I was lucky enough to visit the US again last month, I really love the States and I am always inspired by this amazing country. One thing I’m not so inspired about, are some bad American habits! Take for example the drive through craze. I visited the beautiful city of Oklahoma, but was stunned to see so many drive-through facilities like drive through pharmacies/drug-stores and drive through banks. Seriously – a drive through pharmacy! You don’t even have to get out of your car to pick up your medicine, that’s insane. Are we really incapable of walking a few metres or are we just lazy? What’s your opinion? I’m sure you would agree that being stuck in a house and going nowhere, is such a bore. So why leave the house, only to stay in a car??? Whatever happened to getting out and walking to the pharmacy, or at the very least, getting out of your car to walk in to a pharmacy, or a bank or any shop for that matter? The term, getting out, means exactly that – “getting out”.

I wonder if Americans are simply victims of their own technology. We’ve developed so many ways to make our life easier, to which we are in fact making our lives worse off. Obesity is a serious health issue in the US and Australia is following very closely in our neighbours footsteps. I truly hope these are habits we don’t take up down under. I want to see my children grow up with a good future, not a lazy one. Australia and America are very close culturally so I want the dieters of down under to lend a hand to our American pals – if we can change some of America’s bad habits we can make Australia a healthier place too. Please join me in supporting a healthy future. Let’s draw the line between convenience and being healthy. Do you agree with me, do you agree that drive through everything is going too far? I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

A quick question; have you seen Jamie Oliver’s television show about trying to change America’s eating habits, starting in Huntington West Virginia?

On Friday the 16th of July 2010, Jamie’s show (Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution) premiered in Australia and I must say, it really touched my heart in many ways. His cause is absolutely amazing. Huntington is classed as the biggest town in the highest obese nation in the world, The United States of America. Jamie visited one of the local schools to see what meals are served to the children. One of the most unbelievable things seen, was that all of the food that the children eat, is processed food such as pizza, chicken nuggets and preserved condiments just to name a few. Some natural foods such as apples were served, but the children don’t eat them and they are thrown in the bin. Sorry, I forgot to mention, the pizza that the children eat, is for breakfast. Can you believe that???

Jamie’s point is that we shouldn’t be feeding our children, processed foods. We should be feeding our children lots of natural nutrients such as vegetables and fruits and healthy cooked meals. When he asked some of the children what the name of the red item was that he held in his hand, one child said that it was a potato. The child didn’t even know that Jamie was holding up a tomato. I truly believe in Jamie Oliver’s cause. It is exactly what I am about and what my mission is. To teach people the right foods to eat, to get in some form of exercise and have fun doing it. If parents are willing to make the required changes and start to make a difference, it will rub off on our children too. I want to be the voice of an obese child, an obese teenager and an obese adult because I was once in their shoes. I know exactly what it is like to be obese and it is definitely not a good thing. Let’s make a change in our lives, not only for ourselves, but for the future of our countries and the future of our countries, are our children.

I commend Jamie and I would give anything to have at least one opportunity one day, to stand beside him united in the same cause. Jamie could be the voice and I could be the example!!!  

Have you read the story of a man in England, whom was thrown off a plane for being too fat because he couldn’t fit in his seat? Whilst I understand that the airline has a point and needs to comply with its policies and safety procedures, the gentleman has a point also, obviously there are two sides to the story. The hard part to accept in this case is that it is completely unfair for the airline to accept payment for a single seat, have him aboard the flight, only to kick him off because he couldn’t fit in his seat, nor afford to pay for a second one as requested there and then. For an obese person (and I know what it is like to be obese) this is the most humiliating situation to be in. But it’s an unfortunate circumstance with no real answer on the spot. I believe that valuable feedback should be directed to the airlines to at least accommodate a growing world to a certain degree. An example would be to warn seat dimensions prior to booking any passengers and allow the passenger to decide/assess whether his or her body will fit. Many may argue that obesity is a disability which is to a degree because obese people are limited with their physical flexibility, however should not be held in the same class as someone who has no control or choice over their disability. In most cases, obesity is created by the individual, excluding those who become obese due to other medical conditions beyond their control and not related to obesity itself. Let’s not forget that we can control what we put in our mouths. When I weighed 136kg/300lbs, I never considered myself as disabled. I longed for the experience to fit in a normal pair of jeans, or to fit in a seat in a cinema or plane for that matter, or even to fit in the “real world” so to speak. In knew that if I wanted to experience these luxuries, I had to change my life and my diet and move my body. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to.

I watched a story on A Current Affair about a guy named Kyle who lost 77kg in a year and now is left with a large amount of excess skin as a result. He now expects that the Australian government should foot the $40,000 bill to surgically remove his excess skin, claiming that he should be rewarded for the effort that he put in to losing all of his weight. He believes that if the Government is willing to provide funding for lap-band surgery, then his case shouldn’t be any different. While his efforts should be commended and that he has the right to be upset about the funding of lap-band surgery, I don’t believe that his surgery should be funded.

In 2000, I reached a significant milestone of my own, reaching my goal weight of 69kg, after losing 67kg in 13 months on my own and without any help from surgery, gyms, personal trainers etc. I lost my weight sensibly by creating a healthy eating plan and by walking in my backyard around my clothesline. I too was left with a massive amount of excess skin which eventually needed to be removed surgically because no exercise was going to get rid of it. It never actually entered my mind to consider having the Government fund my surgery. At the time, I reached my goal, I was left with excess skin and it was my own decisions to have it removed. No matter what the cost was to me, I considered it my own reward for actually losing my weight and providing myself with a longer life. Unfortunately our world is accepting obesity as part of our normal lives more and more and frankly I believe it is crazy. I think we need to open our eyes to the growing obesity concern and do something about it. Yes I believe that we should encourage people to lose weight and yes I believe we should commend those who succeed, but I don’t believe that our Government should be funding lap-band surgery or removal of excess skin. There are so many other millions of causes that we should be putting our taxes to for example, breast re-construction for cancer patients. If you are interested to learn more of my personal experience with removing my excess skin, refer to my book The Clothesline Diet which describes my journey in great detail. I invite you to sahre your view.

I was reading a leading story in Melbourne’s Herald Sun labelled “Heavy Cost of Obesity”. According to the statistics, Australians are heading to spend $745.6 million dollars on counselling, low-calorie foods and shakes, diet cook books, lap-band surgery and lipo-suction. That’s not even including gym fees or personal trainers. In Australia there is 62% of adults that are overweight. Gym memberships and personal training is going up, but so are the obesity figures. 

Come on Australia, what are we doing to ourselves? While we are spending a fortune on fast food, we are spending just the same, if not more to lose the calories. It goes to show that we are getting fatter quicker, than losing it and it seems we are accepting it as a normal part of life. I lost 67kg/150lbs in 13 months on my own, without spending any more than my weekly shopping budget. I’m sure that you can do the same. It all comes down to common sense and going back to basics. Think about it this way. Hundreds of years ago, we didn’t have the technology that we have today, but managed to survive on the basic food sources. Now that we have almost everything at our fingertips, we are just abusing it and taking things for granted, especially our bodies. We all need to wake up, shape up and get on with it. Natural foods, good exercise and common sense are the keys to losing weight and you can do it on your own. Let me be your example that it can be done and cost you nothing more than a healthy grocery list. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.