Is The Whole PLUS Size an excuse and a denial?

[quietGuy13]

I mean, it's not a thing you can't change. These girls in TV shows about Plus size girls and how they suffer in society etc..make it seem like they're born that way and they can't change.

 

These girls seem to be in denial. they just want the easy way.

[Feelin Frisky]

Hey man, don't judge other people by your own experience. Some folks do have obesity problems they can't solve. Just thank your lucky stars you're not one of them. If it were just a choice, no one would choose anything but perfection.

[Citizen Erased]

Should probably point out, to some, larger than a size 6 is plus size. That's pretty crazy.

 

I for one don't want to tear down people for being confident in themselves, no matter if you just plain think they are fatties and need to lay off the cheeseburgers. I doubt you'd be complaining about girls that are below what is considered to be a healthy weight, saying they're in denial.

 

It's great when anyone is comfortable and happy with how they are. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with that and want people to feel bad about themselves.

[DripWilson]

When I was a kid we only had a few fat kids in town. I feel bad about the way EVERYONE picked on them. Now that we pretend fat is OK, you see millions of fat people. Fat is unhealthy and if we were honest about it, we'd have less unhealthy fat people, Aside from a few fetish people. fat isn't attractive.

 

The same way we scorn smokers, we should scorn overeaters.

[FitChick]

There has never been more information about how to lose weight and keep it off. People are too lazy. Now that they see all the other fat people, they think it's normal. Yes, there a very, very few people with medical conditions but the majority eat too much of the wrong foods. Just be glad you aren't one of them. You look so much better by comparison.

[Feelin Frisky]

When I was a kid we only had a few fat kids in town. I feel bad about the way EVERYONE picked on them. Now that we pretend fat is OK, you see millions of fat people. Fat is unhealthy and if we were honest about it, we'd have less unhealthy fat people, Aside from a few fetish people. fat isn't attractive.

 

The same way we scorn smokers, we should scorn overeaters.

 

So what is your version of "being honest about it"? You're way out in speculation land with this fat being OK causes more fat people. That's beyond ridiculous. The fact--repeat FACT of the matter is that no one is getting fat because it's "OK now". What is "OK now" is the understanding in intelligent person's minds that obesity is sometimes a life-long sentence for people who lack the necessary "off switch" that unafflicted people take for granted which tells "normal" people that food has lost its appeal or done enough of its job. Like I said to QG for starting this rather ignorant thread, you need to thank your lucky stars that you are not short-changed by nature and neglected by nurture to have to hate yourself over and over struggling through life with an eating disorder. Take a look at real people out there--not the obese waddlers that everyone seems to feel the need to pick on, but regular people. Most of them are not icons of perfection or paragons of virtue. Controlling pleasure is a difficult thing for hundreds of millions of human beings. It's what addiction is. The inability to know automatically when enough is enough. Fat is not "OK" no one says it is. Society just needs to start raising a generation of more understanding people who get their own nature right so that they can indeed give thanks for the things they now take for granted which suffering obese persons would die for and sometimes do.

[somedude81]

Eh, I'd say that the majority of people who are overweight, are that way because they don't watch what they eat and don't do any exercise.

 

A big problem is childhood obesity. That's when parents are fully responsible. No child should be fat.

[KR10N]

There are health disorders linked w/ obesity. So some of them really can't help it. Some of them have eating disorders, just like skinny people. I don't care if a person screams "fat is ugly & unhealthy" until they're blue in the face... so is skinny.

[Feelin Frisky]

^^^ This 100%.

 

Plus sizes (I'm talking UK sizes here) are anything from a size 10 up. A UK size 10 is not fat, obese, or even slightly overweight. It's such a misleading term. Of course,the whole world knows that being obese is a major health issue, but the stress always seems to be more on outer appearance than health. People are picked on for being that weight, thus feel bad about themselves, thus eat more to feel good. Food is their addiction, is their comfort, and so if people start picking on people who have a problem, do you think it's going to make anything better?

 

Most people who are overweight know they are. They may front, and pretend they are happy that way, and heck, maybe a few of them are (why not? Can't say I wouldn't enjoy that much food too, yummy), but most know it and aren't happy. Sometimes, it's lifelong habits that need breaking and it's a hard thing to break. People who do not have these habits can sit on their soapboxes as much as they like, but it takes a person of great strength, courage and conviction to stand up and lose the weight. It means changing their lifestyles completely, and breaking up their relationship with food.

