America's Secret Addiction
America is a nation of self-disclosers, amiably acceptant of our weaknesses. Celebrities, family members, coworkers and friends think nothing of admitting their compulsions and dependencies on alcohol, street drugs, prescription medications. We enter rehab programs, clean up, dry out, and go on with our lives: beating our problem or entering a long series of relapses and treatment episodes. Except, perhaps, for politicians or ministers, there is little social stigma attached to such mistakes unless there are criminal overtones that may lead to incarceration. Television and films have educated us on the dangers and side effects of dependence upon alcohol, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, designer drugs, steroids, pain pills, cannabis and opium. We had to coin the term chemical dependency (CD) to completely cover the broad and ever-growing field. We approach individuals ensnared in their abuse as victims of a disease, to be educated and helped as long as they have a willingness to change and are prepared for the painful journey that owning responsibility for one's own self-destructive behavior demands. But the most widespread, self-destructive, dangerous addiction afflicting America is never discussed: FOOD. The treatment of overeating is extensive: diet clinics, fitness programs, fat farms, plastic surgery. We collectively spend billions of dollars on weight loss aids and fitness equipment. We decry the epidemic of obesity that is overtaking our population to an enormous (literally) degree. We investigate metabolism and hormonal effects. We debate the comparative merits and flaws of protein, fats, carbohydrates, and roughage. We develop new vitamin and mineral formulae. Diet books, support groups, internet clubs, and television shows trumpet tips, techniques, special aids and hundreds of weight control regimes that promise inevitable weight loss with the right combination of "tasty" and "delicious" foods, guaranteed to ensure that our comfort levels remain high and our self-discipline minimally challenged. We fail to confront the irrefutable fact that obesity is caused by food addiction. Excuses and metabolic rationales aside (No, Virginia, no one ever walked out of a Nazi concentration camp or a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp fat -macabre but true) our out-of-control overweight is a direct result of our obsession with, and dependency on, too much food. You may disagree. After all, the other CD addictions are for substances we can totally banish from our lives whereas we have to eat to live. Consider the problem from a slightly different perspective. In the United States, an "all or nothing" society, the goal of the typical CD treatment program is total abstention. The alcoholic is taught that one sip of liquor is never acceptable and constitutes a full relapse from which recovery must start over. In Europe, and many other parts of the world, moderation is considered more realistic than abstention. The goal is to lower the level of usage to the point where it has no deleterious effects on the user's life and the problems - work, relationships, mood, productivity -are resolved. Such a model can more easily be applied to food. Our bodies require a certain level of sustenance to thrive. It is when the intake becomes excessive that problems arise: appearance, the inability to be active, fatigue, depressed mood, and strains on the internal organs. If we can temper that level of intake, we can avert the consequences that follow overindulgence in anything. Such is indeed the focus of many weight control programs. However, they are missing one vital ingredient: acceptance of personal responsibility. At a 12-Step meeting, members repetitively admit to the group: "My name is B and I'm an alcoholic." Imagine, if you will, the different atmosphere that would be engendered if a member were to state: "My name is B. I drink a lot because I inherited the genes from my drunken parents and I can't drink, like all my friends can, without overdoing it. It's so unfair that everyone else can enjoy a drink and I can't." Such a statement sounds ridiculous coming from an admitted problem drinker yet that is exactly what we allow from our problem eaters. It is far more likely that we will tell a close friend: "M, I think you have a problem with alcohol and I want you to get help," than we will tell an equally close friend: "G, I think you have a problem with too much eating and I want you to get help." We remain silent about overweight because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. We use euphemisms like "heavy" and "queen-sized" to avoid the word "fat." When a very overweight friend asks plaintively, "Don't you think this dress makes me look slimmer?" we quietly agree, refusing to give the honest answer that nothing in the world will make her look slimmer except losing 60 pounds of avoirdupois! One lesson learned over decades of CD research and treatment is that the problem must be acknowledged before it can be addressed and beaten. CD clients are notorious for making excuses, playing mind games with those around them, and shirking self-responsibility whenever they can. If we can bring ourselves to acknowledge that we are addicted to food, it allows for eventual movement into a process of change, bypassing the excuses and rationalizations at which overeaters excel -- to an extent that their CD counterparts would admire. Confrontation of the problem requires that we drop the façade of politeness and euphemistic phrasing. As a