Normal Weight In Tennesse

[Kay Thompson Fields]

The first time I visited Dollywood I was fascinated by the number of morbidly obese people zipping about on their motorized "carts" In Tennessee women consider themselves a normal weight at 200 lbs.. So do doctors here consider 200 lbs normal for a woman..As you enter the gates of Dollywood to your right is a SWEET shop.. When I crossed the portals of this emporium I was amazed..The SIZE of the offerings was obscene.. Cookies the size of Frisbees.. Sweet rolls that weigh more than I do.. Harmless? After all we are on vacation.. Except for one tiny little problem.. Kids see these HUGE SWEET delicacies and think they are normal.. NOT!!!!!!!!!!! The number of obese children in Tennessee is overwhelmingly frightening to me.. I am not talking chubby.. I am talking Gilbert Grape"s mom in training..So to illustrate my point further.. For a time when I first arrived here,I managed a Curves.. For some reason a lot of R.N."s belonged to this particular Curves.. One day when a lady who was a nurse was joining I weighed her.. Her weight was 260 lbs.. I inquired if she was interested in losing weight or just wanted to firm and tone.. She replied she would not mind losing maybe 20 lbs.. This amazed me.. When did 240 become an acceptable weight for a health care professional who is a woman????? So, I agree if you want to smoke, drink, overeat it is your God given right.. However: we have laws that protect children from indulging in smoking and drinking,BUT we allow them to EAT massive quantities of food.. So they become morbidly obese..Then they become big fat adults who NEED knee replacements, lap band surgery,life time care for diabetes,etc,etc.. Hello,folks  we are not talking rocket science here.. It is way simple Close THY lips.. Do NOT put anything in your mouth..There is no magic potion ..Just say no.. Do not eat it.. Control what your kids eat(in our case grandkids) can have access to foodwise.. Just do not buy the junk food at the store.. Refuse to eat fast food.. Drive right on by.. Cook something.. Then you are in control of what is actually in the dish you are preparing.. There is no hidden salt,sugar,etc.. Or no WEIRD chemicals used to addict you to this particular foodstuff.. Watch some old movies from the 50"s.. People were a normal size then.. Hello, just because we have better nutrition and are way BIGGER does that translate to healthier? Nay Nay...We take way more meds because we have invented way more disease than the folks in the 50"s who ate normal amounts of home cooked food.. For example, in the 50"s who in the world ever heard of " restless leg syndrome"?  Much less, paid money for a drug to relieve the symptoms.. So who takes Nexium? People who eat TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! Stop eating.. put the fork down Walk away from the Plate.. Like I said, we crucify smokers and drinkers, but piggy overeaters we coddle..Maybe in some apococalyptic future we will forgo eating altogether.. remember in the book 1984 where they consumed soylent green? We take pills for everything else.. Why not food? But the Tennessee Baptists whine, "The pleasures of food and family" Whatever.. You folks continue to graze and gorge.. The rest of us skinny folk will compete on Dancing with the Stars