Dialogue on obesity still being pushed
By Duane Hicks
Staff writer
FORT FRANCES—A Thunder Bay man is making headway in his mission to create dialogue about building healthy food relationships through education, awareness, and advocacy.
Touting the message “Against Obesity, Not Against Obese People,” Paul Murphy, a recovering binge-eater, is continuing to try and raise awareness of obesity-related issues through the group, Obesity Thunder Bay.
Always keeping his finger on the pulse of any news related to obesity and weight loss, Murphy most recently extended an invitation from Obesity Thunder Bay to the new Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation that was launched last Monday (Oct. 5).
Nestle USA, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars, Inc., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Hershey Co., Sara Lee Corp., and other major food manufacturers, as well as several non-profit groups, such as the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition Foundation, PE4life, and the American Dietetic Association Foundation, have joined forces to form the foundation—the goal of which is to reduce obesity, particularly in kids, by an unspecified amount over the next six years.
“I sent an e-mail to them saying I want to participate, I want to work with them,” Murphy noted Thursday. “You know what’s going to happen, but in all fairness, stranger things have happened.
“We have no alliances anywhere else, so maybe Coca-Cola or Nestle may express an interest,” he added. “I think what they have to understand is instead of circling the wagons, they need to start being responsible.
“But anyway, I sent them an e-mail indicating what we’re working on.
“I called Coca-Cola in Atlanta this morning . . . I want them to know Obesity Thunder Bay is eager to create partnerships and we look forward to addressing childhood obesity. That’s what we’re about,” Murphy remarked.
“We don’t want to fight,” he stressed. “It’s certainly not in Obesity Thunder Bay’s interest to be in conflict.”
Another recent headline that caught Murphy’s attention was a penny per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages that may be implemented in California as a means to fund health care costs.
“If this goes through, everybody everywhere is going to follow simply because there has to be a way to recoup the health costs,” he argued.
“The implications are beyond belief.”
Closer to home, an article about Murphy just was published last week in Lakehead University’s “Argus News,” which has resulted in dozens of hits at the Obesity Thunder Bay blog site.
He’s also made it known he’d be willing to do speaking engagements at Lakehead U., and has been in contact with a number of other universities in the province and elsewhere in Canada.
Murphy also has been taking advantage of the power of the Internet, and has been busy networking every chance he can get.
“Our web presence is very, very strong,” noted Murphy, adding the Obesity Thunder Bay website (www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com) has seen nearly 3,000 visits since February, with visitors hailing from Canada and the U.S., as well as the Philippines, Brazil, England, New Zealand, and even Ukraine.
As of this month, the site had 80 registered members “from all walks of life,” Murphy said.
They range from health-care professionals to individuals who have felt the stigma of being overweight.
“They’re tired. Tired of the messages,” he said of the members.
Murphy said he’s hopeful continued online networking, as well as media coverage and direct contact with area leaders and politicians, will foster relationships with larger agencies that will band together to build working platforms and dialogue.
“The best-case scenario would be, in the next year, to raise awareness while lowering ‘fat hatred,’” he remarked.
“We want people to create healthy food relationships, but they need to know what that is,” he stressed.
Murphy said obesity is definitely a hot topic right now, whether it’s in relation to the health-care reform debate in the United States, controversial ads like PETA’s “Save The Whales. Lose Blubber. Go Vegetarian” campaign, or the number-one trending topic on Twitter back on Aug. 25: “Fat people are sexier.”
As such, he feels the time is right to get a dialogue going in Northwestern Ontario—and further abroad, if possible—to work towards change.
A major part of that is altering the blame-based model of obesity, which links it to lack of willpower and laziness.
Citing one example, Murphy said too much emphasis is put on the “activity model,” which pushes physical activity as the solution to eliminating obesity.
He noted that, suspiciously, this same “activity model” often is funded by major industry, including soft drink companies, who benefit from shifting the blame for obesity away from their junk food products and towards activities like television viewing and computer use, which supposedly result in people becoming overweight.
While exercise certainly can be beneficial, Murphy feels building a better relationship with food is even more important.
He added the oft-heard mantra of eating healthy and exercise as the key to weight control is “a nice message, but it misses a step, and that step is the food relationship,” he argued.
“For children who are using sugar and salt to self-medicate, how much is a pair of runners going to make a change?” he asked.
“You know there’s people that go to the gym five or six times a week. Not to say it’s bad, but sometimes you go from one extreme to another,” Murphy continued.
“For a person who is three-, four-, or five hundred pounds, that’s really not an option because they’re beaten down,” he reasoned.
Murphy said the door for discussion is opening more all the time, and hopefully public perceptions will begin to change and that the “blame game” will turn into something more constructive.
“When 90 percent of people believe obesity is caused by laziness, unhealthy lifestyles, no willpower, that feeds the diet industry, that feeds the ‘try harder,’” he remarked.
“What we’re saying is, ‘Sit down. Relax. Enjoy your food, but be mindful of what you’re eating.’”
(Fort Frances Times)
By Duane Hicks
Staff writer
FORT FRANCES—A Thunder Bay man is making headway in his mission to create dialogue about building healthy food relationships through education, awareness, and advocacy.
Touting the message “Against Obesity, Not Against Obese People,” Paul Murphy, a recovering binge-eater, is continuing to try and raise awareness of obesity-related issues through the group, Obesity Thunder Bay.
Always keeping his finger on the pulse of any news related to obesity and weight loss, Murphy most recently extended an invitation from Obesity Thunder Bay to the new Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation that was launched last Monday (Oct. 5).
Nestle USA, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars, Inc., Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Hershey Co., Sara Lee Corp., and other major food manufacturers, as well as several non-profit groups, such as the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition Foundation, PE4life, and the American Dietetic Association Foundation, have joined forces to form the foundation—the goal of which is to reduce obesity, particularly in kids, by an unspecified amount over the next six years.
“I sent an e-mail to them saying I want to participate, I want to work with them,” Murphy noted Thursday. “You know what’s going to happen, but in all fairness, stranger things have happened.
“We have no alliances anywhere else, so maybe Coca-Cola or Nestle may express an interest,” he added. “I think what they have to understand is instead of circling the wagons, they need to start being responsible.
“But anyway, I sent them an e-mail indicating what we’re working on.
“I called Coca-Cola in Atlanta this morning . . . I want them to know Obesity Thunder Bay is eager to create partnerships and we look forward to addressing childhood obesity. That’s what we’re about,” Murphy remarked.
“We don’t want to fight,” he stressed. “It’s certainly not in Obesity Thunder Bay’s interest to be in conflict.”
Another recent headline that caught Murphy’s attention was a penny per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages that may be implemented in California as a means to fund health care costs.
“If this goes through, everybody everywhere is going to follow simply because there has to be a way to recoup the health costs,” he argued.
“The implications are beyond belief.”
