It is a silver anniversary here at Kiwi KISS  - 25 years since I began my first small class on July 14, 1984.

The celebration comes in a week when the OEDC has announced that New Zealand is the third fattest nation in the developed world.  Third after the USA and Mexico.

I am not surprised.  Recently I carried out a comparative analysis of the joining weights of members who joined me classes in 1984 compared to present day.

The results shocked me.   In 1984 the average joining weight was in the range of 68 - 69 kilos.  Today the average has risen to 92.7 kilos.   And no – before you ask – the 1984 sample was not a group of very short people. 

How has this situation come about?

I agree with one health expert, interviewed on the radio this morning, who stated the entire blame cannot be placed at the door of the fast food industry nor on a lack of exercise.  I partly agree with his opinion that the answer lies in the laboratory, not in seeking a ‘cure’ as he may have been suggesting, but in identifying what is actually going into our food.  However, have we become so PC in our fear of upsetting someone that we can’t state the most obvious factor? – We eat too much.  In public commentary I rarely hear this statement made.

It can be argued that there are other contributing factors such as stress, emotional issues,

genetic pre-disposition, lack of time, finance – but weight gain in most cases still comes down to food past the lips – that WE fed in.

Food boundaries continue to be obscured.  In 1984 it would have been considered greedy to sit and eat a whole packet of chips on one’s own.  It wasn’t considered ‘good manners’ to eat in the street and we certainly didn’t eat and drink as we drove our cars.

We ate our meals, at a table, washed up and moved on.

A deferred responsibility mentality is also a major contributor to our problem – “I want it now and will worry about the consequences later”.  It is these consequences that have placed us third in the world.

In 25 years I think I have only ever placed about 3 advertisements for my classes - I have never needed to.  All my members have arrived at my door on the unrequested referral to a friend.  On launching Weighinonline.com last year it was suggested I place a small ad on Facebook.  After one week my ad was pulled with a covering letter saying I had made an unsubstantiated statement.  That statement was that I said “I cared” and according to Facebook I could not prove this to be true.

I do care.  I care that you can achieve a weight that is comfortable for you.  I care that the general population is getting bigger.  I care that women and men try ‘fad’ diets which ultimately fail causing a loss of hope and I care because I believe that weight loss can be achieved through eating healthy food.

There is a quote of which I am particularly fond of.  It is from Middlemarch by George Eliot and it goes like this.

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grown and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

It is time that we found our voice and ROARED on the other side of silence.

I realise now that writing a blog is very much like losing weight.

We start off with a hiss and a roar, nothing going to stop us – then out of the blue we get distracted, wander off and miss a day or two – then a week – then months.

And like losing weight, one just doesn’t leap in and get started mid-week, or before Christmas and don’t forget New Year’s Eve – I mean, it would disrupt our flow.

After New Year would be good, when the holidays are over and definitely on a Monday – 19^th January sounds promising.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may 2009 see us all achieve and realize our goals.