TheBanyanTree: Weight Loss Schemes

[Robin Tennant-Wood]

A few years ago Roger and I were involved with a group of people in
Canberra who were setting up an organisation to help widows and their
children in Kenya. The organisation was the brainchild of the Deputy High
Commissioner for Kenya in Australia, herself a widow, but no ordinary one -
her late husband was the former Kenyan President. One day we were over at
Yvonne's (the Dep.High Commissioner) residence in the very up-market
'embassy circle' part of Canberra and her 10 year old daughter wandered in
and announced, like any other 10 year old kid, "Muuuum, I'm
staaaarrrrrving".

Her mother very quickly replied, "Oh, Michelle, you are NOT starving.
Millions of children are starving and you are not one of them. Go and get
the dictionary and tell me what 'starve' means."
Child obliged and agreed she was not starving.

As a professional diplomat and the family of a former president, Yvonne and
her children will never starve, but Y knows full well what starvation looks
like. She's seen it first-hand and that's why she's using her professional
position to do something about it.

It was a humbling moment to hear her explain that to her daughter and it
was a privilege to be involved with a group of people who, in the first
instance, didn't take their good fortune for granted, and secondly, were
doing something about it.
More power to them.

Thanks for the reminder, Monique, and I hope you're feeling better soon.

Robin


On 7 February 2014 07:20, Teague, Julie Anna <jateague at indiana.edu> wrote:

>
> You have spoken directly to me with this one, Monique.  I say this quite
> often, "I'm starving!"  And when I hear that phrase come out of my mouth in
> a moment of being ever so slightly uncomfortable because I haven't eaten IN
> A FEW HOURS, then I remember that I have never experienced starvation a day
> in my life. Not one single day.  I've felt hungry, but not hunger.  It
> makes me think deeply on this situation.  It makes me want to do something,
> anything, to fix the broken world in which I always have plenty and someone
> else never has enough, and we are both human beings deserving of food and
> water and warmth and safety.  I have no answers here.  I just echo your
> thoughts.  Thanks for sharing them.
>
>
>
> Quoting Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>:
>
>  At a time when I'm concerned about the bigger picture, which is access to
>> good food for people everywhere, since a lot of people, a lot of Americans
>> too, don't have access, I'm also finding myself focusing on what I eat, or
>> don't eat, and this is with a fridge full of food.
>>
>>
>>
>> We've got everything in there.
>>
>>
>>
>> My most hungry moment has been when I've forgotten to eat, and I say
>> something like, "I'm starving!" to my long suffering husband, when the
>> truth is, I wouldn't have a clue what that's like. And I know it, but we
>> all use terms hyperbolically, at least most of us, if you'd like to be
>> left
>> out of that statement.
>>
>>
>>
>> "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." That's just wrong, unless you're into
>> that. I try to be inclusive.
>>
>>
>>
>> "I'm starving." Are you really? Probably not. If you were, I'd be happy to
>> get you something, so just let me know.
>>
>>
>>
>> But many people are starving, or are eating a diet without nutrients,
>> because that's what they have available. I am not one of those people. I
>> never have been. I doubt I will ever be because I have a level of luck
>> that
>> follows me around like a bright shiny cloud.
>>
>>
>>
>> And many of us who are not in those situations want to lose just a few
>> pounds, or many pounds. It's like the work thing, except worse. The work
>> thing is that so many people are unemployed, and yet many people I know
>> work all the time, they work constantly, they do the work of several
>> people
>> because of cuts in staffing, they do the work of several because they're
>> trying to provide a living for their families and feed them.
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't know what to do with these disparities.
>>
>>
>>
>> In the past few months I lost close to ten pounds, mostly because I was
>> eating less.
>>
>>
>>
>> Actually, all because I was eating less. It certainly wasn't my increased
>> level of exercise, because there wasn't any. But eating could be
>> problematic, so I cut down, and weight went away.
>>
>>
>>
>> Last week I had an organ removed. A small insignificant organ, but still,
>> it was a whole one. Yesterday I got on the scale for the first time since
>> then and found another five pounds had gone away since Friday.
>>
>>
>>
>> FIVE POUNDS! And all I've been doing is laying around being useless.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm thinking my little gall bladder was bigger than I had suspected.
>>
>>
>>
>> Of course, I haven't been eating much, because I don't want to upset the
>> delicate balance my digestive system is striving to attain. Sometimes when
>> I eat I have discomfort.
>>
>>
>>
>> And still, my fridge is full of food. Today I received a gift of fruit,
>> which was awesome, even with all the food in the fridge, because fresh
>> fruit is not something we currently have on hand.
>>
>>
>>
>> So 15 pounds down, no signs of starvation in my future, a fridge full of
>> food, and I'll eat because I get hungry, and I'll mostly eat well, and if
>> I
>> don't, it's my own fault. It's not because I don't have access to good
>> food, it's because I don't make good decisions.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have access to great food and I don't want it because I might have
>> discomfort.
>>
>>
>>
>> And that's my first world problem. I don't know what it's like to be
>> hungry
>> with no chance of food, so this is all I have to talk about. An ache in my
>> stomach that will likely go away any time now.
>>
>>
>>
>> Needed weight loss, because let's face it, I was too fat anyway.
>>
>>
>>
>> A life of privilege.
>>
>>
>
>
>