Closer to home, an article about Murphy just was published last week in Lakehead University’s “Argus News,” which has resulted in dozens of hits at the Obesity Thunder Bay blog site.
He’s also made it known he’d be willing to do speaking engagements at Lakehead U., and has been in contact with a number of other universities in the province and elsewhere in Canada.
Murphy also has been taking advantage of the power of the Internet, and has been busy networking every chance he can get.
“Our web presence is very, very strong,” noted Murphy, adding the Obesity Thunder Bay website (www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com) has seen nearly 3,000 visits since February, with visitors hailing from Canada and the U.S., as well as the Philippines, Brazil, England, New Zealand, and even Ukraine.
As of this month, the site had 80 registered members “from all walks of life,” Murphy said.
They range from health-care professionals to individuals who have felt the stigma of being overweight.
“They’re tired. Tired of the messages,” he said of the members.
Murphy said he’s hopeful continued online networking, as well as media coverage and direct contact with area leaders and politicians, will foster relationships with larger agencies that will band together to build working platforms and dialogue.
“The best-case scenario would be, in the next year, to raise awareness while lowering ‘fat hatred,’” he remarked.
“We want people to create healthy food relationships, but they need to know what that is,” he stressed.
Murphy said obesity is definitely a hot topic right now, whether it’s in relation to the health-care reform debate in the United States, controversial ads like PETA’s “Save The Whales. Lose Blubber. Go Vegetarian” campaign, or the number-one trending topic on Twitter back on Aug. 25: “Fat people are sexier.”
As such, he feels the time is right to get a dialogue going in Northwestern Ontario—and further abroad, if possible—to work towards change.
A major part of that is altering the blame-based model of obesity, which links it to lack of willpower and laziness.
Citing one example, Murphy said too much emphasis is put on the “activity model,” which pushes physical activity as the solution to eliminating obesity.
He noted that, suspiciously, this same “activity model” often is funded by major industry, including soft drink companies, who benefit from shifting the blame for obesity away from their junk food products and towards activities like television viewing and computer use, which supposedly result in people becoming overweight.
While exercise certainly can be beneficial, Murphy feels building a better relationship with food is even more important.
He added the oft-heard mantra of eating healthy and exercise as the key to weight control is “a nice message, but it misses a step, and that step is the food relationship,” he argued.
“For children who are using sugar and salt to self-medicate, how much is a pair of runners going to make a change?” he asked.
“You know there’s people that go to the gym five or six times a week. Not to say it’s bad, but sometimes you go from one extreme to another,” Murphy continued.
“For a person who is three-, four-, or five hundred pounds, that’s really not an option because they’re beaten down,” he reasoned.
Murphy said the door for discussion is opening more all the time, and hopefully public perceptions will begin to change and that the “blame game” will turn into something more constructive.
“When 90 percent of people believe obesity is caused by laziness, unhealthy lifestyles, no willpower, that feeds the diet industry, that feeds the ‘try harder,’” he remarked.
“What we’re saying is, ‘Sit down. Relax. Enjoy your food, but be mindful of what you’re eating.’”
(Fort Frances Times)
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Replies to This Discussion
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on October 18, 2009 at 9:51pm
Paul: i
would like to say, that i am very proud of you and your
accomplishments thus far. You believed in yourself and your mission and it
obviously shows. I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations
and encourage you to continue on your mission. Paul, i believe, that all of us
have a purpose and a path in life, and if yours happens to be one, that
involves helping others, in providing them with education, and your own
personal experience; then that is exactly what needs to happen. Your
awareness, and perseverance has paid off.
accomplishments thus far. You believed in yourself and your mission and it
obviously shows. I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations
and encourage you to continue on your mission. Paul, i believe, that all of us
have a purpose and a path in life, and if yours happens to be one, that
involves helping others, in providing them with education, and your own
personal experience; then that is exactly what needs to happen. Your
awareness, and perseverance has paid off.
·
·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on October 23, 2009 at 2:22am
I ,and my
organization is eager to work with you to address childhood obesity.
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·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on November 17, 2009 at 7:10pm
MeMeRoth
...
Re: Obesity
...
Re: Obesity
Thank you for your msg, Paul. I watched your video and agree 100% that therapy, especially on-going therapy, is a must to address the underlying reasons people are using food as a coping device.
NAAO never promotes going on diets. We all know the failure rates. Instead we promote reducing the risk of disease and further weight gain by daily exercise and eliminating obesity- and disease-accelerating substances from the food supply.
The most crucial element to reversing the obesity crisis is PREVENTION, especially among the 0-5 year olds. Attacking obesity before it strikes is far more effective than expecting overweight or obese people to lose weight later on. (I'm working on a project specifically geared toward removal of junk food from America's daycare centers... If you're interested, send me a msg.)
While this is a national health crisis (global too), I find our societal and governmental reaction to be dismal. Corporate America has zero motivation to make change. Imagine the business cost if Americans ate only the portions and foods necessary for optimal health?
Thanks again for contacting me, Paul. I wish you all the best. In my private practice (www.MeMeRoth.net) offering Integrative Nutrition Counseling, we couple nutrition advice w/ counseling from board certified psychologists who specialize in food and obesity issues.
Take Care!
MeMe
Original Message:
...
Re: Obesity
...
Re: Obesity
Thank you for your msg, Paul. I watched your video and agree 100% that therapy, especially on-going therapy, is a must to address the underlying reasons people are using food as a coping device.
NAAO never promotes going on diets. We all know the failure rates. Instead we promote reducing the risk of disease and further weight gain by daily exercise and eliminating obesity- and disease-accelerating substances from the food supply.
The most crucial element to reversing the obesity crisis is PREVENTION, especially among the 0-5 year olds. Attacking obesity before it strikes is far more effective than expecting overweight or obese people to lose weight later on. (I'm working on a project specifically geared toward removal of junk food from America's daycare centers... If you're interested, send me a msg.)
While this is a national health crisis (global too), I find our societal and governmental reaction to be dismal. Corporate America has zero motivation to make change. Imagine the business cost if Americans ate only the portions and foods necessary for optimal health?
Thanks again for contacting me, Paul. I wish you all the best. In my private practice (www.MeMeRoth.net) offering Integrative Nutrition Counseling, we couple nutrition advice w/ counseling from board certified psychologists who specialize in food and obesity issues.
Take Care!
MeMe
Original Message:
·
·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on December 12, 2009 at 10:09pm
paul@obesitythunderbay.ca
·
·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on December 15, 2009 at 1:27pm
Obesity
Thunder Bay wants more discussion on obesity issues Argus News.
Stacey Goyan
News Editor
Paul Murphy’s approach to obesity issues is unconventional. He can be seen walking around campus, with his trademark “Obesity Thunder Bay” t-shirt, trying to engage the Lakehead community in the obesity discussion. If someone has an ear, Murphy sees his cue. “Basically it’s just hand-to-hand combat,” says Murphy.
