Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Crazy Crap / Phillips Does the Obesity Task Force Even Have Any Obese People on It?
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Tuesday was the Obesity Task Force Day on the Hill. I'll admit that I hadn't really thought much about them -- other than to make fun of whether they were going to help obese people such as myself do tasks, or if they were going to assign tasks to us.
But then I saw that the Obesity Task Force has goals like encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables and to exercise more and to breastfeed. And I began to suspect that this was a task force made up of people who are not obese but staring in from the outside.
After randomly sampling the list of members, then googling them and looking up all the heads of committees, I saw some people you might describe as "plump." But I saw no one you'd describe as obese.
This is unsurprising for two reasons.
One, when you set up a dynamic where obesity is a problem that needs to be eradicated -- and obese people are the literal embodiment of grave failure as responsible people and responsible Tennesseans -- and you are the answer-man heroes who will come in and save the day, chances are slim that you will want to hear from people who don't see themselves as an unsightly problem that needs to be removed from our society.
Also, the chances that doctors will want to hear from obese people about the shitty prejudices we face from doctors -- many of whom have preconceived ideas that we're stupid, poor, slovenly liars who just aren't trying hard enough? Probably also pretty slim.
Hell, I could tell you stories -- like the gynecologist who waited until he had his hand jammed up my vagina to tell me how God made it so fat women can't have babies ... because, y'know, back in prehistoric times, we couldn't outrun the angry elephants who wanted to squash us. I couldn't even make a run for it. I just had to sit there and listen to his bizarre theories about why God hates fat chicks because I was in stirrups and he had me by the cooter.
Or the doctor who told me I needed to cut out sugary drinks and start eating more vegetables -- and who flat out called me a liar to my face when I told him that I had done that and gotten a dog, whom I walked every day, yet hadn't lost any weight. (You will be unsurprised to learn that it was another 10 years before a doctor listened to what I was saying and figured out what was wrong with me.)
And you know, when fat people get together and talk, my stories aren't even the worst. They are par for the course.
But I looked all through the Obesity Task Force's documents and I didn't see one damn thing about how fat people are less likely to go to the doctor for routine check-ups (because of the constant hounding and abuse, I suspect), which means that, yes, by the time we go to the doctor, our problems usually are more severe then "regular" people.
Which brings me to Reason Two. At this point, I'm sure any member of the Obesity Task Force reading this is thinking, "How horrible her stories are! But that's not me."
Really, motherfucker?
You didn't post a slide from a talk by a dude who represents your organization
Do you think obese people don't have eyes to see this shit?
The man who gave this presentation, David G. Schlundt, according to your own website, is an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt. And I'm expected to believe that this propaganda -- designed to reconfirm to the people you talk to about people like me that people like me are slovenly, stupid and, apparently, prone to bouts of cheesy cross-dressing -- is an accident?
Vanderbilt wouldn't hire a person in its psychology department who didn't understand exactly what he was doing when he put these images together.
Nothing about those images is designed to convey information about real people. Those images are designed to convey a lot of information about the sets of stereotypes you want people to have in their heads when they think of fat people.
And when it's a professor of psychology putting those images together? Don't tell me it's not deliberate.
What obese person would be on this Task Force when you could not be any more clear about how disgusting you think obese people are?
Okay, I'm going to attempt to calm down here and make my point as rationally as possible. People are obese. People. Obesity is not some abstract thing to be studied from afar by people with expertise. It's a type of body that a lot of people in our state have. Yes, often times, it can lead to health problems. But just as often, if not more, it is a symptom of some other issue.
And being obese in this society is not easy, because we get that you think we shouldn't exist how we are. We get that message, loud and clear, all the time.
We know how y'all talk about "health" but you really mean "how you look makes me uncomfortable." We get that message loud and clear, too.
Believe me, if you're not obese, you may think you get what it's like to have a body that so plainly marks you for most people as stupid and lower-class and unwilling to get with the program and unworthy to live unmolested in society. But you do not.
And, frankly, there is no real middle ground here. Once you've made it as plain as you have that you think being fat is disgusting -- and that my very body, which I live in, is some problem which must be eradicated -- your cries of "But your health!" or "But the children!" don't mean much.
Comments (45)
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Jesus, calm down lady!
