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Why Are We Supersizing Ourselves?
by Laura Hillier
July 27, 2003

Thank you for coming this morning. As we start this morning, think about whether there is anything causing you some stress or anxiety this morning. Maybe today’s topic? Or were you running a little late this morning? Did someone do something that aggravated you before you arrived? Maybe someone cut you off as you drove here?

Maybe you are one of the few who feels completely calm and relaxed this morning, nothing is bothering you. Focus on that good energy and mentally share that energy for the people around you to absorb.

Meditation
Take a nice, slow deep breath. Close your eyes if you like.
Exhale slowly, letting the air out of your lungs.
Place your hands on you thighs, palms up.
Take another slow, steady breath & inhale deeply into your lungs.
Imagine your breath coming through your palms – feel that positive energy entering your body.
Slowly release your breath, letting out through your palms.
Just continue this slow, deep breathing.
Take notice of how your body feels. Do you feel tension or pain in any place?
Maybe it’s in your shoulders, your back, or your neck? Maybe it’s a thought nagging in your mind.
Focus your energy on that place and imagine your breath going there.
Let your breath help to relax it or release the discomfort.
As you continue to breathe through your palms, stay aware of your body. Channel your breath to any spot that needs it.
Just keep breathing for a few moments.

SERMON:
It’s nice to see so many people here this morning. I was a little worried that today’s topic might make some people uncomfortable enough to keep them away this morning. The pressure & guilt we can experience around weight and eating can be very powerful – powerful enough to make us want to eat to relieve the stress. The information and ideas I discuss may not be new to you, but hopefully they will a reminder or will motivate you to make a change.

The one thing I want to avoid is making anyone feel badly about themselves. Weight is a complicated and very common issue, yet it seems to be one of the few acceptable discrimination remaining in our culture. As a health educator, it’s the quality of someone’s life is what is most important to me – especially feeling good about oneself. If health professionals push so hard to get people to lose weight and end up making those very people feel bad about themselves in the process, we’ve missed the point. In fact, the term “obese” is no longer used when discussing children’s weight. Only the term now is simply “overweight”. People are beautiful, valuable and important regardless of their size or their shape, no matter what the commercials, magazines and models want us to believe.

I work at the Charles County Health Department as the Director of Health Promotion, so I’m concerned with promoting changes to enhance people’s health in the community, whether it be changing your eating habits, quitting smoking or any other change in lifestyle.

Let me tell you about my friend Teresa, who used to work at the Health Department. She was a teacher, a mentor, and a friend to me. She had a special spirit. She was always teaching me about how to work with the African American and Native American communities she grew up in in the county.

She had Type II Diabetes and she left work on disability 2 years ago at the age of 55, because she was losing her sight. She had many of the common diabetes risk factors. She was African American & Native American, overweight, had no health insurance for most of the time I knew her, and had had a stressful life.

Within a month of leaving, she had a stroke, and 6 months later another. She was unable to talk or move by herself. A few months later she had a final stroke and passed away quietly. She was only 56. It was hard to see diabetes slowly take her life. I wish she’d been able to get the medical care she needed. It was too soon for her to go.

Obesity is an epidemic in the U.S., and the diabetes trend is not far behind. When I refer to diabetes, I’m speaking only about Type II diabetes. Approximately 25% of American are obese and 2/3 are overweight. There’s been a 75% increase in obesity among adults in the past decade. Among children, 15% are overweight – this is double what it was in the early 70’s.

The prevalence of obesity differs among racial and ethnic groups. For Caucasians, 20% are obese, where as for African Americans it’s 30% and for Latinos it’s 24%. In Southern Maryland, 63% of people are expected to obese at some point in their lifetime if this trend continues. In the US, our eating habits and lack of physical activity are the second leading cause of preventable deaths, just behind tobacco use.

Let me explain how overweight and obesity are determined – they are calculated using the Body Mass Index (or BMI), which is based using your height & weight. Being overweight is having a Body Mass Index of 25 or more. Obesity is having a Body Mass Index of 30 or greater. For example, a women who is, 5’4” and 30 pounds overweight is considered obese.

Diabetes
Type II Diabetes has increased 50% among adults in the US in the last 10 years (CDC). It is now estimated that 1 in 3 babies born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime. A startling thing about diabetes is that 30% of people who have it don’t know it.

8.5% of Americans have diabetes. This percentage is higher for African Americans, Latinos and almost double for Native Americans. You have a greater chance of developing Type II diabetes the older you get, if you have a family history or diabetes, a history of diabetes during pregnancy, if you are overweight or obese, if you are not very physically active, or have high blood pressure. It is important to get tested for diabetes each time you have a physical.

