"Pro-fat"/"Pro-obesity"--anyone else heard of this?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I was reading a fascinating article by Harriet Brown on her daughter’s experience with anoxeria nervosa (see “Refeeding Kitty” on the blog sidebar)and found my way to the author’s blog, which she devotes largely to the subject of food/weight. To my surprise, many of the posts are not just ant-ana but pro-fat or even pro-obesity, saying the obesity “epidemic” is a myth, the negative health effects of obesity are not bad in actuality, saying kids should be encouraged to eat candy and other sweets, etc. I can see how having an anoxeric daughter might color her view, but I’ve honestly never read anything like this. She made some good points, and it made me think.</p>

<p><a href=“http://harrietbrown.blogspot.com/[/url]”>http://harrietbrown.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>I’ve heard of the movement. </p>

<p>It’s interesting because we have two issues colliding in American culture: the problem of the “ideal” woman being skin and bones, leading to eating disorders such as anorexia, verus the problem of obesity. Both are serious problems. Unfortunately, their messages, unless carefully stated and carefully read, can seem conflicting. </p>

<p>I do believe that obesity is a very real and serious problem in the US, and it is far more reaching and widespread than the problems with eating disorders (speaking about anorexia and such–not disorders of over-eating). The health impacts of obesity in the US are plain and staggering, and eating and activity habits must change. </p>

<p>The trick is to encourage healthy living and a strong body in order to strike a balance between two extremes, both of which are unhealthy and potentially very dangerous.</p>

<p>(I have not read this woman’s blog, by the way.)</p>

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<p>I haven’t read the blog either, but in addition to health concerns there is the very real issue of fat discrimination. Prejudice against the obese is one of the last remaining socially acceptable forms of bigotry in this country. Many people who wouldn’t dream of saying/writing that they dislike a person of another race or ethnicity are perfectly willing to admit to hating fat people. Employers and companies like Southwest Airlines discriminate openly. All this cannot be only because the obese are less healthy. (When was the last time you saw a personal ad saying “No epileptics” or “Nobody with cancer, please”?) It’s appearance, pure and simple, and as such has created an admittedly extreme backlash.</p>

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<p>Eating disorders, at both ends of the spectrum, are unhealthy. I have to admit, though, I have always chuckled when I saw someone (usually someone with a few excess pounds) wearing this t-shirt <a href=“http://www.cafepress.com/buy/anorexia/-/pv_design_prod/p_613488.130243326/pNo_130243326/id_19281650/fpt_/opt_/c_360/pg_1[/url]”>recovering-anorexic Women's Value T-Shirt "Recovering Anorexic" Women's Dark T-Shirt | CafePress;

5

<p>Obesity is unhealthy. There is no doubt about it. It increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes (and subsequent problems with high blood pressure, kidney disease, and major foot problems, including multiple surgeries and amputations), stroke (partly secondary to the high blood pressure), arthritis (from the sheer weight on the joints), plus other medical and psychological problems. When it is also combined with smoking, which it often is, there is even more disaster.</p>

<p>It is a huge expense to society to have so many obese people with their medical problems. It is a preventable disease. People just need to eat less and exercise. They need more self-control.</p>

<p>To flaunt it as a nonpreventable problem is just not true. What has changed during the past 50 years is that people eat more and move less. Obese people want respect for their eating problems and acceptance. I think that as long as other people are able to control themselves and discipline themselves to exercise, then there will be contempt for those that cannot. </p>

<p>Also, I think that a lot of people resent the high cost of obesity. Health care would be a lot less if people just didn’t eat double bacon cheeseburgers, fries and a Coke, then go out for ice cream or beer, and then sit and watch TV (or drink more beer, which has a lot of calories.)</p>

<p>Personally, I resent so much money being spent for accomodations and gastric stapling/bypass surgery because people want to gorge themselves constantly with fatty food!</p>

<p>And I know that people will say that poor people don’t have access to healthy food, but I have lived and shopped in poor areas, and I see many people walk by the fruits and veggies and low calorie foods and go straight for the bacon and junk foods with their food stamps. My family managed to find a way to eat healthy there for not too much money. But we didn’t buy carts full of chips, soda and cookies. (I lived in a jurisdiction where it was illegal to limit food purchases with food stamps, except for alcohol and cigarettes, which was bought anyhow with the “cash back” portion of the welfare card.)</p>

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<p><a href=“When%20was%20the%20last%20time%20you%20saw%20a%20personal%20ad%20saying%20%22No%20epileptics%22%20or%20%22Nobody%20with%20cancer,%20please%22?”>quote</a> It’s appearance, pure and simple, and as such has created an admittedly extreme backlash.

