Being obese during a phase of my life, I know the emotional pain of feeling big and unaccepted. Our culture has led most of us, especially women, to believe that thinness and media-defined beauty will bring happiness, joy, and self-love. Unfortunately it seems that there is no limit to what we will do to achieve the beauty we believe we do not have and a figure that is as close to the desired shape as possible.
This week it has come to my attention that the Food and Drug Administration recently approved two new “devices” that contour the body ~ “love handles” and eliminate fat “pouches”. These two medical procedures claim to rid the body of excess fat without the need for surgery or invasive methods. One technique “freezes” fat cells in “love handles” or specific areas of accumulated fat, causing them to self-destruct over a period of several months. With their “Cool Sculpting Device,” a patient simply sits in a chair while a technician uses a device that suctions a handful of fat into a container the size of a paper bag that adheres tightly to the body. And starts freezing the fat. Eventually the fat actually solidifies, causing the cells to die quickly and die a natural ~reabsorbed into the body. The company’s founder, Mitchell Levinson, claims that the fat doesn’t come back.
The second technique is a procedure that does not kill fat cells. Rather, a low-energy laser device, called a Zerona laser, creates tiny holes in cell membranes, allowing the fatty material to slowly seep out, rupturing the cells. The cells are still viable and capable of secreting important health hormones, according to Ryan Maloney, chief research officer at manufacturer, Arconia Corp. The patient lies on a table while the equipment is rotated around the waist, hips and thighs. The process takes 20 minutes per side and is repeated three times a week for two weeks. Both procedures cost up to $3,000 for each “love handle” (or similar accumulation of fat cells) and a large area of fat, or “muffin top,” may require two treatments. However, these methods are only suitable for “discrete” bulges, not large areas of fat.
If you’ve read this far and aren’t deeply concerned, you should be ~more than worried~. These companies and the people paying thousands of dollars for these procedures are endorsing a myth that is robbing thousands of people of self-acceptance and joy in life: the myth of physical perfection. We have been brainwashed by the sixty billion dollar per year diet industry that informs us, both consciously and unconsciously, that we will be what we desire: loved, desired, accepted, admired and most of all satisfied and happy. ~ If only we could lose weight and shape ourselves differently. Yet according to recent studies, no one is happy once they slim down or reshape themselves according to some external definition of love. Plus, despite all that we’re bombarded with about lifestyle changes and weight loss, obesity is on the rise~ now reaching our youth with alarming statistics. Something is very wrong.
For most of my professional life I have worked with women who struggle with weight issues, doubts about self-worth, and body image distortions. In my own life, I have gained and lost over £1,900. I am well aware that there are desperate attempts to be thin and have a body that looks like the model on a magazine cover. I’ve learned that dieting or “sculpting” our bodies doesn’t provide relief from heartburn. Deep and lasting satisfaction with ourselves requires us to destroy the false information we tell ourselves or have been told by others and now believe to be true. We must face ourselves with compassion, accept who we are, and trust in our worth and our goodness. We must stop believing in the myth that “I would be happy if I were different from who I am”. We must define our own truth and live with awareness, wise choice and self acceptance.
Sadly, many women (and men) live a lifetime believing that they need to be thinner or more attractive in some way in order to be happy and fulfilled in life. Too often this pursuit of perfection leads to persistent unhappiness and longing~ and isolation, depression, and eating disorders are often the result. To live in acceptance, joy, and freedom, we must let go of “myth” and open to a more liberating, realistic, and possibility-rich truth: We are already lovely and whole, just as we are. We should reduce our obsession with weighing less or looking different. Nowhere in the world is it true that the value of the human soul is dependent on a number on the scales or a certain sculpted figure. Trying to be thinner or thinner takes us further and further from the heart of the matter~ and what true happiness will bring: being in touch with our true selves and realizing that we don’t need to be perfect or better in order to be perfect, To be valued, to be loved.
