Posted on 11/27/2005 6:51:42 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
The NHS in east Suffolk has announced that it will no longer perform hip or knee replacements on people classed as “obese”. Never mind that the definition it uses for obesity — a body mass index of 30 or higher — is increasingly discredited, and that a much more reliable way of measuring healthy weight is waist-to-hip ratio. (It should be 0.9 or less in men, and 0.85 or less in women; you can check it on www.healthstatus.com/calculate/whr ).
A greater objection to this denial of treatment to fatties on account of their self-inflicted fatness is: where on earth do you stop?
Should NHS dental treatment be denied to women who eat too much chocolate? Should the hugely expensive course of anti-retroviral drugs for HIV be denied to promiscuous homosexuals, or sex tourists recently returned from Pattaya Beach? For that matter, what about women who have dieted rather than gluttonised all their lives, neglecting their calcium intake and so risking osteoporosis in later life?
Fatties surely have just as much right to be treated on the NHS as smokers, binge drinkers, or any other taxpayers. Instead of threatening plump people’s already threatened health by denying them treatment, how about giving them the new bits they need, while encouraging them to lose weight with a little gentle, old-fashioned mockery?
Fatties should of course be free to squeeze out of the closet, their XXXL T-shirts emblazoned with such legends as “Fat and Happy!” “Out, Stout and Proud!” and so forth. What they cannot demand, I think, is the right to be free from teasing, either in the playground or in later life. There is and always will be something innately funny about fat people. They wobble so much, for one thing.
I was once stranded for 24 hours in Houston, self- proclaimed Fat Capital of the World, and I have never seen so many enormously fat people in my life, nor felt such a juvenile but well-nigh irrepressible urge to laugh out loud. The reason they are all so fat is that they drive everywhere, and stuff themselves from dawn till long after dusk with double choc-chip deep fried spicy pepperoni monster pizzas topped with extra cheddar-style cheese, and gallon bargain-buckets of buffalo wings on the side. This is not a dignified way to behave.
But laughing at fatties is no longer encouraged in the Land of the Fat and Home of the Brave. Take their National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Members recently staged a demonstration in New York, dressed in grass hula skirts, tiaras and flamingo headbands, throwing beach balls around and dancing the “hokey-pokey fat liberation” song. They then solemnly stepped onto scales modified with supportive words like “stunning”, “pretty” and “beautiful” instead of numbers. This is not going to help their condition any more than the mean-spirited health services in east Suffolk.
Obesity is well on the way to becoming the No 1 cause of death in the developed world, which in itself is no joke. In a few decades’ time everywhere will look like Houston, or worse still, the Freedom Paradise resort in Mexico, which boasts reinforced beds, double-width doors, and dining chairs 26in wide but without arms in case they get stuck to diners’ wider-than-26in bottoms when they stand up.
Cindy Sabo, spokeswoman for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, has given Freedom Paradise her seal of approval. Placing herself in the “oversize” category at around 400lb, Sabo recalls “some terrible experiences with some other tourists” on a recent holiday in Hawaii. “Especially some people from Asian countries would walk right up to you on the beach, poke you in the belly and make some rude joke.” What a marvellous image: a crowd of lean little Chinese people gathered around an enormous American woman, poking and prodding her delightedly while she lies there in the Hawaiian sand, huffing and puffing with a self-righteous indignation quite lost on them.
Being overweight is hardly the greatest sin one can commit, pace the doctors and consultants of east Suffolk. But that doesn’t mean obesity is an entirely neutral “lifestyle option” either. It isn’t a cardinal or mortal sin, but a venal one. But obesity does betray self-indulgence, a lack of self-control and a habit of mostly solitary greed.
Despite the protests of fatties that it’s their metabolism that is responsible, or their genes, we all know that those among our friends who incline to porkiness are almost always the ones who chomp their way through an entire packet of Chocolate HobNobs when the rest of us make do with one or two.
A certain mockery, a certain hearty Chaucerian laughter at human weakness and venality, can have a beneficial purpose; although, like shame, it is a social mechanism rather out of fashion. It might not only provoke merriment, but also suggest to its “victims” that perhaps they ought to consider their ways and be wise; or in modern parlance, review their lifestyle choices.