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I do not believe that it is solely appearance. People, I think, judge those who don’t seem to take proper care of themselves. This includes people who smell, people who appear unkempt, people who are fat, young people who smoke, and a number of others. In my experience, people who are overweight but are also self-confident, put-together, and in good physical shape are rarely judged harshly because of their weight. I would guess this is because people can see that the individual also cares about himself and takes care of himself. Your comparison of obesity to cancer is completely off base. Obesity, in most cases in the US, is entirely preventable. Cancer is not.</p>

7

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Yikes! I mean, I agree that no one should be kept on a no-reward diet, and that not allowing kids to eat sweets at all tends to have the side effect of encouraging the kid to gorge when he/she is out of Mom’s sight. (I have a junk food-loving mom – I was always the popular kid at lunchtime in elementary school. ;))</p>

<p>In a very broad sense, people like to eat things that are high in sugar, salt, and fat, and that’s related to the fact that those substances are energy-dense, but not terribly abundant in the environment in which our ancestors evolved – effectively, fat, sugar, and salt taste good because small amounts of them are necessary to keep your body functioning, so it’s to your body’s advantage to reward you for eating them. </p>

<p>When you’re eating mostly fruit, leaves, and seeds, the occasional serving of meat or sugary treat is fine. Unfortunately, most Americans now eat mostly meat and simple carbohydrates with occasional servings of fruit, leaves, and seeds.</p>

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<p>As a person with a disability that is the result of premature birth I feel that the soft bigotry towards those that are physically different in ways other than body size is much worse. It is humiliating to have nothing expected of you or to have everyone try to take care of you. I have no sympathy for the pro-obesity movement. Well I rescind that, I have as much sympathy for them that I have for a person who complains about lung cancer after smoking five packs a day. Obesity is a preventable disease and it takes time and money away from diseases that people have no control over. Kids should be taught self-control if you want to curb obesity, and they will develop a healthy self image from being allowed to make decisions on their on. But maybe thats just my opinion after also suffering with a mild bout of anorexia.
Either way, encouragement of food that may eventually kill them helps with neither.</p>

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<p>Well, that puts overweight people in their place, doesn’t it.</p>

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<p>collegialmom,</p>

<p>Someone hijacked your (very eloquent) post #5 and pasted onto the blog linked in post #1!</p>

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<p>People do judge people who don’t seem to take proper care of themselves–for whatever reason. It may or may not be a good thing to do, but it certainly happens. Of course, there are medical reasons why someone may be obese, and there are medical reasons why someone may appear not to take care of himself for some other reason. Nonetheless, people will generally assume that it is because of a sort of carelessness, and they will judge people based off of that. </p>

<p>Eating poorly and not getting in enough activity is an unhealthy choice. Smoking is an unhealthy choice. Everyone knows that both of these things are unhealthy. There is certainly a difference between choosing to smoke that first time, knowing it’s unhealthy, and eating an unhealthy food, since everybody does eats some unhealthy food. I do not think that the comparison is all that off base, though, since on the road to obesity there will be many times when the individual should be able to recognize unhealthy weight gain and/or unhealthy eating decisions. It sounds harsh, and it is harsh. In both cases, someone is knowingly making poor decisions about their health, generally reflecting that they do not properly care about or for themselves. A number of people will judge them based on that perception.</p>

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<p>Maintaining proper weight is a ridiculously simple formula: calories in = calories out.</p>

<p>Yes, some people have physical disabilities that prevent them from moving around much, so those people obviously need to consume fewer calories in order to maintain proper weight. It is very rare that a physical condition actually causes someone to gain weight if they are following this formula.</p>

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<p>The problem is that fat is considered in our society to be completely incompatible with being “put-together” or “in good physical shape,” reality be damned. People presume to know that a fat person is unhealthy regardless of what medical knowledge actually says about that person’s health! So my beautiful, curvy friend whose doctor just confirmed that her blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood glucose, and pretty much every other measurable health characteristic are completely perfect is looked at as unhealthy and scorned when she tries to find clothes that actually fit her–society gives her the message that she should make herself fit the clothes instead! Regardless of the fact that she’s healthy, fit, and wonderful just the way she is. People say it’s not really that they hate fat and fat people–that it’s the health concerns, the laziness, the unkemptness–but they see fat as shorthand for all those things, so a fat person is guilty of them by default, no matter how hard-working and healthy they might actually be. No one gives a fat person a chance to show that they might not be what they’re assumed to be. Thin people’s eating habits aren’t scrutinized the way a fat person’s are, even though unhealthy habits impact thin people the same way as fat people.</p>