Yes those pictures are insensitive, but the 'evolutionary' analogy is actually a good one (the cross dressing not so much). Read your labels, it is ridiculous how many seemingly normal foods contain HFCS. It is ridiculous how pedestrian-unfriendly our state is. It is ridiculous that fast food is on every corner and healthy food is expensive and hard to find. It is ridiculous that they won't post calorie count, and our portion sizes are out of control.
Is that somehow the Obese person's fault? Hell no! It's society's fault. Yes it's wrong to assume obese people are lower class slackers. Obesity is not a crime or a badge of dishonor. However, it is a lifestyle, and by that I mean society's lifestyle. Our state is doing it's usual feeble job and managing to offend more than it helps. But something must be done, because obesity is also not a 'body type' , it's an epidemic.
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burrito - "obesity is not a body type, it's an epidemic"? Tell that to my grandmother and her sisters, who were born right around 1900, and to their mother and aunts who were born in the 1870s and were fat (and all of them lived well into their 80s/90s before they died). Fast food wasn't around then, and neither was HFCS, so what was the reason they were fat? All of them were farmers' wives, so they weren't sitting on their asses watching tv and eating junk food all day long (kind of impossible for them to do, since tv and junk food didn't yet exist). Since I have the same body type as my grandmother and her mother and my great-aunts and great great-aunts, I don't think I'm part of an "obesity epidemic", I think I'm part of a long line of humanity that was genetically meant to be able survive the lean times. Just because we don't have lean times right now doesn't mean those times won't return. Those of you without those thrifty genes may not survive without those of us with the thrifty genes if lean times ever come upon us, so trying to eradicate fat people is not a good idea, especially when it's NOT about health, but about aesthetics.
I could tell that to your relatives. It's a genetically inherited trait, you said it yourself. Now you make a good point about the aesthetics, because different cultures actually value a plumper person. In the Caribbean, for example, or China, being heavier symbolizes wealth or power, and I agree that American taste is far beyond driven when it comes to being rail thin.
But you are wrong about the health issue. Perhaps you are a little 'plump' as was stated above. There's not a thing wrong there. But seriously obese people have higher risk of heart disease, orthopedic problems, diabetes, and (not to sound like Gilbert here) you can't disprove that. And these are lots of seriously obese people in TN. TN is doing a shitty job, but there does need to be a societal reform.
As for your absurd claim of 'thrifty genes' I can only hope you're joking. Go see Zombieland. Rule #1: Cardio.
Aren't something like 2/3 of Tennesseans overweight? That indicates a lot more is going on than just genetics.
Given that, it's probably no coincidence that Tennessee is one of the unhealthiest states in the country.
I've seen these images in mulitple places, including the cover of the book "The Evolution of Obesity." The point is that we've evovled from hunting and gathering our food and having just enough to get by to having an abundance of food and eating too much of it. Another point of the images is that our culture celebrates overeating and overdrinking.
Thank you.
All you skinny folks clinging to your beliefs about us fat folks: go get a copy of "Health At Every Size" by Linda Bacon to learn about the most current scientific research about obesity. Once you do that, THEN come back and spout off all you want. Just get your facts straight first, please. Until then, please keep your opinions to yourself.
Burrito - I'm not "plump", I'm deathfatz-looking-for-a-place-to-happen and have been for the last 35 years (and I'm 56 right now). I don't have diabetes, my blood sugar is normal and has been for my whole life, my cholesterol is normal, and so is my blood pressure. I don't have asthma either. I do have arthritis, but so does everyone else in my family, even the thin ones, so our arthritis isn't caused by our weight. As for how I eat, I eat the same way my husband does to control his type 2 diabetes (which 3 or 4 of his 5 brothers have, and both his parents had). So for all you people who assume that all fat people do nothing but sit around stuffing their faces all day long with unhealthy food, well - you're wrong. Most fat people are too busy out earning a living, raising their kids, taking care of their homes, paying taxes, etc. In other words, fat people are just like thin people - they're PEOPLE and don't deserve your disdain/disgust or you telling them how to live their lives to meet your aesthetic.
Personally, if people don't like looking at my fat ass, they can look the other way because I'm not going to hide it and I'm not going to keep trying to meet expectations that are not genetically feasible for my body. Nor should anyone else have to do that.