Obesity Thunder Bay is Paul Murphy’s project that aims to increase involvement in the obesity discussion. Murphy, who is a self-described binge eater, understands the plights of people dealing with weight issues. The local man feels that by engaging more people in the obesity discussion, the more change he can effect.
“I think the very discussion is the action,” argues Murphy, who emphasizes shared accountability in the debate. Murphy feels that placing the individual at the center of his or her own health is essential to the obesity issue.
At the same time, Murphy advocates for the decentralization of blame from obese individuals. He believes that industry has created an environment that enables unhealthy eating behaviours, thus shares in the blame for obesity.
One of Murphy’s larger concerns is the stigma and discrimination felt by obese people. “Currently, 90% of people believe that obesity is about being stupid, lazy and unmotivated” he estimates. “We have been told to try harder,” said Murphy, who feels that an activity only solution only cements the problem.
Obesity Thunder Bay is still in its infant stages. The group has been trying to establish a mission statement and a structure while it operates on a grassroots level. Murphy could not specify exactly how many people are directly involved in the operation of Obesity Thunder Bay, but predicts that the group will be involved in a large scale Obesity conference and continue it’s work on enabling the discussion. Murphy singles out Lakehead University as one of his most receptive audiences. “This group of students seem to be very in-tuned with this social change,” claims Murphy. Murphy has spoken to classes and hopes that his form of consciousness-raising will help those dealing with an unsympathetic world.
Murphy says that he has attracted attention from an international crowd through online social tools. The group has attracted 83 members through its Facebook site and operates on social networking websites like Twitter, YouTube, and Ning.
Comments (0)
Stacey Goyan
News Editor
Paul Murphy’s approach to obesity issues is unconventional. He can be seen walking around campus, with his trademark “Obesity Thunder Bay” t-shirt, trying to engage the Lakehead community in the obesity discussion. If someone has an ear, Murphy sees his cue. “Basically it’s just hand-to-hand combat,” says Murphy.
Obesity Thunder Bay is Paul Murphy’s project that aims to increase involvement in the obesity discussion. Murphy, who is a self-described binge eater, understands the plights of people dealing with weight issues. The local man feels that by engaging more people in the obesity discussion, the more change he can effect.
“I think the very discussion is the action,” argues Murphy, who emphasizes shared accountability in the debate. Murphy feels that placing the individual at the center of his or her own health is essential to the obesity issue.
At the same time, Murphy advocates for the decentralization of blame from obese individuals. He believes that industry has created an environment that enables unhealthy eating behaviours, thus shares in the blame for obesity.
One of Murphy’s larger concerns is the stigma and discrimination felt by obese people. “Currently, 90% of people believe that obesity is about being stupid, lazy and unmotivated” he estimates. “We have been told to try harder,” said Murphy, who feels that an activity only solution only cements the problem.
Obesity Thunder Bay is still in its infant stages. The group has been trying to establish a mission statement and a structure while it operates on a grassroots level. Murphy could not specify exactly how many people are directly involved in the operation of Obesity Thunder Bay, but predicts that the group will be involved in a large scale Obesity conference and continue it’s work on enabling the discussion. Murphy singles out Lakehead University as one of his most receptive audiences. “This group of students seem to be very in-tuned with this social change,” claims Murphy. Murphy has spoken to classes and hopes that his form of consciousness-raising will help those dealing with an unsympathetic world.
Murphy says that he has attracted attention from an international crowd through online social tools. The group has attracted 83 members through its Facebook site and operates on social networking websites like Twitter, YouTube, and Ning.
Comments (0)
·
·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on December 15, 2009 at 1:29pm
Joy Ashum
Chronicle Journal Thunder Bay
I sat across from him in a restaurant and we talked about our relationships – our relationships to food. I was interviewing Paul Murphy, mover and shaker and founding member of a group called Obesity Thunder Bay. Paul talked animatedly about food, diets and why the latter didn’t work and what Obesity Thunder Bay had to offer.
As a person with strange eating habits and a long battle with diabetes, the new approach he talked about made sense to me. “We have been taught to believe that if we are overweight, it is all our fault.” There are things that we cannot control that influence us and even when we make the best choices possible, we can still get in trouble. Society then heaps shame upon us and responds with a series of expensive diets and programs that few of us can sustain even if they work to initially get the weight off.
Even the medical establishment has not realized the full extent of the problem. In the US more and more people are encouraged to get gastric bypass: an expensive operation that could never be administered to everyone with morbid obesity (life-threatening) due to its expense and limited long term effectiveness. Yet the medical community is short on any real answers leaving the field open to fad diets and weight gurus.
I have long lost faith in some nutritionists, I guess because I have been around a few that have been downright rude. Because of my illness I sought out professional help about 15 years ago and was greeted by the dietician yelling at me “You’re fat!!” The sessions did not work and I became more and more depressed. My early life had been shame-based and I just couldn’t voluntarily take anymore.
Society thinks this type of behaviour is okay, after all you are the person responsible for your weight. I can accept that but I also know that I have had a life of limited choices. There sometimes was not enough to eat at all, so when food was put in front of me I learned early to “stock up”.
Paul tells a similar story: when he was growing up, he often never ate till suppertime. His mother worked as a cook in a short order restaurant till six o’clock. He was allowed to come in the back door and have his fill of what he wanted, so he ate lots to “stock up”. Over the years the weight crept up and he finally went for help.
He has learned a different relationship with food. You don’t have to eat every meal like it is your last, but you must eat often. This follows very much the thinking of the diabetes diet: eat small amounts but eat up to five times a day. Always start with breakfast, even if it is small, it gets the metabolism going. Moderate exercise is also necessary – not jogging, not body-building but keeping your body busy and walking is enough.
Try to eat nutritionally, but if you can’t due to availability (remember that children can only chose between articles already in the house) then pick the least junky. Paul went on to say that it seems that the food industry is trying to feed us on salt and sugar alone: if you have problems with your weight, chances are it is one or both of these things that you have trouble resisting. He’s a sugar person and I’m a salt.
Another side story: Elizabeth Taylor, the actress was once considered the most beautiful woman in the world. As she aged a bit she took on the role of Virgina in the film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. To make herself look frumpy for the part, Liz forced herself to gain 25 pounds, thinking she could easily take it off after the role was over. She has been struggling with her weight ever since.
We have fat cells, usually they are few and flat, unless we gain weight. The cells fill up and then they duplicate, making more and more fat cells. These cells never leave us, but we can work towards getting them flat again.
Paul says you can be fit at any weight. That we have to begin to understand that good people come in all sizes. Shaming is not the way to go, but rethinking why we eat and beginning to understand our own personal cycle provides some answers.
Yet the most important thing, Paul says, and what Obesity Thunder Bay stands for, is beginning the conversation on fatism. Talking about it he believes, will eventually lead to more understanding of how we are being manipulated as consumers and begin to heal blatant wounds afflicted on the obese. Somehow it has become acceptable to ridicule and laugh at people who have likely had few choices.