In addition to hijacking opportunities for personal acceptance and change of belief systems about body and weight issues, dismissing fat cells from the body may not be healthy in the long run. Fat cells serve a purpose and it is important to understand what role such cells play in health and well-being. In short, fat cells aren’t the only places that store excess calories. They also control growth, puberty, healing, fighting disease, and aging. Fat cells release more than 100 hormones, two of them being leptin (which tells the brain whether to eat more or less) and adiponectin (which helps regulate metabolism). Healthy fat cells are attentive to the body’s needs, according to Michael D. Jensen, MD, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If fat cells are not functioning properly, they do not do their job of storing or releasing fat effectively (a process essential to the health of the body). Instead, some fat cells (called visceral fat cells) accumulate in and around both the heart and liver, releasing fat into the bloodstream and increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Another potential danger in newer fat blasting techniques is that they don’t target visceral fat ~ only subcutaneous fat (fat cells stored under the skin, around the hips, thighs, and lower abdomen). If a person continues to consume more calories than they burn, they may actually be speeding up the process of accumulating harmful, life-threatening fat ~ leaving them, perhaps sculpting more but at a very high cost. In addition, many experts are concerned that the removal of fat from fat cells can lead to increased levels of fat in the bloodstream, which is a toxic and dangerous condition. In addition, losing fat cells can lower leptin levels and signal the brain to eat more. Although both companies, Zeltic and Arkonia Corp., are reassuring the public that their methods are safe, they urge people to change their eating and exercise habits as well.
It appears that, ideally, the subtle excess fat can be removed for a price and if the patient is wise, he or she will also change their lifestyle habits to lose weight. This brings us back to the myth of body perfection and the apparent failure of the American majority to maintain a healthy weight and fitness level. Is it possible that there is something bigger at play here than just fat cells and body size? I think so too.
We want to be thin and curvy because being so is a sign of happiness and acceptance in our culture. Yet this posture is a fallacy and most weight loss systems fail because they don’t make people happy in the end. Being a certain size doesn’t solve emptiness or a suffering problem that runs deeper than any diet, fat freezing techniques or laser magic. Before any true or lasting joy can be experienced, we must first accept ourselves and be grateful for the bodies we have. We must marvel at the extraordinary complexity and beauty of our anatomy and physiology. We must take time and listen to the whispers of our heart and soul. We must find the courage to face our deepest fears and strongest emotions without turning to food or fat burning as a refuge. We must face our truth, our falsehood, and realize that suffering and pain are based on the desire to be somewhere other than where we are now. This includes our body as well. We must stop contributing to the tyranny and violence of forcing our bodies to conform to some external standard.
If you’re someone who’s tempted to focus on shedding fat, I wonder if you’d consider asking yourself: Am I contributing to a preoccupation and dedication to perfectionism? Am I running away from my feelings, leading me to unhealthy eating habits? Is wanting a quick fix ~ an overnight cure ~ robbing me of the opportunity to face my true issues and embrace my life with wisdom and mature choices? Am I giving up on the commitment and discipline needed to establish a healthy lifestyle, thus perpetuating the habit of avoidance? Am I setting an admirable and respectable example by paying thousands of dollars to the youth of our culture who was never broke~ a lifestyle change is needed? Can I put this money to better use than offsetting or reducing the pockets of the ‘unwanted me’?
It is my belief that when we welcome and accept the parts of us we most want to put aside, we open ourselves up to true freedom and happiness. May our lives be vibrant and full of value and meaning. Facing our feelings, learning new ways to be with who we are and who we appear to be opens us to what life has to offer. Breaking free from the existence of conforming to an externally determined and desired shape expands our horizons and broadens our entryway into life in full color, vivid and complete. Moving away from the option of almost instant body transformation is your chance to live a lifetime of fulfillment and power deeply from the core. From this foundation, we take a stand and participate in a transformation desperately needed by our culture: a transformation from seeking perfection and being a prisoner of perfection ~ to being authentic, whole, and vibrantly alive, with mindfulness, strength, faith. To embrace life with certainty and purpose.
“…don’t be satisfied with stories, how things went with others. Reveal your own myth, without complicated explanation, so that everyone can understand the passage: We have opened it to you.” ~ Rumi.
Source by Lorrie Jones