Kudos to Betsy Phillips for calling the "Obesity Task Force" on what their message really communicates -- discrimination, stereotypes and stigma. The problems with such approaches (and the errors in such disease- and fear-mongering "obesity epidemic" rhetoric) are too numerous to name here. In addition to Linda Bacon's book "Health At Every Size," I recommend Gina Kolata's "Rethinking Thin," J. Eric Oliver's "Fat Politics," and Glenn Gaesser's "Big Fat Lies."
I'm sorry Ms. Phillips experienced such horrible treatment by her health care practitioners. As she indicated (and research has confirmed), fat hatred is common among medical professionals -- and, sadly, is one reason many fat people delay seeking medical care. When they do seek medical care, fat women are less likely to receive routine preventive/screening tests than are thinner women. Add to that the health consequences of the stress that many fat people experience navigating a world that seems bound to eradicate them, and it's clear that relationship between weight and health is far more complicated than popularly believed.
Ms. Phillips mentions a Vanderbilt psychology professor. I am a Vanderbilt-educated psychologist. Like many universities and medical centers, Vanderbilt has "weight management" and bariatric surgery programs, and probably receives a good deal of research funding related to weight or "obesity." There's a lot of money involved in fighting (or researching) "epidemics" and "diseases" and seeking to make fat people thin. And not so much to be made by a weight-neutral focus on healthy behaviors, the "Health At Every Size" approach that is promoted by the Association for Size Diversity and Health -- of which Bacon and I are members.
Betsy,
What is your weight and height? Just how fat are you?
As for Vesta, I doubt anyone wants to look at your fat ass; you should dress accordingly.
I'm not so sure about all this genetic blame. Anyway, education and income do relate here. You just do not see a lot of fat people in Belle Meade.
Thinking about this a bit more, after all it is the government that is is on your ass (so to speak) to slim down. Given the liberal tilt here I'm surprised at this dismay over the Feds intrusions into your business- as personal as what you eat and weigh.
A little extra government in your life has generally been better received by this Pith bunch.
John, why don't you take off your stupid red / blue 3D politics glasses for five minutes and consider the issue at hand?
OK, I do not think the government should be involved if for no other reason it is a waste of taxpayer money.
As for the "issue at hand" it seems to be the task force has no fat people on it. Honest to God, I have no strong feelings about that. I admit it.
Insightful article. You are right on target. Your comments are necessary and perceptive! I am a sociologist who researches fat stigma. Someone should look more closely at who sponsors the Obesity Task Force. These organizations are usually sponsored by those who benefit from weight loss - diet companies and Pharma. They seem like a genuine organization, but a large part of it is marketing to make fat people feel self-conscious and hit the (often dangerous) diet products. Underneath, they could care less, it is all about making a buck!
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/stateprograms/fundedstates/tennessee.html
Tennessee Obesity Task Force is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If Obesity is a perfectly normal body type, then why does it vary by state? Why is TN 30% overweight, while Colorado is 13%? Surely it has nothing to do with the generally more active culture they have out there, or the better access to balanced diets, or the system of pedestrian-friendly paths..
It is a very simple equation, you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. Cutting out sugary drinks and walking your dog once a day ain't gonna fix that. And no one is mandating that we all look like marathoners.
Rationalize all you want, its your own health that suffers, and if you don't believe that, just wait your turn. I think its a good idea to promote active lifestyles and good dietary choices, especially for children. Also, look up something called 'insulin resistance and starvation mode as studied in overweight individuals'. Then tell me you'll be better off in the 'lean times.'
Finally, Bacon's book may make you feel better, but PUBMED that bad boy and see what's really going on in the medical world.
Just because CDC is listed on the website does not necessarily mean funds are not being channeled in by special interests. (And many CDC doctors have conflicts of interests with pharma ties.) The American Obesity Association is sponsored by many weight loss comapnies .http://obesity1.tempdomainname.com/subs/contributor_list.shtml
C Everett Koops Shape Up American was sponsored in part by Wyeth, who made the infamous fen-phen drug. They openly promoted lifestyle change, but they know there is more to it than than. So the real purpose was to get people to run to the diet pills. The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation claims to be a non profit health advocacy group (who harps incessantly about weight) but they have close ties to the pharmaceutical Johnson and Johnson who benefits from weight loss products. The truth is health comes in ALL shapes and sizes. But in this country government has become a vehicle for special interests. From banking bail outs, to unnecessary foreign wars who benefit military contractors, if the gov is pushing it, there is usually a special interest behind it waiting to rake in the bucks!
