Obesity – what is truly going on?
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Obesity – what is truly going on?
Obesity is at an all-time high, despite the fact that we have more health professionals, including nutritionists and dieticians, and more knowledge about the human body and our nutritional needs than ever before. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight and of those, 650 million were obese.[1]
Do you ever wonder why it is that you know what you should eat, but just can’t seem to stick to those healthy choices? Or maybe, you lose weight only to find you’ve piled it back on again within 6 months?
Perhaps the convenience of junk food and advertising is to blame?
There are some who propose the environment is to blame for obesity. Too many fast food outlets and not enough parks for exercise. It is a common premise put forth by the public health sector and no doubt has its validity. Then there are those who blame the food manufacturers using sugar, salt and fat to create the perfect flavour, and subsequently driving sales with enticing advertisements that showcase their sweet offerings of chocolate, soft drinks, pastries or whatever the case may be. No matter your preference there is sure to be something to indulge your desire.
But let’s take a step back… and examine the fact that we desire these foods.
They are what we crave. Personally, I always have a fridge full of greens, but I never recall craving these. I’ve never been driving home from work thinking that I can’t wait to get home and eat that broccoli! On the other hand, making a beeline for the fridge for a glass of wine, some chocolate or just a stodgy meal that fills me up and weighs me down has been a common experience. The point is that my environment provides both healthy and not so healthy food, yet I continue to consume some food that I know is not right for me.
So, what is really going on?
If we are really honest, it is not the power of marketing or the environment that makes us overweight or obese. It is our choice to quench the craving and not feel what is there to be felt. We are the demand that dictates the supply of foods and encourages the proliferation of fast-food options in our environment that provide us with unhealthy choices. Think about it: if we voted with our money as a consumer to not buy unhealthy food, the supplier would soon go bankrupt and our food environment would change. At the same time, suppliers of healthy food would prosper from their increasing sales. Many food companies even have a tendency to ‘green wash’ their products by labelling them to appear more ‘natural’ and healthier, as the demand – us – still wants to eat sugar etc., whilst kidding ourselves that we are eating something healthy.
"Women need to be true to their bodies. And if they were, few if any diet and food companies would get away with their marketing ploys."
Serge Benhayon Esoteric Teachings & Revelations Volume I, ed 1, p 547
Ultimately, we need to acknowledge that there is a part of us that craves and desires all those foods like sugar, and start to ask why?
I know when I eat chocolate my heart beats faster and my mind races. Some people like this feeling and think that they get more done, but my experience is that even if I do things faster, there is an erratic nature to my movements that prevents the precision and quality of work that I could otherwise achieve. It’s like I have a deeper level of knowing that I just can’t connect to in this racy state. Perhaps there is a part of us that likes the raciness that the sugar brings so that we are not present in our body?
I also experienced that I can consume sugary foods and drinks and overeat to override feelings of sadness, insecurity, anxiety, lack of confidence and more. Whenever I feel upset, hurt or anxious, I will totally look to food to calm the tension. I find that that eating heavier, stodgy food like cakes, chips or grains really helps to override what I’m feeling. This is great in the short term, but in the long term it can mean weight gain and never really dealing with the source of the tension, which is still there after the dulling effect of the food has subsided. This means that you need your hit/meal to keep the tension under control. Or my old favourite is to watch TV and eat cake. This is a great distraction from the tension, but the truth is it doesn’t really change how I’m feeling.
What I have come to realise is that I am escaping the fact that I am a feeling being first and that I often don’t know how to handle all that I feel… We don’t learn to approach life from our sixth sense, we don’t learn how to read what is going on around us, we don’t learn that our sensitivity, our awareness, is one of our greatest strengths because it offers us to read and observe life and allow us to feel what’s going on without needing to react, fix or change it.
I have come to understand that my sensitivity – and with this my awareness to perceive what is going on in life beyond the human functionalities – is a power I hold inside that has been unknown to me.
The problem with consuming food that dulls this awareness is that nothing ever changes; it never gets to the core of the problem. It’s like taking a painkiller to not feel a sore knee, when all you really need to do is stop running 20 km every day.
We need to get to the core of the issue and understand that we are using food to medicate ourselves to avoid feeling what is truly going on, and that we seemingly cannot deal with. In my own case, I have come to realise that the way that I eat to distract myself merely negates my ability to be present in my body and the potential to feel and know my true power. As modern day philosopher Serge Benhayon states:
"You want an answer for why there is so much worldwide obesity and why it is still escalating? People put on weight to hide their light and or hide their emotional pain. It is as simple as that."
Serge Benhayon Esoteric Teachings & Revelations Volume I, ed 1, p 613
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Emotions, Losing weight, Obesity, Weight-loss
