The other night the wife and I were flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch. This is a tiresome ritual we go through almost every day. Television is worthless. Anyway, we see this show on TLC titled I eat 33,000 Calories a Day. We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders and decided to watch it.

I was mortified. We were presented with a man who weighed in at an astonishing 700 pounds plus. He is damn near bed ridden. The portion where they discussed this man shows him in bed sprawled out looking like Jabba the Hut chowing down. It made me ill. The sad part of this is the guy claims he only eats two meals a day. Like most addicts he is in denial. Another sad part is his family feeds him. Why does his family continue to feed him that much food? They laid out all the food he consumes in one day on a table. Somehow this gigantic man walks in and takes a look and claims he used to eat more. It takes less than two minutes before he sits down and pulls the table up to him and starts eating. His niece shrugs her shoulders and says "That's my Unc." How about slapping his hands and saying enough is enough you fat bastard?

Next up is a woman who weighs in at 340 pounds. She is standing in front of a mirror in her underwear. Not a site you really want to see. This woman gains on average 42 pounds a month and is on track to double her weight within two years. Again this woman is addicted to food and cannot stop eating. She claims to have tried every diet under the sun but it just doesn't work. I felt bad for her because she is at a manageable weight and is spiraling out of control.

Next is another woman who is over 500 pounds and almost bedridden due to her knees giving out. She lives in a small house with her 19 year old son. They show her sitting in a chair with a plate of cookies behind her and all she can talk about is those cookies. Her son is responsible for the shopping and knows his mom will probably eat herself to death but continues to buy the crap this woman craves. How about buying some salad? Before this woman goes to bed she eats a bunch of chocolate, a can of soda and some Twinkies. Her son says if she gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom she stops by the kitchen and fixes herself a meal. Who does that?

Last up is a man who hasn't walked in six years. At his heaviest he was 842 pounds but is now down to over 600. This guy actually ate over 36,000 calories a day. That is enough to sustain a normal sized man for two weeks. He spent $14,000 a year on chocolate alone. He consumed four pounds of fat a day. I have no idea how he managed this if he couldn't walk. He did confess to ordering takeout a lot. I used to deliver pizzas part-time and I could not imagine walking up to a door and knocking and being told to come in only to find an 800 pound man wearing nothing but a diaper with a wad of cash in his hand. I think I would leave. I'm not going to be an accomplice to his death. Luckily he is now on a 3500 calorie diet. Surgery may be the only thing that saves this guy.

Of course throughout the show they had medical experts weighing in on food addiction. Each person got to see what they consumed in a day and when you looked at it the only color your saw was beige which is typical of high starch foods. No vegetables, no fruits, nothing healthy at all. The only color I saw was a bowl of M&M's. I am no stranger to addiction and what it takes to beat it. All of these people minus the 300 pound woman were immobile or close to it which means they have to rely on someone to feed them. Why their families continue to support their destructive behavior is beyond me. Starve them for a while. Only make them two eggs instead of 12. Give them normal sized portions. Tell them no and then shut the door if they start screaming. Someone has to break the cycle.

That show made me sick and not want to eat. I hope these people get the help they need. No one should live like that. If you get a chance I suggest checking it out, it will definitely make you think about your own eating habits.