Teen boy goes blind after existing on Pringles, french fries and white bread.

[Red Squirrel]

There is something crazy about seeing someone that big still being able to move fairly normally. He could actually fix himself if he worked out and changed his diet. The issue is people like that don't even want to.

 

[luv2liv]

my 6 years old son is smart and yet somehow dumb as a rock when it comes to eating. he is picky and eats only 5 types of items. before every meal he would complain about stomach aches and headaches if his favorites are not served. i've tried rewards, punishments, reasoning, but nothing works. he would gladly starve to death, refusing to eat anything. i've even taken on his threat of not eating and sure enough, the longest he has not eaten was 3 days and eventually i caved in. it's frustrating to see him harm himself like this. the CNN story seems totally bizzarre to most people but i can definitely relate and very scared. (oh yea, forced feeding does not work. he would start coughing and eventually regurgitate everything out)

his fave items are cherios, rice, bacon, pasta, and burgers. off course he will gladly devour candy, sugary drinks, and kids snack but these 3 are totally off limits.

 

[Kaido]

my 6 years old son is smart and yet somehow dumb as a rock when it comes to eating. he is picky and eats only 5 types of items. before every meal he would complain about stomach aches and headaches if his favorites are not served. i've tried rewards, punishments, reasoning, but nothing works. he would gladly starve to death, refusing to eat anything. i've even taken on his threat of not eating and sure enough, the longest he has not eaten was 3 days and eventually i caved in. it's frustrating to see him harm himself like this. the CNN story seems totally bizzarre to most people but i can definitely relate and very scared. (oh yea, forced feeding does not work. he would start coughing and eventually regurgitate everything out)

his fave items are cherios, rice, bacon, pasta, and burgers. off course he will gladly devour candy, sugary drinks, and kids snack but these 3 are totally off limits.

Yeah, that's the thing...we don't know the whole story. I myself was a very picky eater as a kid & it drove my parents nuts, haha.

I'd be curious to see if companies like Soylent could come up with jello or something that would be more appealing to kids & picky eaters, in order to get a full set of macro & micro-nutrients in their diet. On a tangent, this idea for jelly drops looks amazing:

 

[Kaido]

There is something crazy about seeing someone that big still being able to move fairly normally. He could actually fix himself if he worked out and changed his diet. The issue is people like that don't even want to.

You know, as I've been moving more & more into the productivity field, one of the things I've come to realize is that there are an awful lot of layers between simply deciding what to do, setting up a realistic plan to accomplish it, and then working on it, vs. making the connection that you can actually do it. Some of those layers include:

1. Literally being unaware that it's a controllable issue, despite it being glaringly obvious to outsiders...it's easy to just accept it as a problem in your life
2. Not having enough internal hope to do it...I didn't realize how big of an issue having or not having hope is when involved with doing a big project or trying to make a serious change
3. Feeling stuck & unable to make progress on it
4. Having anxiety about working on it
5. Feeling so beaten down by trying & failing or being criticized that you just give up
6. Not realizing that they have a personal responsibility to take care of the problem

Getting someone to the point mentally where they can see that the problem isn't set in stone & that they have the power to change it can be immensely difficult. Most of the time, the actions required for change are laughably easy, but the psychology behind a person's mental barriers toward doing it can by sky-high. The simple example I use all the time is that seemingly nearly all Americans at some point have purchased a new or used exercise machine for their home, with good intentions for using it, and it eventually becomes a dust-collecting laundry hanger at some point. It's not that they had low motivation or bad intentions or didn't have the resources available or anything like that, but there are just a lot of barriers between doing something & sometimes even wanting to do something or even believing that you can do something.

Those hoarding TV shows are real eye-openers into the emotional & mental problems people are dealing with that causes their behavior to go out into left field...people are in the situations they're in for reasons, and until the root causes of those reasons get addressed, they usually have a hard time getting real traction on their issues. I don't think a shame-based approach really works here, because it doesn't address the underlying issues...just telling someone that they should fix what they already know they should fix doesn't do anything other than make the criticizer feel self-righteous & the person they're preaching to feel bad. I'd be curious to know what the backstory is on the kid in the OP's story, poor guy. People just have all kinds of struggles in life, and even though people should be responsible for themselves or their guardians should be responsible for them, doesn't always make the job any easier to actually get & stay on the right track.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Man, I'm gonna go eat a Flintstone vitamin now...