society, we need to look at others and ourselves and call it as we see it. If I'm fat, I'm fat, and it's my responsibility to not only admit that honestly, but to also admit to myself and the world that it is my fault: I am the one who made myself fat. No one else forced food into my mouth. Like the recovering alcoholic at the bar, I can always say no or drink a plain club soda. Like the recovering cocaine addict who learns to stay away from certain street corners or drug houses, I can stay away from bakeries, fast food outlets, and pizza parlors. Weight control can be simple - eat only what you need to survive - but never easy. The fallacy of many diets is that we can lose weight without suffering. Stopping or minimizing CD abuse is always painful and a craving for chocolate, ice cream, or the urge for sugar (no one seems to crave vegetables) can be as overwhelming to the dieter as the addict's emotional need for his drug of choice. Naming our national weight problem for what it really is, a plain old addiction to food, releases us to start the process of rehab and recovery that has been so completely developed in the CD field. Honesty, and the willingness to work through pain to reach our goal, allows us to not only accept our responsibility for our problem but also to relish the triumph of our eventual success. Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently completed a psychologically-based weight control book: Diet with an Attitude:A Weight Loss Workbook. She can be reached at http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com |
Other Gambling Tips Articles
Roulette For Beginners If you aren’t a roulette player, but have walked past a busy roulette wheel in a casino, you may have wondered what all the excitement and commotion was. There is definitely something almost magical and mesmerizing about the spinning wheel and sound of the Ivory ball clinking around and finally settling into one of the pockets. Here is an introd ...Deuces Wild Video Poker – How to Win BIG You are playing the game on a machine, your sole objective is to get the best-paying hand.You have no opponents to worry about like in table poker, just the machine and to win all you need is the correct strategy.In deuces wild as in all video poker games You can keep or throw away as many cards as you want when playing the machine ...Odds Comparison - Increasing Your Winnings After being in sports betting for about 23 years you have come to see many things such as a hairy chimpanzee putting down the winner for a horse race 10 times in a row, leaving me with a severe insomnia problem. I have also experienced the amazing growth of the internet and especially seen the difference it made to the sports betting community. ...Poker - Quick Rules The first time I was asked to play poker, I had to confess I didn’t have a clue about it. Then after my poker-savvy friend who extended the invitation explained the rules to me, I thought, “Ah-ha! I now know that I will never, ever learn to play poker, and all of my friends just want me to lose my money.” However, I eventually discovered that po ...Horse Wagering Options There’s nothing more exciting, to many, that spending a day at the track. Even if you don’t have access to a racetrack or a way to watch horse racing on TV, horse wagering can yield some great profits. Many horse-wagering individuals have hit the big score with a bet of just $1. Before you can place your bets and start winning, you need to ...A Crash Course on Casino Bonuses Online casinos have been flooding the online world lately. It seems that they have been trying very hard in attracting more and more players to try their luck at online casinos. They have been have been trying to think up of different offers to catch a potential player’s attention. One such promotion is offering different types of casino bonuse ...Top Online Casinos and Gambling Tips & Articles Articles: Online Casino Strategies Part IHow to Choose an Online Casino.An online casino is essentially a virtual land casino. While the games and the rules may be the same the environment and strategies change causing the online casino to become an independent entity.This means that while you may be a professional gambler a ...Will The Golden Boy Retire As A World Champion? The battle of the WBC Super Welterweight Crown promises to be an exciting crash between Oscar de la Hoya and Ricardo Mayorga. De la Hoya will be looking for glory once again but the element that will make the fight more exciting is the fact that they are so opposite in the way they fight. What rises doubt is whether the Golden Boy can o cannot b ...Win Roulette – Avoid These 3 Simple Mistakes and Win Big Roulette is a simple, fun game but to win at roulette you need to avoid some common errors that both novice and experienced players make.Avoiding the mistakes below is easy and if you do you will win at roulette and maybe win big some big payouts.1. Go To EuropeIf you want to win at roulette never play the American wheel. ...All You Need to Know About Poker Chip Cases A case to protect and secure your chips, cards and dealer button is imperative to protect your investment and provide the necessary security for your chips. The chips will remain safe under lock and key during play leaving you to concentrate on your play. You can quickly determine if any chips are missing after a playing session when you rack th ...Cheating at Roulette - Can You Do It? Cheating at Roulette - Can you do it?If you are searching on the net, you will find many authors who claim "cheating at roulette" is