Vannessa Cross flipped out on her sister Jakie for bringing fast food to her house and giving it to her son.
Vannessa’s son Jacob is also struggling with his weight, and Vannessa is concerned about his health. It was revealed on the show that he had diabetes and weighed in at 491 pounds.
Vannessa’s sister, Jakie Cross, has never had to worry about weight gain and eats what she wants when she wants. Jakie has been pessimistic about the nutritional needs of her sister, who has struggled with her weight her entire life.
Vannessa was shocked that Jakie would bring fatty foods to the house, creating a temptation for her and her son to indulge after seeing how difficult it was for her to change her eating habits and undergo surgery.
Jakie apparently has a tremendous metabolism because she felt the fries and milkshake were a regular meal and just fine for Jacob’s diet. She was dismissive of Vannessa’s healthy eating and said, “This is normal food that normal people eat.”
Vannessa chastised Jakie and told her never to bring junk food to the house again. Jakie admitted in the confessional to enabling her sister to keep her dependent on her for everything. The behavior was unhealthy for everyone, and Vannessa had to move away from her sister to change the dynamic.
Watch the confrontation between Vannessa and Jakie:
1000-Lb. Best Friends star Vannessa Cross compares junk food addiction to alcoholism
Vannessa was so upset about her sister bringing fast food to the house because it could cause her to relapse into her food addiction. She said in her confessional, “Bringing fat foods into this house is like bringing liquor to an AA meeting.”
Vannessa could be right about her experience because there’s now a body of evidence that over-eating can produce behavioral symptoms similar to those of substance addiction and activate the same neural reward circuits as drugs of abuse. Foods dense in fat and sugar can react like drugs or alcohol to the consumer’s brain, causing dependency.
1000-Lb. Best Friends: Vannessa breaks down after Jakie sabotages her son’s diet
After Vannessa confronted Jakie about bringing fast food to share with her son Jacob, she had an emotional workout boxing with her best friends.
The boxing instructor told the ladies to think of the punching bag as an outlet for what’s stressing them, and for Vannessa, it was her sister Jakie’s harmful influence and her son’s health concerns.
In a heartbreaking moment, Vannessa broke down in tears while struggling with the reality that her son is morbidly obese and on the same path she was before she got serious about her health needs.
Do you think Vannessa overreacted about the fast food incident? Do you think Jacob will listen to his mom’s pleas to lose weight?
1000-Lb. Best Friends streams Wednesdays on Discovery+ and airs Thursdays at 10/9c on TLC.
Does Jacob work. If not who provides the food for him. He doesn’t act like he is going to diet. All he wants is to sit on the couch and play video games. Those are his words. But if mom only provides the correct food he will have no choice to eat healthy. Also I would keep the sister away. She doesn’t seem to know how serious the problem is. Good luck. Hope to see your son do as well as you are doing.