Laughing at fat people might be the first step on the road to them losing weight. And then those sternly Calvinistic medical men of east Suffolk might not have to bother about fitting them with new knees anyway.
I moved here to this smallish Northern AZ city about 2 years ago. My son recently visited me here from Alaska. The one thing he said after spending a day here was "Geez dad, is the place the fat*** capital of America?" LOL! I have always been amazed at things like the "fat acceptance" movement and statements that grosswly obese people are "healthy". I am in a wheelchair and am willing to race any of them and see who has the killing heart attack first. And I have had always believed that gross obesity is indicative in many cases of a person having other problems, like low-self esteem. By the way, at 53 I am subject to the usual hard to avoid middle age weight gain. but I have discovered that just saying NO to fast food and soft drinks helps big time.
If that really was helpful, there wouldn't be so many overweight people. Cruel.
Oh, REALLY? Then why are there so few overweight people in Asia, where laughing at fat people is apparently common? Why are there so many more fat Americans now than there were 60 years ago when society wasn't squeamish about putting a negative stigma on being fat?
Cruel, maybe, in the short term. Effective? Yep. And long-term, a hell of a lot more compassionate than the denial/fat enabling game that's going on now.
No, I've been through cycles with them where they diet, lose 100+ pounds, then eventually get sloppy and stop home cooking and put the weight back on. They're very aware of what their caloric limits are.
And the awful thing is, one of them does have a hip replacement, which I think needs to be replaced again, and she has trouble walking with all the extra weight. So her metabolism is just going to get that much slower.
I think part of the problem has been too much emphasis on dieting. It's probably more important to walk 45 minutes a day than it is to restrict calories.
You haven't seen enough Chinese. There are chunkies and fatties. But, not NEARLY the amount we have.
Remember Chinese "face." Shameful people, things and actions aren't aired the way we air them. Obesity is shameful: sloth and gluttony on parade -- on the hoof, as it were. :o)
Fatties should of course be free to squeeze out of the closet, their XXXL T-shirts emblazoned with such legends as “Fat and Happy!” “Out, Stout and Proud!” and so forth.
Barring a SERIOUS medical problem (and there are some), it REALLY is sloth and gluttony -- years and years of it.
One CHOOSES to eat more or less throughout one's life.
One CHOOSES to get off one's butt (whatever size) and move or one CHOOSES not to.
I'm in the fitness business and have friends and family who are obese.
There are natural endomorphs, large boned folks who will weigh more. There are ectomorphs, those with the bird-size bones. The mesomorphs are the medium builds, which make up most of the population.
Obesity doesn't have to do with sensitivity to carbohydrates, slower metabolisms or cooking from scratch. Obsesity has to do with FOOD and EXERCISE. We aren't that complicated a species.
Most obese or even overweight people think it's ONLY about food. That is ONLY half the equation. Exercise is an essential as food. Most fatsos and overweight people see ONLY the food. So, they focus ONLY on the food and try very hard to ignore the entire other half -- EXERCISE.
I have TWO friends and TWO acquaintances who are honest about their problem with food and exercise. The rest always making excuses.
1. Fatsos are usually SNEAK eaters. They eat amazingly little in public. They are outstanding performers when it comes to food.
2. They may DO lots of stuff, have lots of energy and be very "busy"....but that stuff involves as little real movement as possible.
They walk when they could run; they stand when they could walk; they sit when they could stand; they rest when they could move; they take elevators/escalators when they could take stairs; they wait for ANY ride; spend a tank of gas to park closer...the list goes on.
After the decades of sloth and gluttony the medical problems set in. That usually (but not always) gives them the excuse to not exercise. They have a rock solid (as in lard solid) excuse for doing every kind of exercise.
It is amazing. But, the result is the same. They spiral downwards in movtivation, self-esteem, whatever the original lacuna existed to make them overeat.
It's so simple.
Usual pattern: weight goes off for a while.