Here is a little news flash for you Burrito. In the first place, in many of those fattest state studies, they never measure a single person. They count things such as number of fast food restaurants, commute time, even air and water quality. In the second place, even if the measurements were more scientific, it doesn't rule out genetic influences. In certain parts of the country where there is more stigma, fat people do not feel as comfortable. There are more sophisticated hypotheses too, but for someone who still believes in calories in vs out, (which has been proven to be an obsolete theory) they would be too complicated to explain to you.
If obesity really was so deadly, how come we are living longer than ever? How come Australia which is allegedly the world's fattest country has a longevity rate second only to Japan? And lower health care costs? How come so many fat people live long healthy lives and never get premature disease?
Sounds like you have been perfectly brainwashed by MSM. Try thinking for yourself and see just how liberating it can be!
"I have never had a problem with my weight that wasn't caused by other people!"
You're right, you're right, why would a someone like me try to understand such a complicated process? I'm only a biologist after all, what do I know about health?
So it's all about STIGMA! I get it now! People who feel bad about themselves get fat! It has nothing to DO with habits or lifestyle. So the fact that I go to gym 5 times a week and eat healthy have nothing to do with my weight either, never mind the fact that I have obese people in my family history too! I'm just STIGMA-FREE!
So they DO measure the people in Austraila but don't measure Southerners? Walk around and look for yourself, its bleeding obvious, even without the statistics.
You're obviously a smart person. I agree that people should come in all sizes and shapes and colors and hockey team preferences. Why would you oppose an effort to make people healthier? I mean, you could just ignore it instead of inventing false reasons why it shouldn't exist.
You are a brilliant writer and you have brilliantly skewered one of the biggest, meanest scams in public health history. Brava, for YOU!!!!!
Anyone who publicly handwrings and fingerpoints about so-called "obesity," is lying. That person clearly has no genuine concern for fat people's health or wellbeing. If that person did care about us, they'd want us to be allowed to buy health insurance. We're not allowed to buy health insurance based on the very label, "obesity," that this person so loves. He so loves the label "obesity" because he so hates fat people and wishes we would die...sooner, if possible. Certainly without benefit of medical care.
Wankers.
F-N-S,
"...but for someone who still believes in calories in vs out, (which has been proven to be an obsolete theory) they would be too complicated to explain to you."
The rules of physics have not been repealed, so don't even go there. Since the complex nature and cause of weight loss/gain are so poorly understood by experts I doubt you understand them.
It is certainly true that fat people, to a point, live healthy lives and live as long as anyone.
And, anyway, fat people are jolly which is more than 90% of SCENE writers (and bloggers, too, for that matter).
Betsy, you're my new hero! Thank you for a wonderful article. I love it!
Vesta45, you just wrote my personal story!
Most of the thin folks on this list spewing all their "so-called" knowledge could only wish they were as healthy as I am.
Burrito, if this initiative had anything to do with genuinely promoting health, it would not reinforce stigma by regurgitating negative stereotypes about fat people. Being derided, vilified, patronised, dehumanised, demonised, scapegoated for every imaginable social ill and ridiculed on a daily, ongoing basis is not conducive to mental health or spiritual wellbeing, both of which, I would suggest, are crucial to good health whatever size you are.
Others have already made the point that these bogus health initiatives are invariably funded by those who profit from the public remaining as fat - and as fat-phobic - as possible. Read my lips: diet floggers, pharmaceutical companies and bariatric surgeons would be out of business if fat was eradicated. Personally I don't believe health should be a moral imperative, (and don't even think about spouting a load of self-righteous guff about personal responsibility and your health insurance premiums. I'm a UK citizen and pose no threat to your pocket. I'm also a lifelong tax payer, like many fat US citizens in point of fact, and help fund a National Health Service I have a perfect right to take advantage of, should the need arise).
Fat shaming not only contributes to social stigma, it also fools smug gits like you into thinking your health is entirely within your control; (you wish, mate). Fat shaming engenders self-loathing in people of all sizes; it helps kickstart all manner of life blighting mental disorders around diet and exercise, many of which result in death; it even provides those with low self esteem to temporarily boost it at the expense of the stigmatised group - as regularly and amply demonstrated by most of the comments that follow articles of this sort every time they show up on the internet.
