Food Revolution

My mother has passed along an interesting quasi morbid habit that I do not see myself losing anytime soon. She is Eighty and every day with her coffee she reads the paper and the first page she turns to is the Obituary page. She was a chain smoker for years and she gave it up when she had a carotid artery 95% blocked that she had surgery for, even after giving up smoking, 5 years later she had a surgery to unblock the other that too was 95% blocked. She knows the damage she did with all that smoking. She will say to me while reading the obits, " I want to see who stopped smoking today." Yes I agree, very dark humor, but that is my mom. I could write this whole post on her ways and the good and bad effect they have had on me, but it is not where I am going, today.
When I started this Weight loss journey my health was a crisis point, I was on a C-pap Machine, and had already had a heart cauterization at 42 to seek blockages as I was experiencing and continued for years to have chest discomfort. I am and probably always will be under the care of a Cardiologist as I have a heart history on my dads side and he died when I was nine. Fortunately for me, my heart is great and I have passed numerous tests to vouch for that. After losing my first 50 pounds my high blood pressure resolved itself and I was able to discontinue my medicines.
Today I am feeling the healthiest as I have felt in years and I am 47, shhhhh... I do not tell everyone that.
A good family friend who is late 50's is in the hospital, the ICU, breathing difficulties, he has heart issues and Diabetes and a myriad of other troubles that honestly can be traced back to his weight. He like myself has struggled with obesity for years and rather than he winning right now, the obesity is. He is loved by many, his Facebook page is loaded with well wishes, I have never heard a person say a cross word about this gentleman and it is heart breaking that a food addiction may take his life.
Getting back to my mom's habit that she passed along, I read the obituary's every day now, and when I see people in my age group or just a bit older die, I ask myself from what? of course there is the inevitable car accidents and other tragic unpredictable in life, but what about the preventable? I read the obits and think, " I wish when it was a disease that is caused by obesity that we would call it that. " So and So, succumbed to Obesity. What I am looking for is an Eyeopener for America to get through their heads that Obesity is killing us and at rapid speed. I want everyone to feel better and see that once you take on your weight and succeed at losing it, you feel better and you have the motivation to keep losing, and your life seems more precious, and you want to pass that on. I want to pass that on~
Jamie Oliver a British Chef has a show on ABC on Tuesdays at 8 called Food Revolution and he is my hero these days, he really is trying in a public way to change the way America eats and I hope he can drive home the message, he bravely tackles it in our schools! How I wished that happened sooner I wish him success.
For today I wish my family friend success, I wish him a recovery and the subsequent strength to take the weight off, you are too loved to leave us, and obesity does not have to be fatal