Then because they don't really understand or believe the effects of NOT exercising while dieting, they gain more when they go off the diet and put back on their original weight PLUS. That is, that without exercise, about HALF the weight lost is muscle. That is the worst-case scenario. They end up needing fewer calories to live because they have less muscle mass because they didn't exercise.
Aging people naturally lose muscle mass....so THEY may eat the same amount of food they always did but will gain weight because they don't understand that they've lost muscle mass.....and they don't replace it or keep it up.
It is so simple but fat people simply CANNOT eat less or exercise more for an extended period of time. The backbone that is required there just doesn't exist.
It's my belief that everyone can change, whether they are 14, 34, 54 or 84. But the change HAS to come from within. It won't happen any other way.
As John Hagee once said: If you want what you've never had, you have to do what you've never done.
Imagine ME, quoting John Hagee. :o)
some of us also have thyroid disorders. I am a larger woman, work out everyday, eat around 1,500 calories (only that much now because I am expecting), and am still overwieght. I have hypothyroid, as does my sister. My mom has graves, wich is fluctuating thyroid. Even with medication we all have a hard time. My mom has it worst, her weight fluctuates quickly, and because of this she often doesn't feel well.
I used to get upset when people would comment about my weight. Now I just ignore people. I only care what my doctor says, and as long as she says I am overall healthy, I'm OK with that. Luckily my husband feels the same way.
The nature of health care is that it is expensive. In a nation hooked on litigation lotto, it is at least three times as expensive as it is in a nation with "loser pays". But even at a third of what the USA shells out, you can't treat everybody for everything.
The UK system rations explicitly, and like any government system it rations politically. For instance, no heart transplants to over-55s (in the US, most heart transplant recipients are over 55). It also rations by availability.
Rationing in the US system is enforced by costs, primarily, and the burden falls mostly on those who are poorly insured, or who are too proud to accept assistance but too marginally employed to be guaranted insurance. They are a small enough minority that they can be blown off.
The one thing that all systems have in common is that the politicians lie about it, and have exempted themselves from the limits of the system. But the economic facts are inescapable, so what you wind up with is a variety of ways to conceal them and a variety of prioritization schemes. For example, the US has judged that it is more important to have wealthy lawyers than it is to encourage technical and procedural advance.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
You have the right attitude: health is number one.
If husband is happy with your looks, wife if happy. If wife is happy, husband ( and EVERYONE else) is happy.
Bingo. The healthiest people I ever encountered -- in cardiovascular terms -- were Afghan hill people. They all had the cardio fitness of marathon runners -- resting pulse of 45, high O2 saturation, etc. Of course, in every other sense they were human wrecks, with every one of them hosting some chronic disease or parasite.
The reason for their fitness was their extreme, grinding poverty and the harsh conditions they lived in. Want to take some of your dried apricots to market and trade for some flour? It's nine miles over the mountains. See ya.
To be healthy we need to replace that daily activity with other exercise. Which brings us to the slightly illogical activity of running, etc. for the sheer necessity of it, but there it is.
Like some others in this thread, I always controlled my weight (ubeknownst to myself) with exercise, as I was in a very physical occupation that made physical demands daily and allotted several hours a day for physical exercise towards that end. Unfortunately, chronic joint disease has ended that for me -- I can't run, and some days I can't walk -- and I am having little success keeping weight off.
Extremely frustrating.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
"EAT LESS for the rest of one's life.
EXERCISE MORE for the rest of one's life."
I will say AMEN to the second statement, but the first statement is part of the problem. My obese friends got fat by eating less...and less...and less over a lifetime.
Also, everyone shouldn't eat the same diet. Some people are more sensitive to carbohydrates and should eat mostly protein and veggies; whereas some people are less sensitive to carbs and should eat less protein and fat, but more carbs. That's why there are success stories for all the diets: hi-protein Atkins; hi-carb Pritikin; and mid-range Zone. But the food pyramid and American medical dogma is a hodgepodge of all of them, and leaves us w/ 60% of adults overweight.
The metabolic floor for people is about 1200 calories per day. If you eat any less than this, you *will* lose weight no matter what type of odd medical conditions one may have.