Great, now I’ve given you a whole lot of statistics. So what is the good news? Obesity and diabetes can be prevented in many cases. So what do we need to do? We need to eat fewer calories, be more physically active, and create social norms that support these changes in behavior. Easier said than done, right? More good news is that challenge is possible. I see people are successfully changing their lifestyles every day.

I look at health from a 5-point perspective. In your program, you’ll find a diagram of the 5 Components of Health. They are physical, mental, social, spiritual and intellectual. If any of these pieces are out of balance, a person’s health is out of balance.

Social:
So let’s take a look at some of the social reasons obesity and diabetes – eating is cultural. We eat to celebrate. We eat when we get together with other people. We share food as a way of being kind or thoughtful, or as a way of saying thank you. Food itself is not the problem, it’s how much we eat and what we eat.

What about supersizing? We can’t completely blame the fast food industry. American love a good deal and making our money go farther. In the case of fast food, it also makes our waistlines go farther. Consider the sodas you can purchase at 7-11. An average 12 oz. soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar. If you buy the 52 oz Extreme Big Gulp, you get 35 _ teaspoons – that’s _ of a cup!

We’ve seen dramatic changes in eating habits since the late 1800’s. Life in our society has become easier in many ways since. Food has become so easy to get– fast food and commercials for them are almost everywhere you turn. Food has also become easier to prepare thanks to processed foods.

Daily activities have also become easier – we drive everywhere, instead of walking or biking. We have microwaves, washers and dryers, , dishwashers, and other mechanical gadgets to get the job done without expending as much energy. We also spend lots of time in front of computers, TV’s and video games – all things that keep us sedentary. We’ve even got the Segway now, so we don’t even have to walk to the mailbox any more – it you can afford one.

With all of these things that make our lives easier, why are we so busy & stressed? These inventions allow us to do more in a day. We’ve always got to be doing something. Working hard is part of the Puritan heritage that we’ve preserved. Just think about the last time you were rewarded or commended by other people for relaxing, being lazy and saying “no” ? How long can you sit quietly and do absolutely nothing, and just “be”? Now just think about how good it feels to relax and do nothing.

Psychological:
This lead to some of the psychological challenges around taking care of ourselves. Always trying to do as much as we can in a day can lead to chronic stress, one of the factors that affects our eating and exercise habits. When we’re stressed we usually don’t have the time or energy to get any exercise or eat well. We eat relieve the stress, to soothe our emotions, we eat out of habit – it makes you feel good, it can alter your mood or energy level.

Stimulants such as caffeine and sugar have a similar effect on the body as drinking, using drugs, smoking and gambling. They release serotonin and endorphins. As soon as the endorphins and serotonin levels go do, we eat more to keep feeling good. More good news is that physical activity, laughing and spending time with loved ones can have similar effects.

I selected the meditation, hymns and the Offertory as an opportunity to relax and feel good.

Spiritual:
Making changes in eating and physical activity can be easier if you take a spiritual approach.

Focusing on your purpose in life and what is important to in your life can make the difference in whether you are successful. Think about what’s most important to you. Is it being productive & getting as much do as you can in a day? Or is it more important to balance your time to take time for yourself, relax and spend time with loved ones. Think about it – what really nourishes your soul and your body? Are you doing it on a daily basis?

Slowing down is a wonderful spiritual endeavor. Simply coming to church service is good for your body. It’s a time to sit quietly, reflect on your values, consider a new perspective, and visit with people you care about. The health value of coming to church could be a whole other discussion.

Meditation, prayer and yoga are other great spiritual approaches to grounding yourself & lowering your stress level. A person who says they can’t sit still long enough to do yoga, probably needs it most. J Anyone ever feel like that? I have.

In the past 6 months, I’ve learned first hand about the power your diet has on your health. I‘ve had chronic fatigue problems for over ten years. In all that time no health care provider ever asked what I was eating. After getting some advice from a fitness trainer and reading a great deal, I realized the it was the low cholesterol diet I was eating because I had high cholesterol. I was eating a diet too high in simple carbohydrates.

I eliminated most white flour and white sugar from my diet and added more protein and good fats, such as nuts and ate lots more vegetables. My fatigue disappeared within days. I’ve also lost almost 20 pounds and lowered my cholesterol level by 45 points – wonderful side effects. The diet change also took care of my constant craving for cookies, chocolate, cake, and any other simple carbohydrates I could get my hands on.