Obesity Thunder Bay is having its next meeting in September and members of the working group include the Red Cross, the Health Unit and several other health professional agencies in Thunder Bay. Already general members have joined from all walks of life and geographic diversity. I recently joined myself. The group has set a goal of reaching 10,000 members. It’s very informative website and Paul can be reached at obesitythunderbay.com.
Joy Asham is a Cree Storyteller and Storymaker and can be reached at joyasham@gmail.com
--
www.obesitythunderbay.ca
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/05/21/male-binge-eating/
www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com
http://obesitythunderbay.ning.com/notes/Obesity_Bullying
Is food our next tobacco?
I sat across from him in a restaurant and we talked about our relationships – our relationships to food. I was interviewing Paul Murphy, mover and shaker and founding member of a group called Obesity Thunder Bay. Paul talked animatedly about food, diets and why the latter didn’t work and what Obesity Thunder Bay had to offer.
As a person with strange eating habits and a long battle with diabetes, the new approach he talked about made sense to me. “We have been taught to believe that if we are overweight, it is all our fault.” There are things that we cannot control that influence us and even when we make the best choices possible, we can still get in trouble. Society then heaps shame upon us and responds with a series of expensive diets and programs that few of us can sustain even if they work to initially get the weight off.
Even the medical establishment has not realized the full extent of the problem. In the US more and more people are encouraged to get gastric bypass: an expensive operation that could never be administered to everyone with morbid obesity (life-threatening) due to its expense and limited long term effectiveness. Yet the medical community is short on any real answers leaving the field open to fad diets and weight gurus.
I have long lost faith in some nutritionists, I guess because I have been around a few that have been downright rude. Because of my illness I sought out professional help about 15 years ago and was greeted by the dietician yelling at me “You’re fat!!” The sessions did not work and I became more and more depressed. My early life had been shame-based and I just couldn’t voluntarily take anymore.
Society thinks this type of behaviour is okay, after all you are the person responsible for your weight. I can accept that but I also know that I have had a life of limited choices. There sometimes was not enough to eat at all, so when food was put in front of me I learned early to “stock up”.
Paul tells a similar story: when he was growing up, he often never ate till suppertime. His mother worked as a cook in a short order restaurant till six o’clock. He was allowed to come in the back door and have his fill of what he wanted, so he ate lots to “stock up”. Over the years the weight crept up and he finally went for help.
He has learned a different relationship with food. You don’t have to eat every meal like it is your last, but you must eat often. This follows very much the thinking of the diabetes diet: eat small amounts but eat up to five times a day. Always start with breakfast, even if it is small, it gets the metabolism going. Moderate exercise is also necessary – not jogging, not body-building but keeping your body busy and walking is enough.
Try to eat nutritionally, but if you can’t due to availability (remember that children can only chose between articles already in the house) then pick the least junky. Paul went on to say that it seems that the food industry is trying to feed us on salt and sugar alone: if you have problems with your weight, chances are it is one or both of these things that you have trouble resisting. He’s a sugar person and I’m a salt.
Another side story: Elizabeth Taylor, the actress was once considered the most beautiful woman in the world. As she aged a bit she took on the role of Virgina in the film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. To make herself look frumpy for the part, Liz forced herself to gain 25 pounds, thinking she could easily take it off after the role was over. She has been struggling with her weight ever since.
We have fat cells, usually they are few and flat, unless we gain weight. The cells fill up and then they duplicate, making more and more fat cells. These cells never leave us, but we can work towards getting them flat again.
Paul says you can be fit at any weight. That we have to begin to understand that good people come in all sizes. Shaming is not the way to go, but rethinking why we eat and beginning to understand our own personal cycle provides some answers.
Yet the most important thing, Paul says, and what Obesity Thunder Bay stands for, is beginning the conversation on fatism. Talking about it he believes, will eventually lead to more understanding of how we are being manipulated as consumers and begin to heal blatant wounds afflicted on the obese. Somehow it has become acceptable to ridicule and laugh at people who have likely had few choices.
Obesity Thunder Bay is having its next meeting in September and members of the working group include the Red Cross, the Health Unit and several other health professional agencies in Thunder Bay. Already general members have joined from all walks of life and geographic diversity. I recently joined myself. The group has set a goal of reaching 10,000 members. It’s very informative website and Paul can be reached at obesitythunderbay.com.
Joy Asham is a Cree Storyteller and Storymaker and can be reached at joyasham@gmail.com
--
www.obesitythunderbay.ca
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/05/21/male-binge-eating/
www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com
http://obesitythunderbay.ning.com/notes/Obesity_Bullying
Is food our next tobacco?
·
·
Edit
Permalink Reply by Paul
Murphy on December 15, 2009 at 1:33pm
Treating
food as ‘substance’ key to stopping binge eating
Wednesday, 27 August 2008 - 4:07pm
With the growing demand on people to meet a certain standard with their body and their image because of the media, more and more people are finding themselves falling into the traps of anorexia and bulimia, two eating disorders now classified as mental illnesses.
However, the flipside to this obsessive nature of controlling food and becoming thin is the danger of binge eating and obesity—a growing pandemic where people use food as a substance, much like using a narcotic.
view counter
The two sides seem to be opposite of each other, but in truth, both sides have a problem that Paul Murphy, a recovering male binge eater out of Thunder Bay would call an “unhealthy marriage with food.”
Murphy, after receiving treatment for binge eating, decided to put himself out there as a model of the illness in hopes that people with this problem will be able to recognize it as such and, with the proper tools, find a solution.
Part of his campaign is to label food as a “substance”—a substance with the potential for issues equal with alcohol or drug use.
He emphasized that in the case of a binge eater, food is something that numbs them.
“For some people alcohol takes them, or numbs them, or triggers them, or does something—but for some alcohol doesn’t do it but food does,” he remarked.
His campaign is gaining speed and with the help of his Youtube videos under “Obesity Thunder Bay” and his own efforts, Murphy has accumulated the support of Thunder Bay/Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, and a few more and has been endorsed by Gravelle who wrote letters to the Health Minister as well as Premier Dalton McGuinty.
“The hope is that our region is going to be at the front of this change,” enthused Murphy. “[We are looking to create a] shift to move people into inspiration instead of discrimination because people have to understand that obesity is just a by-product from something else.”
In setting out his purpose, he did make it clear that obesity is not the whole problem here. While obesity does present many health related problems, the main issue here is the use of food for something other than nourishment.
Further, in treating someone who binges, the desired outcome should not be a focus on weight loss but rather re-gaining that balance with food—finding a healthy relationship with food instead of abusing it.
Murphy outlined that in his life he has always been pre-occupied with food and has thought about food literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
He recalled that before treatment, oftentimes he would find himself sitting down before supper and talking about what they should be eating the next night.
This preoccupation with food still did not indicate to Murphy that there may be a problem with his eating habits. It was only with the guidance of a friend that he eventually sought out help.
