damaging: the menu of the anorexic. All over the web, pro-anorexia sites like this livejournal forum are springing up where young girls (and guys now) encourage each other to starve themselves. They post pictures of the almost skeletal remains of Nicole Richie, the Oleson twin with ana, and revere the models who died in the past year from ED.

Often their diets consist of not much more than the color green... lettuce green. A chemical reaction occurs in the body of anorexics and bulemics which triggers a response to the body's serontonin system. "A recent review of the scientific literature has suggested that anorexia is linked to a disturbed serotonin system,[14] particularly to high levels at areas in the brain with the 5HT1A receptor - a system particularly linked to anxiety, mood and impulse control. Starvation has been hypothesised to be a response to these effects, as it is known to lower tryptophan and steroid hormone metabolism, which, in turn, might reduce serotonin levels at these critical sites and, hence, ward off anxiety. In contrast, studies of the 5HT2A serotonin receptor (linked to regulation of feeding, mood, and anxiety), suggest that serotonin activity is decreased at these sites. One difficulty with this work, however, is that it is sometimes difficult to separate cause and effect, in that these disturbances to brain neurochemistry may be as much the result of starvation, than continuously existing traits that might predispose someone to develop anorexia. There is evidence, however, that both personality characteristics (such as anxiety and perfectionism) and disturbances to the serotonin system are still apparent after patients have recovered from anorexia,[15] suggesting that these disturbances are likely to be causal risk factors."

Funny how society finds it easy to pity the anorexics but generally just looks at those with the reverse disorder with horror and outrage. In reality, these disorders are two sides of the same coin.

What's a healthy diet look like? It's a rainbow of colors - yellows, greens, reds, some browns. Full of anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals, protein and low-glycemic carbs.

~o~

On an entirely different note, my father called me at 1am on Wednesday night, deep in delusion. "Glynis," says he, "I looked out over my property and there are dead and dying animals everyone. Carcasses all over the place! I think it has to do with pesticides." At this point he made me look out my window and attest to the fact that I saw nothing. He then said, "Get the kids and get out of town as fast as you can. Something terrible is happening! Maybe it's headed your way, I don't know, but you'd better pack up some stuff and hurry." At this point I had to talk him down, he was dead serious. When I had him reseaonably calm, I was able to hang up and dial the nurse at his assisted living and send her to his room. I guess it took a while for them to convince him that there were no bodies strewn across the lawn.

Why did this happen? Because he went to the VA psychiatrist and told her he was having memory problems. He does not have Alzheimer's, but she prescribed him Aricept which is commonly given for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's to improve memory. Within two days of taking it, he had an improved memory alright - he thought it was 30 years ago and he was up for the position of Superintendant of the schools and his room became his office up at the high school. All weekend he was "working on that office" preparing for a school board meeting. It was blended in with reality - he knew he doesn't have a driver's license anymore and was making plans to get one and to get a vehcile. Very disturbing! After the carcasses in the night incident, I called the VA and made the psychiatrist discontinue the meds.

I should mention here that the local Racoon Suicide Cult has been operating again. This weekend, when I was on the road running from pillar to post, I saw dozens of racoon bodies - usually in groups of two. This time it's the racoons in the southern portion of the county who are sacrificing themselves to the white lights in the night.

~o~

Thursday's workout with Caren (at 5:30am, after having little sleep thanks to those dying animals strewn

over town)

-- 10 minutes dreadmill, 8.2% 4.0 mph

scorpion pushups, 20 X 2

leg extension 20/95, 12/110

adduction 20/170, 10/210

jump squats, 10 X 2

--Sprint on Cybex 2 minutes

decline dumbbell press, 10/790

side lunges, 20/70

pec dec 15/90

ab mach 12/120

REPEAT

--Sprint on Sci-fit, incline 1:30

close crip pushups, 10 on bosu trainer

plankups, 10

1 leg squat, 20

lying pullups 8

REPEAT

--sprint on Sci-fit, 1:30

military press 20/30

wood choppers 20/90

reverse crunches 25

hanging abs 10

REPEAT

--25 minutes HIITon Octane

--10 minutes dreadmill, 8.2 %, 4.0 mph

I haven't been to the gym yet today. I was catching up on all the sleep I lost on Thursday, working on school, reading my 14 yo the riot act and waiting for the mid-morning gym rush to end.