What ever happened to those? Those tasted so good, they made me WANT to take vitamins as a kid.

What, the green ones caused cancer or something?

 

[VirtualLarry]

You know, as I've been moving more & more into the productivity field, one of the things I've come to realize is that there are an awful lot of layers between simply deciding what to do, setting up a realistic plan to accomplish it, and then working on it, vs. making the connection that you can actually do it. Some of those layers include:

1. Literally being unaware that it's a controllable issue, despite it being glaringly obvious to outsiders...it's easy to just accept it as a problem in your life
2. Not having enough internal hope to do it...I didn't realize how big of an issue having or not having hope is when involved with doing a big project or trying to make a serious change
3. Feeling stuck & unable to make progress on it
4. Having anxiety about working on it
5. Feeling so beaten down by trying & failing or being criticized that you just give up
6. Not realizing that they have a personal responsibility to take care of the problem

Getting someone to the point mentally where they can see that the problem isn't set in stone & that they have the power to change it can be immensely difficult. Most of the time, the actions required for change are laughably easy, but the psychology behind a person's mental barriers toward doing it can by sky-high. The simple example I use all the time is that seemingly nearly all Americans at some point have purchased a new or used exercise machine for their home, with good intentions for using it, and it eventually becomes a dust-collecting laundry hanger at some point. It's not that they had low motivation or bad intentions or didn't have the resources available or anything like that, but there are just a lot of barriers between doing something & sometimes even wanting to do something or even believing that you can do something.

Those hoarding TV shows are real eye-openers into the emotional & mental problems people are dealing with that causes their behavior to go out into left field...people are in the situations they're in for reasons, and until the root causes of those reasons get addressed, they usually have a hard time getting real traction on their issues. I don't think a shame-based approach really works here, because it doesn't address the underlying issues...just telling someone that they should fix what they already know they should fix doesn't do anything other than make the criticizer feel self-righteous & the person they're preaching to feel bad. I'd be curious to know what the backstory is on the kid in the OP's story, poor guy. People just have all kinds of struggles in life, and even though people should be responsible for themselves or their guardians should be responsible for them, doesn't always make the job any easier to actually get & stay on the right track.

I wish that I could give you 20 thumbs-ups for that post.

I fit that mold, unfortunately. I live in a small apt. (two rooms, a kitchen, if you can call it that, and a bathroom, at least it has a tub). My mother lives in the same complex, and for complex reasons, I moved from a futher complex into that one, based on my Mom's scheming. She's VERY co-dependent, and can't seem to help CONSTANTLY criticizing, nagging, controlling, etc. She's a bit of a narcissist herself, and relishes telling other people what to do, especially in retail establishments.

Anyways, she's VERY negative. To the point that when I told her that I wanted to go to the grocery store, she said "NO!", like she usually does to anything I say that I want to do or buy. Then she started swearing at me. All of that constant chronic stress, and negativity, and negative reinforcement, for things that should be "normal" in life, makes one eventually, mentally, want to simply just "give up". Which is what she wants, she wants me to become fully dependent on her, so she can make herself feel important, rather than both of us being independent, responsible, adults.

(Kind of really reminds me of a psychological version of that "hobbling" scene in a Steven King movie, I forget which one, where the woman does that to the guy, to keep him from leaving.)

I have a LOT of mental obstacles, as well as actual physical ones (I weigh 410lbs currently, gained 10 in the last month somehow). I have trouble maintaining my apt. sufficiently, mostly for the reasons that you state in the post. I have an agency, and a worker, and they help me, and it really helps me to have an "outside perspective", to help me see that what I know (intellectually) needs to get done, I just don't see HOW, or otherwise, the way through to the solution. (Which is really pretty sad, I used to be programmer, that was my job at one point.)

(Edit: When my worker and myself are working on something, I can definitely help out, to the best of my ability, and I DO "do work", but it helps to have them "plot a course", to arrive at the solution, that I can follow along. Also, I have yearly inspections, and I DO a lot of work myself to clean up, as well as my worker, on some years.)

I mean, one could label me "lazy", but it's... more than that. A lot more. Things seemingly take a lot of "mental energy". Even things that to most "normal" humans, seem so simple, to not even require any attention, just do it.