<p>Let’s just admit already that we can’t tell if someone is lazy or unhealthy just by looking at their body type.</p>

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<p>lmao “pro-fat”, “pro-obesity”?</p>

<p>i cannot even begin to take this seriously…</p>

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<p>“collegialmom, Someone hijacked your (very eloquent) post #5 and pasted onto the blog linked in post #1!”</p>

<p>Yes I see it was taken over by the “fat police!”</p>

<p>Quote from a post above: “Regardless of the fact that she’s healthy, fit, and wonderful just the way she is. People say it’s not really that they hate fat and fat people–that it’s the health concerns, the laziness, the unkemptness–but they see fat as shorthand for all those things, so a fat person is guilty of them by default, no matter how hard-working and healthy they might actually be. No one gives a fat person a chance to show that they might not be what they’re assumed to be. Thin people’s eating habits aren’t scrutinized the way a fat person’s are, even though unhealthy habits impact thin people the same way as fat people.”</p>

<p>She may be beautiful to you and have healthy parameters now, but long-term, she has higher risks as above. (see post 5.) You may not quite believe that, but you have to trust that those of us who work with people who suffer the multiple health consequences of obesity see it in action. Obesity, cigarette smoking, alcoholism, and abuse of illegal and presciption drugs are the biggies in terms of the preventable diseases, syndromes, maladies, or whatever else you want to call them. Oh, and throw in STDs if you want to start making a more thorough list. There is NOTHING good about obesity, neither for the individual or society.</p>

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<p>It makes an awful lot more sense to me to trust her doctor than some random person on the internet who’s never met her! Really classy by the way, saying that she’s "beautiful to [me]. So delightfully unsubtle of you, implying that she can’t possibly actually be beautiful.</p>

<p>Get off your high horse. Some fat people are unhealthy. So are some skinny people. You can’t always tell how healthy someone is just by looking at them!</p>

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<p>“Get off your high horse. Some fat people are unhealthy. So are some skinny people. You can’t always tell how healthy someone is just by looking at them!”</p>

<p>Some "skinny " people also drink, use drugs and/or smoke.</p>

<p>I have an honored job in life that allows me to delve deeper into people’s health than just “looking at them.”</p>

<p>Obese people have MANY risk factors that, over time, cause greater morbidity than people who eat well, are physically active, and have a BMI that is not consistent with obesity.</p>

<p>Not a high horse. Statistics, statistics, statistics.</p>

<p>The people in society who have the self-discipline to stay trim and fit of course can develop health problems, or may have other coexisting factors, but they are not eating themselves into the problems that are higher in the obese. That’s pretty much the end of the story.</p>

<p>By the way, I didn’t mean to insult your asthetics, beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. I was just reading today how the partners of people undergoing gastric bypass or stapling are supposed to be interviewed prior to the procedure to make sure that they will still love the person if s/he is no longer obese!</p>

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<p>Some thin people also eat poorly and sit on the couch all day… but you don’t judge them on sight because you’re stuck in the idea that fat = unhealthy and lazy, and thin = healthy and conscientious.</p>

<p>There are people with a BMI consistent with obesity who also eat well and are physically active.</p>

<p>Honored though your job may be, I doubt it allows you to intuit on sight what random person on the street X eats and how often they exercise. There’s a correlation between unhealthy eating and inactivity and obesity, sure. That doesn’t mean you’re suddenly omniscient about every fat person’s lifestyle and health. Statistics don’t give you the right to assume someone’s lazy because of their body type.</p>

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<p>Thanks, collegialmom, for pointing out so “eloquently” why it’s okay to hate fat people, and why discriminating against the obese is acceptable.</p>

<p>“The people in society who have the self-discipline to stay trim and fit” are obviously better.</p>

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<p>How did Collegialmom’s post at 10:27 p.m. get copied, in its entirity, on Harriet’s blog at 9:31 p.m.? And what was the original “pro-obesity” entry, to which the OP referenced, at 8:34?</p>

<p>For the record, I think obesity is extraordinarily unhealthy as well, and is costing us hugely in insurance fees. Everyone owes it to themselves to watch “Big Medicine” or “Inside the Brookhaven Obesity Clinic” (or whatever the names of that program is) to watch morbidly obese people who continue to order in fattening food, and continue to gain weight, despite being in a medical unit, at someone’s (very high) expense (probably all of ours). Why those people aren’t thrown out on their ears is a mystery to me. Can’t help those who refuse to help themselves.</p>