possible and by doing it you can win consistent profits.The bad news is "cheating at roulette" is not possible. However, you can put the odds in your favour as much as possible without cheating or pay ...Playing Online Slots – A Novice's Guide to Hitting the Jackpot; Part 1 Playing online Slot machines are simple, easy to learn and fun games to play; it is this combination that makes slots so popular with both novice and experienced players.Here we will go through the basics of playing online slot machines and in Part 2 some strategies to help you win big.When playing online slots you just need to kno ...Free Slots If you do not have the time or the money to go to a casino, but you want to experience the thrill of playing slot machines, then go to the Internet and play free slots. It’s the leading online game these days because it is fun, quick and pays real money. Try it and see why so many people get hooked.How do I play free slots?Most onl ...Tips for Finding the Best Online Casinos You don’t need to come to Vegas in order to get some money from casino plays. There are a lot of online casinos that offer you great possibility to play online and even get some cash. I really hope that you do not get addicted to the action. No matter of what you're into, you can find a great list of online casinos available for players on the n ...Sports Betting Truths The first ever recorded sports bets, took place on 10 September 1858, by two spectators watching a game between the Brooklyn Eckfords and the New York Mutuals, placed a 100$ bet as to whether or not John Holden would hit a home run. Holden himself was assured 25$ if he hit, he did and after the game all the debts were settled.In 1865 agai ...Texas Hold em Poker: Free Online Strategy for Winning Hands at the Tables The most popular and probably the best type of poker game for a novice to try his hand at is texas hold em poker. In a matter of minutes, anyone can learn the rules, which usually begins with the two players to the left of the dealer placing blind bets. Two face down cards are then dealt to each player. A round of betting ensues, this time begin ...Secrets of Extracting More Cash From Online Poker Most poker players are obsessed with improving their play, as well they should. Studying, practicing, keeping logs of hands played are all tools to improve play and profit. There are, however, other subtle ways to improve the bottom line.Bonus accounts- Well known in the industry and I'm sure your aware of them. Some are better than other ...Giving Gretzky The Benefit Of The Doubt Wayne Gretzky has been drawn into a gambling controversy because his wife Janet Gretzky has been alleged to have made non-hockey related bets in a gambling ring.Many members of the media are trying to link Wayne Gretzky to the scandal and have called for him to resign as head of Canada's Olympic hockey program.This is completely in ...Online Poker Room Tips If you have already given online poker a try, you know how much fun you can have. However now that you’ve played a few games, you may be looking for a few online poker room tips to improve your play and help you win more money. A great place to start looking for online poker room tips is right at the site you play on. You can find lots of valuab ...Preseason Betting Tips Sports handicappers can’t beat this time of year: Baseball pennant races in full swing, college football is on the horizon and preseason NFL action is already underway! This weekend is the first full slate of NFL play. Contrary to what some might think, there are numerous wagering opportunities with exhibition football, you just have to know wha ...Playing Online Roulette We tend to think of roulette players dressed up in black tuxedos, mostly from the dramatization from television shows. Today’s Roulette players, however, can play in their pajamas from the comfort of their own home. Fortunately, for those who do not want to get all dressed up and travel many miles to the nearest casino, online roulette has gaine ...Soccer Livebetting Live betting is one of the main sources of income for the bookmaker why?Well before the match starts there is always large publicity about the coming fixtures for Live matches.They are often 2 strong team facing each other and they are most likely to be telecast throughout the world.why? It is because a lot of people likes to bet on sport ...Get Into Coaching Basketball Do you love the game of basketball? Are you too old to play competitively? Do you simply want to help out others? If this sounds like you, becoming a basketball coach may be one option that you should look into. There are thousands of teams all over the world that have coaches. And to take this a bit further, some of these teams have several coa ...White Label Gaming – The Rich Man's Choice Let's face it. We all want to make that cold hard cash in bundles. Perhaps you started an Internet business—or will start one soon—to just get by or get rich. Unless you have your own product, it's to the affiliate program street for you. Is there a better alternative for the webmasters looking to get a taste of the action? Sure, those nice sign ...Online Poker Tips- How To Become A Successful Online Poker Player This article is all about online poker. I have been enjoying playing poker on the internet for a couple of years now and in this article, I give free tips on how to become a successful online poker player.For me playing poker is not just about attempting to win money, it is also fun. I love the fact that you can interact with other player ...
|