“I didn’t know what I was dealing with,” he announced.
“I guess it would be like having a monster in your closet,” said Murphy. “There’s no way of knowing the size of the monster but there’s no way you are going to open up the door to check, so you carry it and it becomes a part of you.”
He explained that it is easy to have a problem but to not be able to see it because you don’t recognize it for what it is.
Murphy noted that he knew what anorexia and bulimia were but he didn’t see binging as being part of that string of eating disorders.
He identified his problem as coming from his childhood.
“For me, we were living in poverty and our basic needs as children were not met so I never really had the opportunity to create a healthy relationship with food,” he described, recalling the feelings he had in his youth, “It was always feast or famine and I didn’t understand that that was going to manifest itself into something further.
“You know as a child I went to bed hungry many nights and as an adult I refused to go to bed hungry.
“I would have tomorrow’s breakfast tonight at around 8:30 and that’s just how I rationalized. I rationalize like that all the time,” he revealed.
Murphy noted that this is something he deals with all the time and even after two years of being trained in mechanized eating—that is, eating proper meals when you are hungry, not eating when you desire food for ulterior reasons—he is finally able to come to grips with his illness.
“It’s been two years,” he added. “Am I out of the woods? No, I don’t think I’m out of the woods, but I do know that I am more self-aware.”
And that, he said, is the key. Being self-aware and realizing that what you are doing is unhealthy and a result of some other problem, you are able to be sated with food, taste your food, and move towards a more healthy relationship with food.
He offered an example of having a cookie on your desk.
Murphy described that before treatment he would not budge for just one cookie. Unless there was a whole roll of cookies he would not even be tempted.
“There is a word called ‘sated’ and I could never understand what that word meant,” Murphy admitted. “‘Sated’ meaning that one cookie at your desk is satisfying enough and it fills that little craving and it’s a little snack that you can enjoy.”
But he posed the question, “But if you can’t taste it, then how can that happen?”
And that was another issue he had. He would starve himself all day in order that he could justify eating all he wanted at the end of the day. He would be so hungry and so thirsty that he would just eat and eat and drink and drink to satisfy his urges without a thought to what it tasted like.
When binging, Murphy reported eating until he was in severe pain.
Much like someone over-indulges during a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, Murphy would indulge daily in his food—not tasting it but shovelling it in to satisfy whatever feelings he had.
The issue that needed to be addressed the most in his life was balance.
He explained that if your balance is off-kilter because to you balance is drinking a case of beer a day or eating 5,000 calories in a day you need to filter your mind-set to achieve that balance again.
“That filter needs to be adjusted,” he emphasized. “It needs to be clarified and that’s where treatment comes in and that’s where you need to be able to recognize that what you’re feeling you need is wrong.”
Murphy also addressed the issue that eating disorders often do affect men but the socialization in our society disregards man as being the one who sometimes needs help.
The man who works with Murphy, John Eposti of the Smith Clinic in Thunder Bay, presented the idea that women are able to seek help more readily in the face of a problem as there is no social stigma for a woman to reach for help. Whereas in the psyche of a male, they insist that there is nothing wrong in order to evade coming off looking as if they have weakness.
But regardless, male or female everyone can reach out for help and should reach out for help because families and loved ones are affected by people who do not ask for help when they need it.
Murphy stressed that seeing someone you love doing something like that to themselves can put trauma in their own lives as well and that is not good to do to them.
“Obesity is such a personal issue and for many it is embarrassing . . . I can’t hide my obesity. Where am I going to hide it?” asked Murphy.
“I wanted to take myself and put myself at risk [of being in the spotlight] and by putting myself at risk I’m hoping that others will feel more comfortable talking about it.”
When it comes down to it, Murphy just wants everyone to examine themselves and think about the question, “Am I using food as a substance?” If you can answer “yes” to that question then he encourages you to seek help from a mental health professional.
He added that the fight here is against obesity but not the obese person, so in realizing the problem may exist you can take steps to create your own intervention.
If you think that you may be suffering from an “unhealthy marriage with food” in any way, you can go to the Riverside Community Counselling Services in Fort Frances to find help.
For a closer look at Paul Murphy’s campaign or his personal battle with binge eating you can check out “Obesity Thunder Bay” at Youtube.com and you can also visit his own YouTube channel to see more footage from the Rudd Centre out of Yale University.
»
The goal is to promote the conversation of obesity,or OBE$ITY. We want to challenge the Fault Based Model,Blaming Fails to create the Community Based Intervention needed. Our Model is called,SHARED ACCOUNTABILITY.
Thanks Paul
Tags: Obesity, advocacy, awareness., education
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 27, 2009 at 1:30pm
Delete
End fatism
Wednesday, 6 May 2009 - 11:14am
Paul Murphy
Dear editor:
My group is working together to help fight obesity, but we want to expose weight bias stigma and discrimination.
view counter
This is the undertow of the obesity crisis.
I am working to create a nation-wide action plan for obesity. Let’s measure fitness using treadmills, blood pressure, and actual devices that can tabulate health.
Fitness comes in all sizes, and we want to shift the focus away from scales.
We are fighting obesity, but we are not fighting obese people. That small change may help to find partners in this process.
Our health care system and the media need an education on weight bias and stigma. Seventy percent of doctors stigmatize the individual, and the media has championed the dieting industry.
When does a diet fail? Diets never fail but people carry the blame. Just dial into the feedback on actress Kirstie Alley, a former diet industry spokesperson.
Kirstie has been vilified in the media and has been banished by the very industry she championed. Is she lazy, unmotivated, unhealthy, and displaying a lack of willpower? This is blame, and it works very well as it isolates the individual.
You can add 2,000 Americans to that list in a single day because 2,000 U.S. citizens will be diagnosed with Type 2 or sugar diabetes each day.
Nine U.S. states are sending children home with BMI scores that many NFL players would not pass. The tragedy is that these children are fighting obesity and the weight bias stigma and discrimination.
Let’s promote a discussion about obesity: fast food advertising, poverty, level of education, urban versus rural perspectives, media influences, and the weight-loss industry. I am eager to find an easy, smart, weight-loss pharma solution, but the real key for me is developing a healthy food marriage.
All foods in balance and as we develop a 20- to 40-point action plan, the key will be to find volunteers to help carry this message: That obesity is a by-product, and we need a real action plan.
I want to welcome all communities and citizens of Northern Ontario to my current website: www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com
Let’s build this action plan together and end our scaling focus.
Thanks,
Paul Murphy
Thunder Bay, Ont.
»
Dear Media ,
Why is okay to promote Fat Hatred?
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 28, 2009 at 1:09pm
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News
TBay man starts dialogue on obesity
Recovering binge eater seeks political and public support for roundtable discussion
By Mike Bennett
Paul Murphy isn’t lazy, nor is unmotivated. As a recovering binge eater, however, Murphy explains that these are two assumptions that are made about him and other obese individuals on an ongoing basis. It’s a perception, he explains, that accompanies society’s guilt-based methods for dealing with the ever-expanding epidemic of obesity in Western society.
