Every time I see the video of the Gulf oil catastrophe it saddens me greatly, with tens of thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the sea daily. To make things worse there is no solution in sight, damaging wildlife, polluting shore lines, causing massive economic damage and virtually it will take decades to recover from this disaster. We are all affected by this and we will all pay a huge price.

Now I want you to image all that oil spreading all over the place. Whatever emotions you feel when you witness the images are the exact same feelings I have about the rapid weight gain that is going on in this country. In fact it is spreading much faster than the oil spilling in the gulf. The obesity in this country is at alarming proportions never before seen with no end in sight. Be prepared because the impact will affect all of us directly or indirectly. Not one single day goes by where someone isn’t mentioning the over weight state of our nation, NOT ONE SINGLE DAY. Not one day goes by where I do not gasp at seeing someone so overweight where I don’t shake my head in disbelief.

To know me is to know that I am extremely sensitive to those who struggle with weight control issues. However I’m at the point where I feel I’m on the beach removing oil from the ocean with a coffee cup. In other words people like me are not only having zero impact on the war on fat we are down right losing the war. Shows like the “Biggest Loser” don’t have an impact either, popular with viewers but did you know that most finalist actually regain the weight back within a year. This past Memorial Day weekend I went down to Austin Texas with my fiancé and her 20 year old daughter. We decided to float down one of the rivers on an inner tube. There were hundreds of twenty something’s lined up to catch the bus down to the river. As we waited in line I was shocked not only how many out of shape young people there were both men and women alike, the really odd thing is that not one of them seemed to care. In my entire life I have never witnessed so many people comfortable shirtless or in two piece swimsuits while obviously 20-100 lbs overweight. It came at a big surprise to me because my generation was the last of the self conscious when it came to body identity. Lately I have noticed the casual attitude of being obese more than ever.

Many years ago Oprah lost 70 lbs with Med-fast and squeezed into her tight size 6 jeans only to regain ALL the weight back in less than 8 weeks. She was so mortified that she vowed to never go on a diet ever again and started preaching a message of acceptance. She said not everyone is meant to be thin and those who aren’t should love themselves regardless. I totally agree with the latter part of her message, we all should learn to love ourselves and our bodies but I went crazy on my weekly radio show spouting that you should not ever accept something that you can do something about. Should poor people accept being poor, uneducated people accept being uneducated??? Please do not do what everyone appears to be doing and that is to start waving a white flag and just give up. Apparently Oprah was convincing at telling people to accept being overweight because that is exactly what has happened. If you don’t believe me go to the mall, sporting event, amusement park or school yard. Obesity doesn’t discriminate against anyone except old people that is because obese people never die of old age.

I bet most people reading this have know idea how obese I would be if I did not follow my own program, its true I come form a long lineage of family members who have either struggled with their weight or who were obese long before the word was ever used. I witnessed first hand the pain, struggles, torment and ridicule that many of my loved ones went through do to weight control issues, I also knew in my heart there had to be better way. The thought of living my entire life struggling with my weight and more importantly not feeling good about myself was not the life for me, I knew I had to devote myself to finding answers as opposed to being a hope seeker thinking that the next fitness fad fraud would work. Yes, I inherited the fat gene and the “I don’t get full” gene. Since my teenage years I have dedicated myself to discovering the secrets to staying lean, healthy and most of all happy. A day rarely goes by that I’m not reminded by the fact that if I deviate to far from the “program’ that I will have to bare the consequences, I’m not perfect yet always strive to make progress. Do you think I like waking up at the crack of dawn and getting out of my warm bed only to go to a cold gym? Yet every morning after I walk out the gym doors I’m sure glad I did. Do you not think I get cravings for food that are so strong in the middle of the night that I could devour a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting but while the 15 calorie popsicles aren’t as good as the ice cream it does the trick. While my industry maybe losing the war on fat, I wont let you down and I refuse to accept anything other than anyone can make progress should they choose to.

One of my all time favorite stories describes exactly where I’m at in my quest to help other.

A young boy is walking along the beach with thousands of starfish washed up along shore. The boy starts throwing the starfish back into the ocean one at a time. A man is strolling along from the opposite direction and comes across the boy. He asks the boy what is he doing? The boy says I’m saving the starfish. The man sort of chuckles and says there are thousands, you can’t save them all. The boy then grabs a starfish and throws it in the ocean and looks up at the man and says; I saved that one.

Have a blessed day,

Larry North