Thin and medium sized people get cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol; so do older people. Those considered in the peak of physical fitness – athletes, gymnasts and dancers, for instance – frequently suffer with crippling joint problems in later life. Ill health is not solely restricted to the fat, nor is good health the exclusive province of the thin. I believe health is a personal matter and none of local or national government's business - but if this bunch of "concerned individuals" is honestly trying to promote good health through diet and exercise, then they're going about it in a profoundly irresponsible and blinkered way.
No one gets in the faces of skinny people even if they are having jerky, coffee, cigarettes and cocaine for lunch so long as they don't get unsightly.
Over consumption and health are clearly not the concern, otherwise there would be an "Exercise the US Task Force" and a "Cheap Vegetables for Everyone Task Force". -yeah right... but then how would you get the fun and excitement of making yourself important by assembling a task force and picking on someone that isn't "you".
I'm not smug. (I might be a git, I don't know what a git is.) I made plenty of consessions.
Don't you even THINK of spouting a load of self righteous guff (now what the hell is guff?) about how I'm demeaning fat people. I know and love many of the gravitationally challenged. I also want my loved ones around. And so do you.
If you spent half the energy you do screaming for the heads of well-intentioned people or denying Basic. Fucking. Science! on improving your lifestyle, you be better off. Notice the comment above ("I'm death fat!") Is that something to be proud of, cause that person certainly seems cheeky (one of your words, Limey!) about being really really big.
Have a bloody pep rally. Celebrate yourself. We don't all need to look Bowie (I'm trying to relate to you, Britannia). But also, give up the Everybody-Hates-Us bullshit. Nobody wants you to die, and thin people aren't wankers (yay UK!) and once again, If you doubt the health benefts of regular fitness and a balanced diet, come race me.
"No one gets in the faces of skinny people even if they are having jerky, coffee, cigarettes and cocaine for lunch so long as they don't get unsightly. "
Actually there are lots of anorexia/bulemia groups who regularly hold interventions.
100% fantastic piece! Down with bigotry and hatred and up with healthy eating and activity for all!
Amazing article, Betsy Phillips! Humorous and direct, I hope to read more from you in the future.
Oh I do beg your pardon, burrito. Perhaps I was a little hasty assuming your response to my voicing my belief that health is not a moral imperative would be the customary lecture on health insurance and personal responsibility. I’ve heard it so many times before, you see. Generally after, “But I only care about your health!!” falls flat owing to it being patently untrue. You are, however, incontrovertibly a git.
Obesity is not a lifestyle or a body type. It’s a quasi-medical weasel word the faux-concerned and flat out haters like to throw around because they think it lends their bigotry some kind of gravitas or authenticity, often with the prefix “morbid”. Though what it actually come to mean in common parlance is “fatter than I can stand to look at and/or find sexually attractive”. Obesity, morbid or otherwise, is simply an arbitrary category on an equally arbitrary scale along with “overweight”, “underweight” and the ever popular, equally meaningless “normal”. Why arbitrary? Firstly because BMI is a wholly ineffective means of gauging health as it is unable to distinguish between fat and muscle mass. Secondly, because, having brought it in to replace outmoded heigh/weight charts for just the purpose of gauging health, the World Health Organisation then decided to lower the cut-off figures signifying each category in the late 1990s, thereby rendering billions of people formerly categorised as “normal “overweight” overnight. Why they would choose to do that when 21st Century society is a good deal bigger – as in taller and better nourished – than it was in the early 1800s when BMI was devised, is a mystery to me, but that, burrito, is your spurious obesity epidemic right there.
Given that you took exception to my putting words into your mouth, I take equal exception to your doing the same. I made no mention of science in my previous post, nor did I refute any. Nor did I insult thin people, much less call them wankers, though I’m mightily tempted to call you one for assuming that I doubt the health benefits of regular fitness and a balanced diet, or that my lifestyle – about which you know precisely nothing – needs improving.
The main thrust of my post was to point out the damage that fat stigmatisation does to the whole of society. You seem to be in denial that it even exists; I would suggest that, if you really care about the welfare of the fat people in your life, you ask them how it affects them in their everyday lives.