Murphy entered a treatment program at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre in Port Arthur in December 2006 after explaining that he thought about food, “24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single minute of the day.” What followed was 13 months of weekly discussions with John Esposti, a family therapist at the Centre in an effort to improve his “marriage with food.”
In January 2008, Murphy ended his formal treatment, and now at 320 pounds continues to work in a more independent way to manage his eating, and his overall health. The Thunder Bay resident is looking to create a dialogue in northwestern Ontario about how to curb the issue of obesity. The current method of pointing blame on individuals is not working.
“This is about balance, self-care, having a healthy relationship with food, de-stigmatizing individuals, not laying blame,” explains Murphy. “Once we do those things, the rest will start working.”
Over the past year, Murphy has appealed for a round-table community discussion to address this major health issue. Along the way, he has spoken to over 3000 individuals across the northwest region and garnered letters of support from Thunder Bay mayor Lynn Peterson, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North Michael Gravelle, and former MP Ken Boshcoff.
This Wednesday and Thursday, as part of Health and Wellness Week, the Student Counseling Centre will be showing a video called ‘Obesity Thunder Bay’ which follows Murphy’s recovery experiences at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre. If Murphy has his way, the video showcase will continue to provoke discussion, and will shed light on the real causes of obesity.
Says John Esposti, “Most of us have quite complicated lives, and a binge eating disorder is a symptom of coping with some difficulties in our lives.”
Murphy explains that his binge eating disorder stems from a challenging socio-economic upbringing, but that the capitalistic machine is doing nothing to contribute to the overall health of society.
“The complexity of this problem, we haven’t even figure out,” Murphy says.
Perhaps an expanded discussion will find answers.
For additional information on Health and Wellness Week, contact the Student Counseling Centre at 343-8361 or visit their facility across from Security in the University Centre.
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 28, 2009 at 1:12pm
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A A A - text size
Wednesday, 28 January 2009 - 4:02pm
By Duane Hicks Staff writer
“Coke CEO: Soda not to blame for obesity.”
“Flabby thinking behind fast-food crackdown.”
view counter
“Fast food+nearby schools+fat kids.”
“Media screentime linked to childhood obesity.”
“Childhood obesity is set by age five.”
“Will airlines start charging passengers by weight?”
Headlines from around the world about obesity are becoming more common every day, but what is being done to change the blame-based model of obesity, which links it to lack of willpower and laziness?
What is being done to change people’s perceptions of food as a substance that can be abused just the same as alcohol or tobacco? What is being done to encourage binge eaters to develop a health relationship with food?
Thunder Bay resident Paul Murphy, a recovering binge eater who advocates he is “Against Obesity, Not Against Obese People,” has been working hard for the past year to try and raise awareness of obesity-related issues and get a dialogue going in Northwestern Ontario.
And it now looks like he finally might start getting heard.
Murphy, who some readers may remember from an article in the Aug. 27, 2008 edition of the Fort Frances Times, was interviewed last week by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
“It’s thrilling,” he said of the experience, adding that aside from the article in the Times last summer, he’s had a very difficult time getting media coverage.
“I am hoping that more things will happen [because of the APTN interview],” he noted. “But the goal here is creating a discussion. I do not have the answer, that’s not what this is about.”
The interview aired Friday through Sunday on APTN National News, and now can be found at APTN.ca
Murphy said he also has contacted Maclean’s, and is hopeful to get his story featured in that magazine.
He stressed he’s not looking for personal recognition—he just wants to get a dialogue going regarding what he feels is a very important topic, starting with people in this region.
“Let’s look at why we’re using words like ‘lifestyle,’ ‘unhealthy eating, ‘lack of willpower.’ Why aren’t we talking about the other complex factors?” Murphy wondered.
“There’s a story on my ‘Facebook’ page that talks about the relationship between the strong fast food industry and obesity epidemic. That’s a huge, huge thing,” he remarked.
Murphy said he’s obtained letters of support from Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro, Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson, former Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, and Health Promotion minister Margarett Best, and has had contact with Dr. David Butler-Jones, the chief health officer of Canada.
As well, he’s talked to about 3,000 people from across the region regarding obesity, and is in the process of contacting mayors and chiefs from each community to have them organize a roundtable discussion on obesity and what can be done either in their respective communities or the region as a whole.
“The intent is to find interested parties to participate in a discussion,” Murphy noted.
“The idea of rolling up your sleeves and creating an intervention means you open the page and look at all the factors,” he later added.
Murphy said he’s had quite a bit of success with the online community, but wants to make that same breakthrough with people here in Northwestern Ontario.
“The number of people who have been reaching out [online] and saying, ‘It’s been like this for me,’ or ‘It’s been like that for me,’ it’s amazing,” he enthused. “We’ve got 6,300 views [on YouTube].
“The idea of just talking about it is enough to start it off.
“There are people all over North America and all over the world that are sending feedback,” he later added. “A lot of people recognize they have been faced with discrimination because of obesity.”
For a plethora of obesity-related videos clips and articles, people can visit YouTube and type in “Obesity Thunder Bay” or look for Murphy on “Facebook.”
»
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 29, 2009 at 9:24pm
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Unhealthy notions!
It is about time that Canadians stop blaming the individual for all of its social ills and begin to adopt a collectivist rather than an individualist perspective on health. The editors fail to appreciate that individual health does not exist in a social vacuum. The photo of an obese adolescent gorging on cotton candy is typical of the media and only perpetuates the false perception that obese individuals are sloths and gluttons. This needs to stop. I encourage your editors to go to www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com and get educated.
Special Thanks to an professor @ L U in Thunder Bay
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Obesity Thunder Bay by Paul Murphy Chat | 1 Online
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Wednesday, 27 August 2008 - 4:07pm
With the growing demand on people to meet a certain standard with their body and their image because of the media, more and more people are finding themselves falling into the traps of anorexia and bulimia, two eating disorders now classified as mental illnesses.
However, the flipside to this obsessive nature of controlling food and becoming thin is the danger of binge eating and obesity—a growing pandemic where people use food as a substance, much like using a narcotic.
view counter
The two sides seem to be opposite of each other, but in truth, both sides have a problem that Paul Murphy, a recovering male binge eater out of Thunder Bay would call an “unhealthy marriage with food.”
Murphy, after receiving treatment for binge eating, decided to put himself out there as a model of the illness in hopes that people with this problem will be able to recognize it as such and, with the proper tools, find a solution.
Part of his campaign is to label food as a “substance”—a substance with the potential for issues equal with alcohol or drug use.
He emphasized that in the case of a binge eater, food is something that numbs them.
“For some people alcohol takes them, or numbs them, or triggers them, or does something—but for some alcohol doesn’t do it but food does,” he remarked.