Imagine my life is like a blockchain, and to get something done, requires "Mental Energon" tokens. I just don't seem to have sufficient qty. of them to get things done.

Edit: That being said, I'm going to go clean up my floor and kitchen, as I have someone coming over tomorrow.
Edit: I should probably clarify that. Because of both the mental and physical energy requires to throw a can in the return bin, or cut up / fold up a cardboard box from a frozen meal, I just toss the cans on the floor when the bin overflows, and then just step over them (carefully) when moving between rooms. Or tossing the cardboard on the floor, at the end of the kitchen "corridor", rather than put it away. (*I do have a new bin for cardboard recycling, with an actual blue color and recycle symbol on it. Just have to get into the habit of using it.) I guess I consider it like a computer: caching (the cans or cardboard), and then I "flush the cache" once or twice a week, usually just before someone comes over.
Edit: Cleaned up, more or less. Now my back aches badly. Just standing up for more than five minutes can do that, but I was also bending over and reaching to the floor to pick up cardboard.

I mean, some of it is probably (habituated) negative-reinforcement of initiative, so much so that I basically learn to self-censor initiative, according to the pleasure/pain principle. My mother causes me (psychological/emotional) pain every time I show any sort of initiative, so becomes painful to act independently, so I learn to simply "not do anything", to avoid her wrath. (And yes, it's actual wrath. Very NPD wrath.)

So, the inactivity becomes habituated, and I just sit in my easy chair most of the day on the internet, getting up to go to the bathroom, fix a microwave meal or a pair of hot dogs, and fix some powdered drinks. (I found that to be the least expensive beverage, so I can get my tea fix, and recently, some "sports drink" (G).) I don't really exercise, but I do go out to the convenience store down the street, to feel closer to humanity, and the grocery store..

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're meaning "frozen dinners" which even those aren't that unhealthy these days

That was my understanding. I'm not talking about those "fake microwaveable brownies" in a Hungry Man dinner, those aren't so healthy (*lots of chicken nuggets, mostly whipped batter, and corn, and the "fake" brownie (but it tastes oh so good)), but rather, something like a Weight Watchers or Atkins dinner, with like chicken and broccoli, sometimes with pasta and a white sauce. Those certainly aren't as good for you as eating a real, live, leafy-green salad (of which I should definitely do more of), but other than the "high sodium content" (used as a preservative, mostly), they off-hand don't seem to be horrible for you.

Edit: And they sell, and you can make, "Steam in bag" vegetable mixtures. I should really get some of those too, to get some veggies in my diet. Those shouldn't have as high a sodium content (if any, if they are flash-frozen when fresh) as canned veggies do. (And who wants to eat veggies out of a can? Virtually no-one I know of.)

 

[Kaido]

What ever happened to those? Those tasted so good, they made me WANT to take vitamins as a kid.

What, the green ones caused cancer or something?

They still make them, they just switched to gummy format!

https://www.flintstonesvitamins.com/

They're actually better as gummies because they're not like expired pez candy that dry out your mouth anymore haha.

 

[Kaido]

That was my understanding. I'm not talking about those "fake microwaveable brownies" in a Hungry Man dinner, those aren't so healthy (*lots of chicken nuggets, mostly whipped batter, and corn, and the "fake" brownie (but it tastes oh so good)), but rather, something like a Weight Watchers or Atkins dinner, with like chicken and broccoli, sometimes with pasta and a white sauce. Those certainly aren't as good for you as eating a real, live, leafy-green salad (of which I should definitely do more of), but other than the "high sodium content" (used as a preservative, mostly), they off-hand don't seem to be horrible for you.

Edit: And they sell, and you can make, "Steam in bag" vegetable mixtures. I should really get some of those too, to get some veggies in my diet. Those shouldn't have as high a sodium content (if any, if they are flash-frozen when fresh) as canned veggies do. (And who wants to eat veggies out of a can? Virtually no-one I know of.)

You know, as big of a sugarholic as I am, I could never quite get myself to finish eating those nasty, goopy brownies. They always ended up like road tar once you got done microwaving them, and tasted more savory than sweet.