I am a teacher and a mother, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that using shame, blame and horrendously un-funny images as a way to "motivate" is not only wrong but quite hurtful. "Fighting obesity" too often translates into "let's mock, tease, torture and vilify obese people".
So concerned about health?
Why not have a make-fresh-produce-sexy task force or go-outside-and-play task force (or a ban-high-profit-junk-food-advertising-to-kids task force?) We'd ALL be better off, regardless of our size!
Why does everyone seem to take for granted that obese people never eat vegetables or fruit? This is simply not the case. It's another ugly stereotype.
But I agree we all need to increase the proportion of them in our daily diets.
And why is it still okay for comedians to tell fat jokes?
Isn't it possible for the writer of this article to write without using 4 letter vernacular words?? That kind of language in a public news paper should NOT be tolerated! Clean up your language!!
Betsy, marvelous post.
I want to hear from people whose "well-meaning" friends, relatives, co-workers, and neighbors annoy and vex them by lecturing, cajoling, badgering about "obesity"... all while coming from a position of arrogance and entitlement that basically says, "As a person thinner than you, of course I _know_ better than you what's good for you."
Am I right? Do these pesky folks not actually make our lives a little worse for all the hectoring, even when they're coming from a place of "concern"? Aren't there better ways to _care_ about those one claims to care about than to impose one's vision of "health" on their bodies without giving fat people an iota of credit for knowing something about their own bodies? Why is it these "well-meaning" folks so often seem to assume that fat people simply don't know "better"? Do they think we can't read? That we've lost the ability to reason? Or is it that _they_ see ONLY one way to understand "science": Only as it's been crunched and packaged for us by the scads of special interests whose bottom line is the bottom line? One thing is clear: Everybody "knows" what the silly "obese" don't know. And don't that smell just like tender loving care. D'oh.
And anyway, don't these "well-meaning" folks have enough with worrying about their own "fitness," their own lives? The price of gym memberships just went up, and unemployment is through the roof.
In fact, as a fat person--a writer and an editor--looking for work, myself, I'd like to flat out declare that one super-duper way to help me "improve" my lifestyle might be to make it more difficult for fat people to be discriminated against in employment hiring practices. Know how much easier I'd breathe then? And don't even get me started on how my stress hormone levels might drop through the floor. Ah, health initiatives, indeed. Sweet.
(I think the person surprised that fat people aren't all dummies, above, who keeps recommending all kinds of "edumacation" points for the layabout fat person, should google "stress hormones fat.")
Betsy, thank you for your article! I agree very much with comments already made by Dr. Elam and Marilyn. I want to also add that in all my work in ethnic minority and LGBT communities, you can no longer find taskforces on issues facing us without anyone from that community on the taskforce (or without catching public flack). The fact that this is the case with the obesity taskforce is further evidence of their underlying philosphies, including a lack of respect for all fat folks and the belief that fat people need to be intervened upon rather than collaborated with.
I see alot of anti-fatties here making condescending comments about fat people and their assumed lifestyles as if they can guess the details of our (fat folks) lives. They also seem to believe that each skinny person is a paragon of athleticism, wisdom and good sense. That is called stereotyping and it is not very smart. People who claim to be biologists etc should be bright enough to know that they cannot assume anything about me based solely on my weight, my race, my gender my religion etc. I’m a fat, home cook’n vegan who bikes, walks with her dogs, goes to yoga twice a week and exercises at home. My doctor says I’m very healthy. I have thin friends who live on fast food, booze, cigarettes and soda. So please excuse me if I laugh my fat ass off at all the preaching and condescension projected toward me and other people of my body type. I’m happy. I’m healthy and I’m fat. I do not need a task force or anyone‘s ignorant judgment or rude assumptions.
Thanks Betsy!
Great article and a lot of good comments and rebuttals to the commments, and rebuttals to the rebuttals to the comments.
Anyway, I am not a knee-jerk government-agency-hating individual, but I am always wary of ANY "task force" to accomplish anything, and more so if it is sponsored by government. This particular task force, so far, reveals no meaningful method to improve anyone's health or fitness. Actually, their only method may be to perpetuate stereotypes and increase the stigmatization of a group whose only crime is to weigh in the upper end of the bell-shaped curve of weight distribution of humans. People come in all shapes and sizes!