His campaign is gaining speed and with the help of his Youtube videos under “Obesity Thunder Bay” and his own efforts, Murphy has accumulated the support of Thunder Bay/Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, and a few more and has been endorsed by Gravelle who wrote letters to the Health Minister as well as Premier Dalton McGuinty.
“The hope is that our region is going to be at the front of this change,” enthused Murphy. “[We are looking to create a] shift to move people into inspiration instead of discrimination because people have to understand that obesity is just a by-product from something else.”
In setting out his purpose, he did make it clear that obesity is not the whole problem here. While obesity does present many health related problems, the main issue here is the use of food for something other than nourishment.
Further, in treating someone who binges, the desired outcome should not be a focus on weight loss but rather re-gaining that balance with food—finding a healthy relationship with food instead of abusing it.
Murphy outlined that in his life he has always been pre-occupied with food and has thought about food literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
He recalled that before treatment, oftentimes he would find himself sitting down before supper and talking about what they should be eating the next night.
This preoccupation with food still did not indicate to Murphy that there may be a problem with his eating habits. It was only with the guidance of a friend that he eventually sought out help.
“I didn’t know what I was dealing with,” he announced.
“I guess it would be like having a monster in your closet,” said Murphy. “There’s no way of knowing the size of the monster but there’s no way you are going to open up the door to check, so you carry it and it becomes a part of you.”
He explained that it is easy to have a problem but to not be able to see it because you don’t recognize it for what it is.
Murphy noted that he knew what anorexia and bulimia were but he didn’t see binging as being part of that string of eating disorders.
He identified his problem as coming from his childhood.
“For me, we were living in poverty and our basic needs as children were not met so I never really had the opportunity to create a healthy relationship with food,” he described, recalling the feelings he had in his youth, “It was always feast or famine and I didn’t understand that that was going to manifest itself into something further.
“You know as a child I went to bed hungry many nights and as an adult I refused to go to bed hungry.
“I would have tomorrow’s breakfast tonight at around 8:30 and that’s just how I rationalized. I rationalize like that all the time,” he revealed.
Murphy noted that this is something he deals with all the time and even after two years of being trained in mechanized eating—that is, eating proper meals when you are hungry, not eating when you desire food for ulterior reasons—he is finally able to come to grips with his illness.
“It’s been two years,” he added. “Am I out of the woods? No, I don’t think I’m out of the woods, but I do know that I am more self-aware.”
And that, he said, is the key. Being self-aware and realizing that what you are doing is unhealthy and a result of some other problem, you are able to be sated with food, taste your food, and move towards a more healthy relationship with food.
He offered an example of having a cookie on your desk.
Murphy described that before treatment he would not budge for just one cookie. Unless there was a whole roll of cookies he would not even be tempted.
“There is a word called ‘sated’ and I could never understand what that word meant,” Murphy admitted. “‘Sated’ meaning that one cookie at your desk is satisfying enough and it fills that little craving and it’s a little snack that you can enjoy.”
But he posed the question, “But if you can’t taste it, then how can that happen?”
And that was another issue he had. He would starve himself all day in order that he could justify eating all he wanted at the end of the day. He would be so hungry and so thirsty that he would just eat and eat and drink and drink to satisfy his urges without a thought to what it tasted like.
When binging, Murphy reported eating until he was in severe pain.
Much like someone over-indulges during a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, Murphy would indulge daily in his food—not tasting it but shovelling it in to satisfy whatever feelings he had.
The issue that needed to be addressed the most in his life was balance.
He explained that if your balance is off-kilter because to you balance is drinking a case of beer a day or eating 5,000 calories in a day you need to filter your mind-set to achieve that balance again.
“That filter needs to be adjusted,” he emphasized. “It needs to be clarified and that’s where treatment comes in and that’s where you need to be able to recognize that what you’re feeling you need is wrong.”
Murphy also addressed the issue that eating disorders often do affect men but the socialization in our society disregards man as being the one who sometimes needs help.
The man who works with Murphy, John Eposti of the Smith Clinic in Thunder Bay, presented the idea that women are able to seek help more readily in the face of a problem as there is no social stigma for a woman to reach for help. Whereas in the psyche of a male, they insist that there is nothing wrong in order to evade coming off looking as if they have weakness.
But regardless, male or female everyone can reach out for help and should reach out for help because families and loved ones are affected by people who do not ask for help when they need it.
Murphy stressed that seeing someone you love doing something like that to themselves can put trauma in their own lives as well and that is not good to do to them.
“Obesity is such a personal issue and for many it is embarrassing . . . I can’t hide my obesity. Where am I going to hide it?” asked Murphy.
“I wanted to take myself and put myself at risk [of being in the spotlight] and by putting myself at risk I’m hoping that others will feel more comfortable talking about it.”
When it comes down to it, Murphy just wants everyone to examine themselves and think about the question, “Am I using food as a substance?” If you can answer “yes” to that question then he encourages you to seek help from a mental health professional.
He added that the fight here is against obesity but not the obese person, so in realizing the problem may exist you can take steps to create your own intervention.
If you think that you may be suffering from an “unhealthy marriage with food” in any way, you can go to the Riverside Community Counselling Services in Fort Frances to find help.
For a closer look at Paul Murphy’s campaign or his personal battle with binge eating you can check out “Obesity Thunder Bay” at Youtube.com and you can also visit his own YouTube channel to see more footage from the Rudd Centre out of Yale University.
»
The goal is to promote the conversation of obesity,or OBE$ITY. We want to challenge the Fault Based Model,Blaming Fails to create the Community Based Intervention needed. Our Model is called,SHARED ACCOUNTABILITY.
Thanks Paul
Tags: Obesity, advocacy, awareness., education
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 27, 2009 at 1:30pm
Delete
End fatism
Wednesday, 6 May 2009 - 11:14am
Paul Murphy
Dear editor:
My group is working together to help fight obesity, but we want to expose weight bias stigma and discrimination.
view counter
This is the undertow of the obesity crisis.
I am working to create a nation-wide action plan for obesity. Let’s measure fitness using treadmills, blood pressure, and actual devices that can tabulate health.
Fitness comes in all sizes, and we want to shift the focus away from scales.
We are fighting obesity, but we are not fighting obese people. That small change may help to find partners in this process.
Our health care system and the media need an education on weight bias and stigma. Seventy percent of doctors stigmatize the individual, and the media has championed the dieting industry.
When does a diet fail? Diets never fail but people carry the blame. Just dial into the feedback on actress Kirstie Alley, a former diet industry spokesperson.
Kirstie has been vilified in the media and has been banished by the very industry she championed. Is she lazy, unmotivated, unhealthy, and displaying a lack of willpower? This is blame, and it works very well as it isolates the individual.
You can add 2,000 Americans to that list in a single day because 2,000 U.S. citizens will be diagnosed with Type 2 or sugar diabetes each day.