The only real problem with this is that it means you have to eat a healthy diet all the time, no junk food. You can eat well on 1200 calories per day -- I know people that do it -- but you have to eliminate all the sugary, fatty processed food from your diet if you want to have an easy time meeting that target. Unfortunately, few people have the discipline to actually eat healthy all the time.
Anyone who has worked in the restaurant business can tell you that there is an extremely strong correlation between the obesity of the person and the quantity and calorie density of the food they order. Maybe obese people have a warped sense of what a sensible meal is. If they ate exactly the same food and portions as the skinny people, the problem would be solved.
I'm sure exercise is a factor, but the diet is such an obvious factor if you've ever worked at a restaurant that I think the underlying problem is pretty obvious.
I couldn't eat well on 1200 calories a day. That is a very strict diet. My friend on 1400 calories a day does Pritikin, and it takes a lot of time and planning, etc., to always have something Pritikin ready. She tends to alternate between being super strict with Pritikin and thin, and then throwing all discipline to the winds and eating junk food and putting the weight back on. I think a less strict diet (but extra exercise) would keep her from having the backlash periods.
I also don't know that your metabolic floor figure is right for everyone. I suspect that these two obese people started out life with really slow metabolisms, then further slowed them down with years of dieting and no exercise.
Sounds like this author wants an excuse to act like he's back in junior high school, but pretends to be doing it for the alleged good of others. Besides, there's absolutely no evidence that mocking people for being fat will do anything to make them lose weight.
Funny you should say that. I've read two stories in recent weeks about celebrities (Tyra Banks and Vanessa Mannillo) wearing fat suits to see how they were treated. They were both stunned by how obnoxious and nasty people were to them because of them being "fat." Contrary to this author, and you, there are still plenty of people out there like yourselves who get their jollies over mocking fat people. (And when I was in school, the same folks who made fat jokes where also the same type of people who said "How's the weather up there to tall people" -- as if somebody could control their height!)
Incidentally, who are you guys kidding about only doing such cruel remarks for their own good? Even if we are to take you at your word, it sounds like you support a nanny state where others tell you how to live your lives. That's hardly a "conservative" opinion.
"While there may be a scientific approach to obesity, the majority of it is caused by eating crap food, pure and simple."
That is an assumption, which is supported only by this assumption:
"dessert with lunch anddinner, snacks all day, and pig outs on the weekends"
Which is faulty. It is simply not the case that all -- or perhaps even most -- fat people eat like that. Nor is it the case that everyone who eats like that is fat.
Look at the woman you described. What was she eating? A salad, some bread, and a coke. That should not make a normal person fat. When I was skinny, I used to park my car between Dairy Queen and Taco Bell, and peregrinate back and forth for hours.
Then, seemingly overnight, when I was 21, everything changed. Suddenly I had to get ridiculous amounts of exercise *and* cut down to about two calories a week to avoid weight gain.
Neither exercise alone nor limiting my diet to one fried grasshopper a week would do it. It took *both.* There is something wrong with that picture, and it is infectious. It may not be a single agent. For that matter, it could be the elimination of some bacterium from the digestive tract by antibiotics. But there is very definitely a cause apart from exercise and diet.
When medical science smugly asserts that it's all a person's own fault because he doesn't cut down to one-fourth the normal food intake and get six times the normal amount of exercise, they're doing us all a disservice.
It should be rather surprising that they're smug enough to do that, considering that they only discovered the Hepatitis C virus in 1989. Sadly, it's not surprising.
Why is obesity flourishing in Japan? Is it because the Japanese have suddenly started eating at MacDonald's every day? Well, they haven't. It's because the microbial agent or agents arrived in Japan and are spreading.
Yes, I sound like a crackpot now. I sounded like a crackpot in the early eighties when I talked about leftist media bias, too. That was about the same time that Reagan sounded like a crackpot for announcing that he was going to spend the USSR out of existence.
Sooner or later, they're going to find the *real* cause of this epidemic of obesity.
"It's probably more important to walk 45 minutes a day than it is to restrict calories."
If I restricted myself to 200 calories a day, and didn't get any more exercise than that, I'd gain weight.
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