Obesity: Post Mortem is fascinating. It’s not for everyone, perhaps: there are people who would rather bathe in kale chips for a year than see a dead body cut open. But for those who can stomach it, I highly recommend watching it. The show offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of an obese body. I’ve researched heart disease and type two diabetes for blog series on those topics and I have to tell you, I felt like Buddy in Elf when he sees Santa: “I know him, I know him!” except I was yelling “I read about that! I read about that!” at the TV.

It’s one thing to read about the heart working harder when you have high blood pressure and it’s another thing to see the physical heart of a woman who had high blood pressure and see how thin and weak the muscle was by the end.

It’s one thing to read about how high blood pressure (and a weakening heart) leads to fluid build up in the lungs and it’s another thing to see a mortician squeeze water out of those lungs.

It’s one thing to read about fatty liver disease and it’s another to see what an enlarged fatty liver looks like, each microscopic cell so full of yellow fat that the organ appears orange-pink instead of blood red.

Obesity: Post Mortem proves that obesity does, indeed, affect internal organs. I don’t need to have faith that it does because I’ve seen it. That strengthens my faith in the logical opposite: exercising, drinking water, eating lots of vegetables and fruits and losing weight in the process is helping my organs.

Obesity: Post Mortem is a strong motivator. Whether you’re working to lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight, Obesity makes you want to stick with those healthy habits. Living a healthy lifestyle takes faith that what you’re doing makes a difference. You can’t always see the effect of your efforts right away. You can do everything right– eat well, exercise, sleep adequately, drink water– and not loose a pound for weeks. You have to have faith that your body is reaping the benefits cell by cell, system by system, on a level you can’t see yet.

So, pull up a chair, skip the popcorn (it is an autopsy, after all), and enjoy the show!

From the fellowship offering you are to bring a food offering to the Lord: the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them. Leviticus 3:3

Images courtesy of Netflix.