Nine U.S. states are sending children home with BMI scores that many NFL players would not pass. The tragedy is that these children are fighting obesity and the weight bias stigma and discrimination.
Let’s promote a discussion about obesity: fast food advertising, poverty, level of education, urban versus rural perspectives, media influences, and the weight-loss industry. I am eager to find an easy, smart, weight-loss pharma solution, but the real key for me is developing a healthy food marriage.
All foods in balance and as we develop a 20- to 40-point action plan, the key will be to find volunteers to help carry this message: That obesity is a by-product, and we need a real action plan.
I want to welcome all communities and citizens of Northern Ontario to my current website: www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com
Let’s build this action plan together and end our scaling focus.
Thanks,
Paul Murphy
Thunder Bay, Ont.
»
Dear Media ,
Why is okay to promote Fat Hatred?
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 28, 2009 at 1:09pm
Delete
News
TBay man starts dialogue on obesity
Recovering binge eater seeks political and public support for roundtable discussion
By Mike Bennett
Paul Murphy isn’t lazy, nor is unmotivated. As a recovering binge eater, however, Murphy explains that these are two assumptions that are made about him and other obese individuals on an ongoing basis. It’s a perception, he explains, that accompanies society’s guilt-based methods for dealing with the ever-expanding epidemic of obesity in Western society.
Murphy entered a treatment program at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre in Port Arthur in December 2006 after explaining that he thought about food, “24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single minute of the day.” What followed was 13 months of weekly discussions with John Esposti, a family therapist at the Centre in an effort to improve his “marriage with food.”
In January 2008, Murphy ended his formal treatment, and now at 320 pounds continues to work in a more independent way to manage his eating, and his overall health. The Thunder Bay resident is looking to create a dialogue in northwestern Ontario about how to curb the issue of obesity. The current method of pointing blame on individuals is not working.
“This is about balance, self-care, having a healthy relationship with food, de-stigmatizing individuals, not laying blame,” explains Murphy. “Once we do those things, the rest will start working.”
Over the past year, Murphy has appealed for a round-table community discussion to address this major health issue. Along the way, he has spoken to over 3000 individuals across the northwest region and garnered letters of support from Thunder Bay mayor Lynn Peterson, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North Michael Gravelle, and former MP Ken Boshcoff.
This Wednesday and Thursday, as part of Health and Wellness Week, the Student Counseling Centre will be showing a video called ‘Obesity Thunder Bay’ which follows Murphy’s recovery experiences at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre. If Murphy has his way, the video showcase will continue to provoke discussion, and will shed light on the real causes of obesity.
Says John Esposti, “Most of us have quite complicated lives, and a binge eating disorder is a symptom of coping with some difficulties in our lives.”
Murphy explains that his binge eating disorder stems from a challenging socio-economic upbringing, but that the capitalistic machine is doing nothing to contribute to the overall health of society.
“The complexity of this problem, we haven’t even figure out,” Murphy says.
Perhaps an expanded discussion will find answers.
For additional information on Health and Wellness Week, contact the Student Counseling Centre at 343-8361 or visit their facility across from Security in the University Centre.
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 28, 2009 at 1:12pm
Delete
A A A - text size
Wednesday, 28 January 2009 - 4:02pm
By Duane Hicks Staff writer
“Coke CEO: Soda not to blame for obesity.”
“Flabby thinking behind fast-food crackdown.”
view counter
“Fast food+nearby schools+fat kids.”
“Media screentime linked to childhood obesity.”
“Childhood obesity is set by age five.”
“Will airlines start charging passengers by weight?”
Headlines from around the world about obesity are becoming more common every day, but what is being done to change the blame-based model of obesity, which links it to lack of willpower and laziness?
What is being done to change people’s perceptions of food as a substance that can be abused just the same as alcohol or tobacco? What is being done to encourage binge eaters to develop a health relationship with food?
Thunder Bay resident Paul Murphy, a recovering binge eater who advocates he is “Against Obesity, Not Against Obese People,” has been working hard for the past year to try and raise awareness of obesity-related issues and get a dialogue going in Northwestern Ontario.
And it now looks like he finally might start getting heard.
Murphy, who some readers may remember from an article in the Aug. 27, 2008 edition of the Fort Frances Times, was interviewed last week by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
“It’s thrilling,” he said of the experience, adding that aside from the article in the Times last summer, he’s had a very difficult time getting media coverage.
“I am hoping that more things will happen [because of the APTN interview],” he noted. “But the goal here is creating a discussion. I do not have the answer, that’s not what this is about.”
The interview aired Friday through Sunday on APTN National News, and now can be found at APTN.ca
Murphy said he also has contacted Maclean’s, and is hopeful to get his story featured in that magazine.
He stressed he’s not looking for personal recognition—he just wants to get a dialogue going regarding what he feels is a very important topic, starting with people in this region.
“Let’s look at why we’re using words like ‘lifestyle,’ ‘unhealthy eating, ‘lack of willpower.’ Why aren’t we talking about the other complex factors?” Murphy wondered.
“There’s a story on my ‘Facebook’ page that talks about the relationship between the strong fast food industry and obesity epidemic. That’s a huge, huge thing,” he remarked.
Murphy said he’s obtained letters of support from Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro, Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson, former Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, and Health Promotion minister Margarett Best, and has had contact with Dr. David Butler-Jones, the chief health officer of Canada.
As well, he’s talked to about 3,000 people from across the region regarding obesity, and is in the process of contacting mayors and chiefs from each community to have them organize a roundtable discussion on obesity and what can be done either in their respective communities or the region as a whole.
“The intent is to find interested parties to participate in a discussion,” Murphy noted.
“The idea of rolling up your sleeves and creating an intervention means you open the page and look at all the factors,” he later added.
Murphy said he’s had quite a bit of success with the online community, but wants to make that same breakthrough with people here in Northwestern Ontario.
“The number of people who have been reaching out [online] and saying, ‘It’s been like this for me,’ or ‘It’s been like that for me,’ it’s amazing,” he enthused. “We’ve got 6,300 views [on YouTube].
“The idea of just talking about it is enough to start it off.
“There are people all over North America and all over the world that are sending feedback,” he later added. “A lot of people recognize they have been faced with discrimination because of obesity.”
For a plethora of obesity-related videos clips and articles, people can visit YouTube and type in “Obesity Thunder Bay” or look for Murphy on “Facebook.”
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Paul Murphy Permalink Reply by Paul Murphy on September 29, 2009 at 9:24pm
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Unhealthy notions!
It is about time that Canadians stop blaming the individual for all of its social ills and begin to adopt a collectivist rather than an individualist perspective on health. The editors fail to appreciate that individual health does not exist in a social vacuum. The photo of an obese adolescent gorging on cotton candy is typical of the media and only perpetuates the false perception that obese individuals are sloths and gluttons. This needs to stop. I encourage your editors to go to www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com and get educated.
Special Thanks to an professor @ L U in Thunder Bay
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