Reaching Out

About a week ago, I had an appointment with a new dermatologist, I figured while I'm in the midst of losing weight, the hair on my lip and chin can go too as I'm not only tired of waxing and tweezing, my over 40 eyesight is making it difficult for me to see! I'm first generation Italian-American born to dark Italian parents therefore it only makes sense that I am born with an olive toned complexion and dark hair so the monobrow and facial hair are part of the whole look and has been the bane of my existence!

As it turned out my dermatologist and I share the same ethnic background and our families are from the same area so you know we immediately became kindred spirits! We talked for a while about our families and "who we know," but then it got down to business and while she was asking me about my medical history, I told her about my VSG surgery, how happy I was, how it was the best decision I ever made, etc., etc., and when all was said and done, she began telling me about her best friend who happens to weigh close to 400 pounds. I listened intently as she told me about her friend beginning with listing her co-morbidities, her bad knees, and how her husband does the laundry because she can't go down the basement stairs which is where the laundry facilities are, and how she stays home a lot because she can't walk, is ashamed of her size, and how Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, HMS and other diets didn't work for her. I held back my tears as she basically flashed my past life before my eyes which reminded me of the emotional trauma I experienced that finally led me to take that leap into weight loss surgery. The only difference her friend and I have is she's afraid of having weight loss surgery and very adamant about it.

So who wasn't afraid at first?

I'm such a sap and the story about her friend touched my heart. I wanted to reach out and help her, so I gave the dermatologist permission to give her friend my phone number. I won't talk her into having WLS, but I will sing the praises of it and I will tell her how it gave me my life back and added a few more years to my life. Now that I've been there and experienced the procedure, I can honestly tell her that there is nothing to fear. A few days of discomfort is worth a lifetime of happiness. I hope she calls me.

The conversation with my dermatologist sort of clinched my decision in what my major will be this coming fall when I go back to school.

I've spent most of my life yo-yo dieting. I've lost tons of weight, only to gain it back again, and I was also a chubby kid. The current generation of children are growing up the same way. For me, it wasn't lack of exercise, it was my parents who fed me like their very own little prized pig, but for children today, it's many things from McDonald's advertising directly to them and serving up greasy, salty food to unhealthy school lunches, working parents who don't have the time to make healthy lunches, computer games, and x-boxes. Children are getting Type 2 diabetes and other co-morbidities and I want to join the battle to help them grow up healthy, so I've decided my major will be in nutrition with the hope that I can reach out to children and their parents while they're in school by teaching them and using my experience as a child as an example.

Yeah, I'm ready for it!

Until next time when I'll have some more yummy, healthy recipes.... a la prossima!

Ciao!