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Does it Matter What the Addiction is?

When people smoke they smell bad. First they smell like smoke and then they get a weird cough while their skin dries out. Their hair stops shining and their teeth turn yellow. We used to treat smoking as glamourous and finally we acknowledged that smoking is really unattractive, taxed the hell out of it and hardly anyone I know smokes. The smokers are dying off and not being replaced.

When people drink too much they might be fun before they’re unruly but after a time they turn doughy, red in the face and mean. They’re unreliable with big bellies and stick legs. When people drink too much we stay away from them. Many folks are able to give it up, many aren’t and their lives plummet. Some folks die from drink.

When people eat too much of the wrong things and combine it with a sedentary lifestyle they gain weight. When children are fed processed foods and sugar first they get fat and then they get obese. Along the way many of them get diabetes, fatty liver and high blood pressure. Eating sugary processed foods releases hormones in the brain. The pleasure center if you will. This is a wonderful feeling and we are made to seek pleasure. They brain and body crave more of these foods and the combination of flour, salt and sugar creates glycogen spikes and then crashes. It’s impossible to feed someone fast food and expect brain or body to be in good condition.  When we are obese it’s the same as carrying a heavy weight around all day long; fatigue and defeat are natural.

None of this is a condemnation. Good people give their children horrible food every day. People are resistant to change and they don’t want the information. People want to pretend that you can be healthy at any weight, people want to pretend that giving children Gatorade isn’t just like punching them in the kidneys.

If this video upsets you I’m happy. Maybe you’ll rethink how you treat your precious children’s bodies.

13 thoughts on “Does it Matter What the Addiction is?”

  1. Addiction is almost part of the human condition. I would guess that almost everyone is addicted to something or other. Even what we refer to as habits can be defined as addiction. Some just get out of hand and become chronic

  2. Addictions are complicated because some are chemically induced… like nicotine in cigarettes. But addictions can be broken when common strategies… and addictions seem to affect a group of people more than others.

  3. The video is powerful and sends a message directly to adults, parents specifically. Parents are in control, in the driver’s seat to make these informed decisions. However, informing and educating every social corner is a huge challenge.

  4. I have to say, I worry that -too much- focus on childhood obesity and not enough on just eating well (in moderation) and being active will lead to another wave of anorexic/bulimic teenagers. Obviously, that’s not what the video or any of these campaigns want or are aiming for, but it’s a very real possibility when you put the focus on “fat kids.” And addiction’s causes can be many…adding emotional eating in there because kids don’t feel like they’re meeting the expectations of their parents/peers in that regards…not a good cycle there either.

    1. Agreed (though not a strong agreement) and I particularly like that they didn’t use a fat kid in the spot. I think it drives home the fact that every child should be given real food, not just kids who need to lose a few.

  5. It’s hard to separate obesity from poverty. And when you look at what kinds of food is available to poor people, the food deserts, there is almost no other outcome but for people to become obese. People can’t make good food choices if they don’t have any around them. We have a bigger issue to solve – poverty and food justice have to be part of the conversation.

    And that video is horrifying.

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