bcaba

I attended the first BCABA (BC Association of Bariatric Advocates) Conference here in Victoria this past weekend.  I must say, I was very impressed.  The quality of the speakers, and the information shared was good for both pre-op and post-op (both honeymooners like me, and long term post-op's). 

My favorite speaker, and one that struck a chord with me personally was Dr. Gabor Mate.  He spoke about addiction, not just in the same old way we've heard it all talked about many times, but in terms of brain chemistry.  The drugs of choice for any addict meet powerful needs.  Junk food, I learned, and the act of eating itself released the same chemicals in the brain as opiates do.

People who do not struggle with addiction, or who have never had an issue with obesity just do not get it.  In Dr. Mate's book, "In the Realm of Hungry Ghost's", he talks about the life and death of one of his patients on the downtown east side of Vancouver.  She was an addict who had multiple health problems which ultimately caused her death, but even in the face of all that, and her own knowledge about what her addiction was doing to her, she kept using.  Just like those of us who have an addiction to food, we keep eating. 

What I came away from that workshop with was a little more compassion.  More compassion for myself, and more compassion for others who make choices I just can't comprehend.  Poople are so very judgemental, expecially about obesity.  It's easy to turn a nose up at someone who is 300, 400, or 500 + lbs, look at them with disgust, and think all they need to do is keep their mouth shut, or to put down the fork.  No one really chooses to be obese, it's not a life-long ambition to have difficulty walking, breathing, to get diabetes, to have sleep apnea, to have high-blood pressure, arthritis, and a litany of other co-morbidities.  Society needs to look past what they think is an issue with will-power.  Most obese people have a lot of will-power in my opinion.  I've had a ton of will-power in my life.  The will to keep going in the face of adversity, and discrimination, and ignorance.  The will to lose weight (lot's of it) many times over.  It's the 'stay-power', the 'okay-power' I need help with now.  Weight loss surgery has given me a great "tool" to help me get to my goal, and I hope education and knowledge, self-understanding and self-compassion will help me stay there.

http://www.drgabormate.com/