Ruby

[funcrunch]

Has anyone seen the TV show Ruby, about the Savannah, Georgia woman who's trying to lose several hundred pounds? I'm watching it now, and just posted the following to my blog. I'm reposting it here as I might get a more sympathetic audience:

So I'm sitting here watching a marathon of the nine episodes of Ruby I bought with a gift card from the iTunes store. As I mentioned in my previous entry, this is a show about a woman who weighs nearly 500 pounds. In one episode, after she's lost about 60 pounds, a siren goes off indicating that a tornado has been sighted (this is in Savannah, Georgia). She ushers her teenaged nephew, his friend, and her two small dogs into the bathtub, which she says is the safest place in the house to be during a tornado. Meanwhile she stays in the hallway, because she is much too large to fit in the bathtub. Afterward her young friend expresses concern, and she realizes that she could actually die in such a situation because of her weight.

I was nearly in tears watching this. I got frustrated and angry too, as angry as I've been since watching a New Year's Day marathon of programs about people who each weighed over 700 pounds. When Ruby was complaining about how she hated the prepackaged meal plan she had been eating every day for four months, I just wanted to grab her and say "Come with me, honey, I will make you pasta, potatoes, burritos, French toast, pancakes... and you will lose weight and be satisfied!" But of course she's on the standard pre-diabetic plan and is eating things like tiny portions of eggs and chicken which are never going to satisfy her. Her doctor just says she has to suck it up and stick with it, because her life is at stake.

I really want to do something to combat obesity, but I'm not sure what. I'm not talking about people who want to lose a few vanity pounds, I'm talking about people with several hundred pounds of extra fat on their frames. Yes, we can make seats wider and make other accommodations, but too far in that direction and we'll end up like the people on the WALL-E spaceship.

I've started looking into what it would take to become a registered dietitian, which might give my words more weight (so to speak). But I am hampered by several factors. For one, I have a very weak science background; I would need to take remedial courses in biology and chemistry before I could even be accepted into such a program. For another, vegan diets are not looked upon kindly in nutritional programs or the medical profession in general. And finally, I would have very little support for this career from my current friends and family. I can count the number of strict vegetarian friends I have on the fingers of one hand, and hardly anyone I know is vegan.

I know I might offend some people talking about this subject, but I really don't want to be quiet about it any longer. There comes a point where extra weight is not just about aesthetics. I'm not about to go tell everyone who weighs more than the BMI tables or whatever recommend that they have to lose weight. But for those who want to lose weight, and have been struggling unsuccessfully to do so with hunger-inducing diets and risky surgeries, I want to find a way to tell them that there is another option.

[Faith in DC]

I haven't ever seen or heard of the show. Yesterday she was on Oprah and I happened to wake up at 1:00am and turned O on and got hooked. Ruby has a wonderful attitude and confidence. She did start at over 700 lbs, so has lost a good deal.

She said she was still trying to figure out the why on her weight. She said she was always hungry, but finally has realized it's not for food. She is seeing a psychiatrist, thank goodness. One strange thing they are trying to figure out is why she can't remember her childhood. She can not remember anything, not even the house she lived in 13 or under. I'm scared to know what they will find.

I've seen several mcdougallers over the years, come, make huge progress, and then disappear. Usually at some point talking about their past and why they got fat. Many of us females use our fat as a shield, usually against men. It wouldn't surprise me that something happened when she was young.

I'll have to figure out when she is on. I was impressed at her struggle and her attitude. A good positive role model for morbidly obese trying to lose. I pray she keeps it going.

[funcrunch]

Thanks for letting me know that she was on Oprah - I read about the segment on O's web site. The memory blockout is quite scary; I can't imagine not remembering a single detail of my life before age 13...

Anyway, I watched the rest of the first season yesterday. I highly recommend the show to anyone who has cable, as they'll be re-running it on the Style network, with new episodes to begin in July. What a sweet, funny, and courageous lady. I just wish I could convert her to the McDougall program so she could get off those awful prepackaged meals!

[Birdy]

Funcrunch, I really enjoyed reading your original post and I find your compassion touching. You write well. Maybe your background supports you in taking a different route to get the message out about diet and weight and health. I'm thinking about journalism and/or other nonfiction genres. You're right that becoming a registered dietician requires a strong science background and rigorous training at the graduate level in traditional nutritional science. I recently read one of Gina Kolata's books about diets and weight loss which I found very informative, so that came to mind when I read your post. The story you mention about Ruby is unfamiliar to me, but I know it's the story of so many people around the world.

P.S. I love your avatar image.