The change has been dramatic and the great thing is that is have not difficult to maintain – the other option would be to go back to a life of fatigue. I can tell you, it feels great!

OK, so what are the recommendations to avoid excess weight and diabetes? Our dietitian at the Health Department recommends a diet that is 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% (or less) fat. The average adult eats too many carbohydrates and not enough protein. We need to eat fewer calories, particularly calories high in saturated fats, trans fats, and more complex carbohydrates, like whole grains and fewer simple carbohydrate like white flour and sugar.

Physical activity is the other critical piece. The current recommendation is to get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 or more days a week. The fact is that any physical activity is better than none, even a little bit reduces your health risks. Remember, if you aren’t getting any regular exercise, you need to build up to it to it. It’s also a good idea to consult your health care provider, as well. Another good thing is you are never too old to exercise.

People who have lost weight and kept it off for 5 or more years have 4 things in common:
1. They exercise regularly
2. They monitor their eating regularly
3. They have made true changes in their behavior, even if they may have started on a fad diet.
4. They have the support of family and friends.

On the last page of your program, I’ve included some suggestions for healthy eating and physical activity. Most of them will probably sound familiar. I wish I had a magic bullet for you, but the really magic bullet or fountains of youth are health eating and regular physical activity.

See if you can pick 1 or 2 to try. If you are able to do a couple successfully, add 1 or 2 more after a couple of weeks. I don’t recommend people try to change everything all at once, because if they are not immediately successful, they are more likely to give it all up.

*Pay attention to why you are eating each time you put food in your mouth – not to make yourself feel guilty, but to be aware. Are you really physically hungry?
*When you do eat something you think you shouldn’t, forget the guilt – the stress will make it worse. Enjoy what you do eat.
*Shop the perimeter of the grocery store – for the fresh foods. Look at the food in the middle of the store next time you are there. How many of them are processed? How many contain hydrogenated fats, white flour, white sugar?
*Eat more vegetables & fruits, whole grains.
*Eat less processed food and fast food.
*Eat less hydrogenated fat and saturated fat.
*Decrease your portion sizes.
*Drink more water.
*At family and social gatherings have healthy options, minimize the high carbohydrate options and include more vegetables, fruits and whole grains options. I think this church does a good job of providing a variety of healthy foods.
*Get up & move, add more physically activity to your day. Stop every hour or 2 and walk for 5 minutes.
*Get a pedometer to measure the # of step you walk. See if you can work up to 10,000 steps a day – this will take some kind of scheduled exercise to reach. See your doctor first if you don’t get any regular physical activity.
*Set a goal that is realistic that you can stick to. Don’t start by trying to walk 2 miles everyday if you are exercising 2 days a week for 15’ now.
*Find people who will support you.
*Find people to be physically active with. Make it a family affair, or when you get together with a friend, go for a walk instead of coffee or a bagel.
*Treat yourself kindly even when you don’t meet your goals. Don’t beat yourself up, just get started again. AA says, “Take one day at a time.” With eating or physical activity, I say, “Take it one hour at a time.”
*Slow down – don’t so much, trying more “being” & a little less “doing”
*Eliminate the words “Run, rush and hurry” from your vocabulary. If you don’t let yourself say these, you will be more focused on not letting yourself do them.
*Be lazy – take 5 minutes, 30 mintues or 1 hour and don’t do anything “productive”, this quiet time is productive, healthy, critical to well-being & balance.
*Get 7-8 hours of sleep. How often do you hear people say they are tired? Most people need more sleep than they get.
*Keep you thinking positive. When you feel yourself thinking something negative, try to redirect your thoughts.
*Make eating & physical activity more a part of your spiritual journey.
*Remember, you can do it.

This is a short amount of time to cover such large issues. If you have questions I’ll be happy to talk with you after the service. I have a display table set up by the food.

As you consider what you can do to decrease obesity and diabetes risk in your life and for those you love, remember: what matters most in life is each other. We all need to take action to protect ourselves & the people we love.

In case I’ve increased your stress a bit, I select Hymn # 118 Let Your Light Shine, to lift your spirits and remind you of the power inside you – the power to love yourself just the way you are and the power to change anything that will enable you to live a fulfilling and healthy life. It’s this power to care for ourselves and believe in ourselves that allows us to give to others and make this a better world.

It’s been an honor and a treat to speak to you today. Thank you for joining me. I want to thank Ruth Phillips for suggesting I do this service. Hopefully I’ve given you at least one thing you can act on to reduce your stress, give peace to your life, live a healthier life and help others to do the same.

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