I've used the microwave "steam" bags a couple times...they are actually really awesome! I only got them to try out though, because if you get a mesh basket for the Instant Pot, you can set it to zero minutes & have it perfectly cook frozen vegetables. Not that I'm afraid of plastic, but I usually just buy the bulk 5-pound bags of veggies from Costco or wherever & do them that way lol.

 

[Kaido]

(Kind of really reminds me of a psychological version of that "hobbling" scene in a Steven King movie, I forget which one, where the woman does that to the guy, to keep him from leaving.)

Ah yes, Misery!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

That was my understanding. I'm not talking about those "fake microwaveable brownies" in a Hungry Man dinner, those aren't so healthy (*lots of chicken nuggets, mostly whipped batter, and corn, and the "fake" brownie (but it tastes oh so good)), but rather, something like a Weight Watchers or Atkins dinner, with like chicken and broccoli, sometimes with pasta and a white sauce. Those certainly aren't as good for you as eating a real, live, leafy-green salad (of which I should definitely do more of), but other than the "high sodium content" (used as a preservative, mostly), they off-hand don't seem to be horrible for you.

Sorry to say this, but those are shit too.

If you're going to eat a standard american diet, eat a standard american diet. Go buy some pasta or bread, go buy some meat, and go buy some veggies. Make a meal. Quit trying to shortcut it by buying stuff someone else has made then preserved and frozen, that shit will kill you.

If you're not going to go for a SAD, there's plenty of other options, but stay away from the premade/frozen shit, unless it's strictly vegetables. Even then, I'd recommend buying fresh because all the frozen water jacks up your recipes.

 

[Kaido]

I mean, one could label me "lazy", but it's... more than that. A lot more. Things seemingly take a lot of "mental energy". Even things that to most "normal" humans, seem so simple, to not even require any attention, just do it.

Imagine my life is like a blockchain, and to get something done, requires "Mental Energon" tokens. I just don't seem to have sufficient qty. of them to get things done.

Edit: That being said, I'm going to go clean up my floor and kitchen, as I have someone coming over tomorrow.
Edit: I should probably clarify that. Because of both the mental and physical energy requires to throw a can in the return bin, or cut up / fold up a cardboard box from a frozen meal, I just toss the cans on the floor when the bin overflows, and then just step over them (carefully) when moving between rooms. Or tossing the cardboard on the floor, at the end of the kitchen "corridor", rather than put it away. (*I do have a new bin for cardboard recycling, with an actual blue color and recycle symbol on it. Just have to get into the habit of using it.) I guess I consider it like a computer: caching (the cans or cardboard), and then I "flush the cache" once or twice a week, usually just before someone comes over.
Edit: Cleaned up, more or less. Now my back aches badly. Just standing up for more than five minutes can do that, but I was also bending over and reaching to the floor to pick up cardboard.

I mean, some of it is probably (habituated) negative-reinforcement of initiative, so much so that I basically learn to self-censor initiative, according to the pleasure/pain principle. My mother causes me (psychological/emotional) pain every time I show any sort of initiative, so becomes painful to act independently, so I learn to simply "not do anything", to avoid her wrath. (And yes, it's actual wrath. Very NPD wrath.)

So, the inactivity becomes habituated, and I just sit in my easy chair most of the day on the internet, getting up to go to the bathroom, fix a microwave meal or a pair of hot dogs, and fix some powdered drinks. (I found that to be the least expensive beverage, so I can get my tea fix, and recently, some "sports drink" (G).) I don't really exercise, but I do go out to the convenience store down the street, to feel closer to humanity, and the grocery store..

So I look at two ways:

1. I don't believe in true laziness. People are lazy for a reason; being lazy is a symptom, not a root cause, like the fruit on a tree, but not the roots itself. Like, I've had low energy all my life up until recently, which started with a diet change about ten years ago, losing 50 pounds, and most recently, getting diagnosed with sleep apnea. I was just always tired, and when you're always tired, everything is a chore, and when everything is a chore & you're constantly fighting yourself to do things, stuff just doesn't get done. It wasn't the big things I had problems with, it was the little stuff, stuff as stupid as staying on top of the dishes, where just looking at doing the dishes felt like having to climb Mount Everest some days, because I was so exhausted all the time.