Nothing good is likely to come out of this task force.
Bill Fabrey
biomedical engineer (retired)
Council on Size & Weight Discrimination
Mt. Marion, NY
www.cswd.org
I'm always amused by people who say, "The Laws of Physics are undeniable. Calories-in/calories-out. Blah. Blah. Blah."
When I give talks about weight diversity and how we can all live happier, healthier lives if we adopt Health At Every Size principles, I ask audiences (full of people of all sizes usually mostly thin and average-weight)..."Have you ever known someone who ate a lot of fast food, pizza, etc., and never exercises, stayed home all day playing video games or watching tv." Lots of people in the audience will laugh and raise their hands. Then I say..."But those people are breaking the Laws of PHYSICS!!!"
The laws of physics remain in place and cannot be disturbed by those who think otherwise.
Now, why some are fat and some thin is a whole 'nother issue.
Why anyone would give a talk about, yes, God knows it is right here, weight diversity is beyond me. Who goes to something like that? And, if they do, why?
The laws of physics includes thyroid, hormones, pituitary, metabolism, insulin/glucose interaction IF any and that does not mean a person is diabetic when there is an issue. Also included... body temperature, muscle mass, genes, and on and on. This will never be as simple as calories consumed and calories burned equal weight, except for a percentage of people that would be labeled as 'normal.' People who are 'obese' and 'morbidly obese' - lord, how I hate those labels - are stigmatized as 'eaters'. Not only eaters but grotesquely unhealthy, compulsive eaters. Just like thin people, some do and some don't eat large quantities of calories. Diabetes, some are fat, some thin. Hypothyroid issues, some fat and some thin. But, all too often when a fat person faces a health issue the physician and task forces such as these push their aha! button. Fat people are denied medical, life, income protection and disability insurance for no physical reason other than they are beyond a certain weight. Entire families are at stake for this prejudice to be allowed. Now that is something there needs to be a task force for change.
Thank you for a great article, Betsy. I am glad that like me, you found a medical professional to help you gain your health. I also read every comment above and appreciate the dialogue. Essa Adams, Women's Fiction Blog on the myths, dense observations and lies we are told, including weight and beauty fallacy.
Dear Burrito and other clueless folk: nuh uh. You are forgetting the most important factors of all. Heredity, diabetes, hypothyroidism, PCOS, and a host of other things. Those things make people fat; fat people do not then get those things by being fat. Until you have starved yourself and exercised until you dropped for years and not lost a single pound, don't be on here acting like you know what it's about.
Yes, I'm hypothyroid. I take my meds. I exercise lots. I eat healthy foods in reasonable quantities. Still fat. Quit being ignorant and read up on the facts.
Yes, food manufacturers do exploit weaknesses in human biology, and yes obesity does have a genetic aspect to it. And yes it's possible to be plump and healthy. But if you are obese, you are in bad shape. Stupid choices, gluttony, sloth, or all three are the character flaws that you have to overcome. In order to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume, it's a simple law of physics. Stop making excuses.
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When did fat become a protected class? Seriously? And I'm sorry, it is for health reasons this is being discussed and addressed in this society at this point in time. Just because you don't want hear it, doesn't make it any less the truth. Good advice is out there, stop ignoring it. There is absolutely NO reason a child should be obese. None whatsoever! That should be treated as child abuse in my opinion. You can change your eating habits, you can excercise more and you can teach your children to do the same. Kids learn by example and they develop the same eating habits as their parents. Either way, eat what you like, do what you want, just stop making ridiculous excuses!! You are the cause of your situation. Take accountability! Should you be pointed out and ridiculed? Asolutely NOT! That's a horrible way to treat a person and I certainly do not condone such behavior. Look, I was a smoker and I quit. But not before I was hounded and was made to feel like a 2nd class citizen and classless individual and looked upon/treated like the scum of the Earth. Was that right? No, it wasn't. But the fact that I was addicted to smoking and smoked was still due to my own actions. I finally found the strength to quit. Quitting smoking is an extremely tough thing to do. As is changing your eating habits. Both can be done and if they are done, the result is a healthier person. So stop making excuses! Obesity is NOT a body type, it's a damned choice! Get over yourselves already and do the right thing.
