I've always a been an overweight/obese individual from my early child hood, adolescence, and into my adult years. Born and raised in the south, food was the center of my life. I grew up in a household where my mother, her siblings, and my grandmother went through The Great Depression . Since there was very little money for them survive on, they didn't waste anything. Even though I was born many years after the Depression ended, my family still remembered those days. When I didn't want to eat something on my plate, I was often reminded on how it was when they didn't know when or where the next penny would come from to buy food. Eat your ration, my grandmother always said. Eat it or else. Always being the smart mouth, I questioned the or else.

Yes, you can say my behind was no stranger to the switch. One part that mama "accidently" left out......you receive a butt cutting and still you had to eat ALL your food! Thank goodness for the family pets, they ate the liver and anything else I didn't want to eat ( when my mom and grandmother wasn't looking , of course) Looking back the problem wasn't all my family's fault by telling me to eat all my food. Part of the problem rests with me. I didn't eat the food that was placed in front of me, but when I got hungry, I went to the corner store and purchased chips, sodas,and candy to fill me up.  The difference with them eating vs me eating it, they were active.  My mother grew up picking cotton and so did my brother and sister.  I didn't have to do tha type of work because by the time I came on the scene, laws was changed ( thank you, God) and children had to go to school. (parents usually kept children home from school to get the work done)  The collards may have been cooked with fat back and/or hamhocks, but that was a little bit better than chips and a soft drink. Even if I had no voice as a child for the foods I had, I still could have done more physical exercise. There are no excuses for me in my adult life. But as long as I have breath in my body, it's never too late for me to start. I might not be able to undo any damage already done, but I can help keep it from becoming worse.