2. Everyone's life is like a movie - what you are seeing right now, today, in this moment, is just one scene from their movie. It doesn't show the growth & maturity arc or the troubles they have to go through or anything. And as humans, we tend to make snap judgement about people, instead of providing compassion, understanding, hope, and help. One of my favorite quotes is "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Some people's demons are more visible than others, but everyone has their pile of crap they have to deal with.

It gets more difficult in the Internet age too, because what you get tagged for publicly becomes a matter of public record forever. I know people like to bash on millennials, but imagine if we got our misdeeds as kids plastered all over the Internet forever. It's no wonder so many kids have low self-esteem & commit suicide...everything you've ever done wrong publicly will haunt you forever & ever. It's not like you can just move out of town & get a fresh start anymore, you know? I posted this in another thread, but Monica Lewinsky's talk on shame was really, really excellent. She fell into a common trap - sleeping with her boss - except (1) her boss was the President of the United States, and (2) the age of the Internet had just begun, so she was essentially the first victim of worldwide cyberbulling. It's a really great talk if you ever have a few minutes to check it out:

 

[Zanovar]

Ah yes, Misery!

View attachment 10367

nightmares

 

[dave_the_nerd]

i think he meant that microwave food is typically garbage, and garbage food will eventually kill you.
so a microwave diet is ultimately bad.

I microwave a lot of leftovers. Love myself some home cooking.

 

[JujuFish]

I microwave a lot of leftovers. Love myself some home cooking.

I love leftovers but I reheat in the toaster oven. Most things come out better that way, but you need more patience or slightly better planning.

Meal prep and reheating helps me avoid processed foods and/or takeout. I still indulge but nothing like I used to. Now sugar is my main vice.

 

[nakedfrog]

I'm a big proponent of toaster ovens for reheating, but still use both methods.

 

[Fritzo]

Good thing he didn't masturbate too!

 

[whm1974]

OMFG, how in Hell can someone eat such a extremely limited diet like that without having really strong cravings for veggies, fruits, and fresh meat, and actual home cooked meals? Seriously I couldn't even forced myself to consume such a restrictive menu.

 

[nakedfrog]

OMFG, how in Hell can someone eat such a extremely limited diet like that without having really strong cravings for veggies, fruits, and fresh meat, and actual home cooked meals? Seriously I couldn't even forced myself to consume such a restrictive menu.

It seems increasingly common in children over the last couple decades (that or I'm just hearing more about it). I was considered a picky eater when I was a kid (still am), but ate a much larger range of things than that.

 

[whm1974]

It seems increasingly common in children over the last couple decades (that or I'm just hearing more about it). I was considered a picky eater when I was a kid (still am), but ate a much larger range of things than that.

Some kids inded are, in particular those on the Autism Spectrum. My mother wouldn't let me be fussy so I had to eat whatever she cooked and put in front of me. Of course she was also a good Cook. That really helped.

Those Jelly Drops that guy invented should help getting really fussy eaters meet their nutritional needs. Man I wished I thought of that.

 

[Mai72]

So I look at two ways:

1. I don't believe in true laziness. People are lazy for a reason; being lazy is a symptom, not a root cause, like the fruit on a tree, but not the roots itself. Like, I've had low energy all my life up until recently, which started with a diet change about ten years ago, losing 50 pounds, and most recently, getting diagnosed with sleep apnea. I was just always tired, and when you're always tired, everything is a chore, and when everything is a chore & you're constantly fighting yourself to do things, stuff just doesn't get done. It wasn't the big things I had problems with, it was the little stuff, stuff as stupid as staying on top of the dishes, where just looking at doing the dishes felt like having to climb Mount Everest some days, because I was so exhausted all the time.

2. Everyone's life is like a movie - what you are seeing right now, today, in this moment, is just one scene from their movie. It doesn't show the growth & maturity arc or the troubles they have to go through or anything. And as humans, we tend to make snap judgement about people, instead of providing compassion, understanding, hope, and help. One of my favorite quotes is "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Some people's demons are more visible than others, but everyone has their pile of crap they have to deal with.

