WordFood

WordFood - how we feed or starve our realtionships

- Julia Hubbel

Julia’s ability to get this group of type-A executives to engage in true networking was incredible. She is truly skilled at motivating the group to engage and interact with each other, and her openness and honesty really come through.

— Shelley Stewart, Jr.,
Senior Vice President of Operational Excellence and Chief Procurement Officer, Tyco

October 30, 2012

How We Feed Ourselves

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — Julia Hubbel @ 5:12 pm

If America’s obesity trend continues at its current pace, all 50 states could have obesity rates above 44 percent by 2030, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

A few days ago I stood in front of the Southern Region Education Board, an organization that supports the graduation of minority PhD students, mostly African American. In the last month, I had received a call from my “sister” Shari, one of four Black children I grew up with in Central Florida and called my second family. My Black “sister” Jackie had just died of obesity-related diabetes. Shari will die of it too if she continues to eat the way her mother, Christine, my other “mother,” fed us all. Christine died of obesity-related diabetes.

To an audience filled with some of the most brilliant minds in American I told this story, and begged them to reconsider their eating habits. Jackie had been only 61 when she slipped into a diabetic coma. “It’s criminal,” I said, “To lose anyone that young. I am standing in front of America’s brain trust. We cannot afford to lose you.”

It’s not just the minority community that suffers from obesity. It’s all of us. Many of us have gained and lost weight many times over. We lull ourselves into believing we can do it again and dig into that pizza while we watch the NFL or Survivor. We are in serious trouble. What we say to ourselves has everything to do with it.

If we are abusive to ourselves in the mirror, we’re likely to go bury our hurt in comfort food. I’ve done it. If we have a hurtful parent or spouse who constantly harangues us about our weight, we will fight back by eating even more. I’ve done it. We are mammals and we have our appetites. However, every seven years our bodies are completely remade- the cells, even our bones are newly remade. And we can fundamentally remake ourselves. I’ve done it. It starts with changing that internal conversation and speaking to ourselves as we are right now with respect, honor and regard. I know we can do this.

Most of us know perfectly well how to eat. We know about the food groups. We know to reach for that apple instead of the brownie. And life is full of mini choices all day long. We win some, lose others. When we miss something at ten, it doesn’t blow the day. Choose better next time. Change the internal conversation. It’s not about a magic pill or bariatric surgery. It’s about choices.

We need you out there, we need you coaching and mentoring your kids. As it is, our kids are getting diabetes and hypertension before they’re teenagers because they are obese. Change the conversation. They’ll do what you do. That’s how we turn this around.

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