Hi Mike!

I would like to post the email i have just sent to Tam Fry, on the CHEAL site.

Having now read Pete's entry - thanks Pete for this - I want to also
say I believe weight gain is different for everyone which is why it is such a
complex and sensitive problem. There are those who, like you Pete, gain weight
at a certain point in life and those like me who had it piling on - 12 stones -
by the age of 12.

I am interested to hear others experiences with this subject as I
intend writing a book about it once I have dealt with my own situation
sufficiently and to my own satisfaction. I may be in the minority but I don't
believe I am the only one with this kind of experience.

Blessings to all

Flick

Dear Mr Fry,

I understand there is to be a drive towards fighting the obesity crisis we are
in.

I would like to share some of my thoughts with you as I myself have
been/am obese from the age of 8 years old. At my heaviest I was 22
stones. In the last 4 years I have lost 7 stones and recently gained
1.5 of them back and about to tackle it again in order to get to the
weight which will be ideal for me. It isn't about junk food, fried
food, sodas; I am a wholefood vegetarian by choice... or about lack of exercise
- gym 5 times a week. It's something else.

As you can imagine, the whole subject of obesity is very close to my
heart. It is a subject so little understood and therefore tackled
mainly from an "endgain" perspective; making efforts from the outside, shooting
for the goal when in fact the root of the problems lie within.

My whole argument is that, as far as I understand, no one is putting
money into the bodymind connection on this subject. In 1979/80 I was a research
subject at the Dunn nutritional clinic at Addenbrookes
Hospital and was making the same point then! As a an Energy therapist
and in training as a body psychotherapist I have looked at this from a
psychological, energetic perspective; what the body does in response to the
mind.

Why do some people gain weight in one area of the body whereas another gains
weight elsewhere? It is, in my opinion, due to the primary psychological
wounding which is then embodied. So why do we see family members with weight
gain in similar areas? Because it is a family wound carried through from
generation to generation.

All we need do is look at the person who is repeatedly suffering from
depression. The body collapses and, over a period of time this becomes the
habitual body posture. The body speaks what the psyche knows. If this is the
case here why then is it not obvious that the mind influences how the body
metabolises food?

Obviously the actual act of consuming food cannot be ruled out of the
equation but is far from being the whole story. Obese people are
marginalised, demonised and regarded as being greedy, stupid,
animalistic and a whole host of other unpleasant labels. I know because I have
been on the receiving end of this.

I would like to ask you what you understand from the things I am
suggesting and what if anything the Obesity Forum is doing or is
prepared to do to address this aspect of the very much needed research.

kind regards,

Felicity Cook