Frisco Small Rant !!!

 For people who are going to be super sensitive, online forums are not the place for them. You need tough skin to be online - sad but true. 

I dont see how this can be construed as ridiculing though - we all have our issues, none of us got fat because we are all perfect nutrition experts who practice moderation and never eat for any other reason than physical hunger.....there are a few people though now and again who pop in here and swear that they just cant lose weight  because of their issues - all while other food addicted compulsive binge eaters are dealing with those issues and losing the weight and maintaining at goal. 

I love you, man! You always just nail it!

My personal favorite lately has been the *****ing/whining/complaining about the pre-op diet. All I can think of is.... "Don't you get it?" followed by...."How bad do you REALLY want this?"

I get that everyone is in a different place, but seriously, this is a WLS board. We're all f'ing food addicts to some degree. The sooner someone acknowledges it and DEALS with it, rather than use it as an excuse, the better off he/she will be.

I frankly don't by the addiction model once you get much past substances like alcohol, tabacco,  and heroin where the physiological dependency is so strong that detox is a dangerous, pathological process. 

Perhaps I get too hung up on semantics, but I see couching things like overeating in terms of addiction as creating victims out people who are active participants in their own misery.  'Addictions' where the dependency is primarily emotional rather than physiological are fixable if you deal with the underlying causes.  I appreciate that eating issues are complex because you have to eat and there are physiological responses to certain foods that are very powerful. 

JMO. I'm sure it won't be very popular, lol. 

That's my own personal viewpoint as well, addiction to me means something entirely different than what's bantered about here. 

I'd have to agree with you - semantically. Issues/addictions - it's the psyco-mental stuff we all need to work through. Hard, yes, but certainly doable. I have issues with white flour/fat/sugar combo foods. I have to be very careful with those foods. I've said many times that cookies are my nemesis.

You're right, too. Nobody I know of has died from sugar detox/withdrawal, but an alcoholic cousin almost died trying to quit alcohol cold turkey without medical supervision. That was truly frightening. I didn't realize the brain can shake during the DTs.

The vast majority of "drug" withdrawal will not kill you (alcohol is scary) but millions and millions of people die every year as a result of obesity.

I admire that you have obviously explored what addition means to you and have some pretty clear parameters in your mind. A  commonly accepted definition (from memory) of addiction is a pathologcial love and trust relationship w/a person, place thing or event...I tend to think of it as when you place the power and control over your life outside of yourself and into or onto anything else. Is that an excuse for many? Yup. But for all? Not even on a leap day. Each to his own and I do really mean it when I say I respect opinions of others, it's really nice to see people think and not be sheeple all the freaking time.

Obviously, we're all entitled to our opinions and can draw our own conclusions.

There is a clear differentiation made in medical literature as well as the DSM-IV, for example, between abuse and/or dependence  on various substances and withdrawl from those substances as opposed to the 'Behavioral addictions' which are related to compulsion or impulse control such as the pathological eating disorders (Bulimia nervosa & Anorexia Nervosa) and pathological gambling. 

Obesity doesn't kill directly or quickly.  The negative consquences are somewhat removed from the the 'now'.  Habits become compulsions, and there are certainly some physiological triggers like sugar.  Having said that, uncontrolled detox from opiate or alcohol and carbs are not the same thing.  

I'm curious to see what will happen with the new release since they appear to be modifying criteria so very much in a variety of areas. So glad I won't have to test under a new DSM (at least I hope not!)

I think people feel very safe behind a screen and the devolution of group speak is just a fact in online forums. It's the typed version of mob mentality, flash mobs. Many people must identify with a side and clearly declare their views as right and the opposing views as wrong-or at least as wayward and misguided. It's just human nature--both the mob stuff and the "sides" behavior. I wasn't trying to get on a soapbox (but if I deemed to be on one I know there's likely not an escape!) just wanted to point out a perspective.
People's ability to get through issues relies heavily on their resiliency. Some of us can slog through hell, some cannot--their talents (hopefully) are elsewhere. That's why a blanket approach to tough love is not effective with all people and can cause pretty intense and pathological reactions in some. Now is that this forum's responsiblity? Simple, no. But are we all here for the same reason and have all struggled through (some successful, some not) many of the exact same situations? Absolutely. But count me silly, I do feel a responsibility to others and know that this whole concept doesn't work without all kinds performing and interacting. I just try to be cognizant of that and sometimes remind others of it, also.