It gets more difficult in the Internet age too, because what you get tagged for publicly becomes a matter of public record forever. I know people like to bash on millennials, but imagine if we got our misdeeds as kids plastered all over the Internet forever. It's no wonder so many kids have low self-esteem & commit suicide...everything you've ever done wrong publicly will haunt you forever & ever. It's not like you can just move out of town & get a fresh start anymore, you know? I posted this in another thread, but Monica Lewinsky's talk on shame was really, really excellent. She fell into a common trap - sleeping with her boss - except (1) her boss was the President of the United States, and (2) the age of the Internet had just begun, so she was essentially the first victim of worldwide cyberbulling. It's a really great talk if you ever have a few minutes to check it out:

1) Laziness served a purpose thousands of years ago. Back in the beginning of human existence they conserved their energy for the next hunt. You couldn't always be busy or else you wouldn't have the energy to hunt wolly mammoths, and to run from lions. If you think about it laziness is in our DNA, plus the mind will always look for the path of least resistence. That's why you have to make exercise habitual. To do that you have to attach either pleasure or pain to what ever you want to do. If you hate going to the gym or eating healthy foods, you can look at what would happen if you don't do those things. That could be a life filled with disease or a early death. Even that might not work. There are people who eat themselves to death, and then it becomes evident that they are going thru some pretty bad emotional pain. Maybe some past trauma?

2) Agree with this. We do make snap judgements, and we all do this subconsciuosly. I know I'm guilty of this. This is where mindfulness comes in, because you're being mindful of your thinking. I'm currently practicing letting go of my thoughts which tend to run rampant, and tend to be negative. The reason most people don't provide compassion, understanding, and hope is because they are so wrapped up in their thoughts and lives. You ever talk to someone and the conversation turns into what they're experiencing. It's ME ME ME! Today, I was talking to a coworker about food, and she went into this long speech about her health and how she had high blood presssure, and how she doesn't eat meat, blah blah blah. That conversation was all about her. Most people have a very difficult time listening. They're thinking of something to say when youre talking. Steven Covey's (7 Habits Highly Succcessful People) quote "seek first to understand before being unserstood" sums that up. That's also the ego. People need to take the spotlight off their little pathetic lives and help other people who desperately need the assistance like the elderly or the disabled. Helping will get you out of your head. Way too many people are in their heads.

3) I am so glad I didn't have social media when I was a teen. I'll leave it at that.

 

[nakedfrog]

Some kids inded are, in particular those on the Autism Spectrum. My mother wouldn't let me be fussy so I had to eat whatever she cooked and put in front of me. Of course she was also a good Cook. That really helped.

Those Jelly Drops that guy invented should help getting really fussy eaters meet their nutritional needs. Man I wished I thought of that.

Yeah, I spent nights sitting at the dinner table alone after everyone else had left because peas make me want to vomit. Neither of my parents were particularly good cooks, just okay.
Or rice and stewed tomatoes, fuck, that was so disgusting. Makes my stomach churn even thinking about it now.

 

[whm1974]

Yeah, I spent nights sitting at the dinner table alone after everyone else had left because peas make me want to vomit. Neither of my parents were particularly good cooks, just okay.
Or rice and stewed tomatoes, fuck, that was so disgusting. Makes my stomach churn even thinking about it now.

I don't like white rice unless it is fried rice and I prefer my tomatoes fresh, but I do enjoy fried green tomatoes.

I only enjoy brown, wild, and fried rice and not by itself.

 

[nakedfrog]

ATOT almost made me blind, I had to go back into my profile to select the dark theme again.

 

[NesuD]

Its actually a proven fact that vision degration caused by diabeties, is reversible before blindness. All one has to do is stop eating anything that has sugar, and continually be sugar defficent in diet.

Actually that is one of those it depends situations. When a diabetic condition manifests the extended period of high blood sugar levels causes the lense of the eye to swell reshaping the lense and making everything blurry. That is usually not permanent and will go back to normal over time once the diabetic has their sugar levels under control. That said there is a second avenue for damaged vision caused by diabetes. When you are diabetic it weakens your blood vessels. Your eyes have thousands of very tiny blood vessels all through them. Sometimes the weakening causes the blood vessels to burst. Usually requires a laser procedure to cauterize the bleed. Everytime that happens you get a blind spot at the site of the bleed. Enough of them and you can be declared legally blind. Yes I am a type 2 diabetic and have personally experienced the first example. I have a close relative who is a type 1 diabetic and while not legally blind he does have significant vision loss because of the second example. I have to undergo a procedure every year to check for bleeds in my eyes.