 

For some, that break up will include therapy in understanding why they turned to food so much, and to try and combat those emotional/mental issues. For others, poor eating habits and lack of exercise is how they've been raised, at which point they need to try to break those habits, and start a new regime. Both of these things are very hard, and take a lot of willpower to do. Simply calling a person lazy for not doing so is lazy in itself because it's a complete failing on your part (FitChick) to actually understand why so many fall off the bandwagon.

 

What needs to be done is to build a better system of understanding the problem, and tackling it in a way that works.

 

God bless you.

[dasein]

There are a tiny tiny percentage of people with medical weight problems. I agree with posters who think it's alot like smoking. In an individualistic, free market country where everyone pays their own way, NBD, but that's not the country we live in. We all pay for the poor lifestyle choices of others through higher insurance premiums, medicare, SS disability.

 

It's not as much that fat is viewed as OK, as that people remain ignorant about food and make the worst choices, continuing to eat food that isn't filling but full of calories. IMO fat people without a real medical problem who refuse to make very basic changes should pay higher taxes in the way smokers and drinkers do. It's hypocritical that we tax cigarettes and alcohol exorbitantly and don't tax other bad health decisions.

[Feelin Frisky]

There are a tiny tiny percentage of people with medical weight problems. I agree with posters who think it's alot like smoking. In an individualistic, free market country where everyone pays their own way, NBD, but that's not the country we live in. We all pay for the poor lifestyle choices of others through higher insurance premiums, medicare, SS disability.

 

It's not as much that fat is viewed as OK, as that people remain ignorant about food and make the worst choices, continuing to eat food that isn't filling but full of calories. IMO fat people without a real medical problem who refuse to make very basic changes should pay higher taxes in the way smokers and drinkers do. It's hypocritical that we tax cigarettes and alcohol exorbitantly and don't tax other bad health decisions.

 

Sorry, but you're wrong on some things. It's not like smoking. People don't smoke before they larn how to speak or tie their own shoes, but everyone flirts with the addiction to pleasure though food as an infant by way of eating and many kids patterns for obesisty are set when they are babies and have no sense of choice. It is everyone--everyone--potential parents especially--who need to stop the easy moral judgments and realize that the control of food and it's association with pleaseure takes more work in some than others--we are simply not all born exactly the same with the same cheical makeups. We can't blame people and say the job is done or shame them into compliance or tax them--you don't tax children and it is in chidhood that these predispostions establish permanent drives.

 

People who are not afflicted with obesisty or who have a relatively easy time of turning off the drive to eat don't have a clue what it's like for those who do have trouble--the impulse to eat is incessant. People no sooner win one momentary war over the impulse to be right back facing the same thing minutes later. I know this. I have the prolem. I have to run run run constantly to occupy myself or it's eat with another drive to eat followed by others. Mix that with people who don't have that problem in the same household who over-indulge and watch TV which send messages to consume without consquence and you have a recipe for uncontrolable obesisty in millions of people.

 

 

I wish people would take a look at someone like Oprah Winfrey. She lost all her weight and had millions of incentives in the form of other women viewers to keep the weight off and billions of dollars to spend to make sure. But it still came back again and again. And I know it's not because she gave up and said "I'm fat and beautiful". Is a person like that who has it conquered one day and has all those reasons not to let it come back gains it again, there is something secret going on in their world view that they cannot solve and we don't have the right to assume we understand. It's not emotion, although some people do have emotional eating problems. It's the absence of a natural cue in the brain to become indifferent to food after a certain point of consumption. I experienced this sense of normality when I took a thyroid drug and stopped finishing what was on my plate at meals. For a short time I said aha! this is what it's like to feel normal. But the doctor moved on and no one else would experiment with me that way to conquer this. And I'm sentenced to keep figting the same private battles many times every day and lose some. I have to live alone and make all my own meals or I'm in trouble. I really need a special woman who can help me stay the way she wants to see me. I haven't found one yet who isn't mi-oriented to what obesity is and how stict a suffer must be. I pay for it in lonliness. It hurts and sucks. I wish this on no one and I get livid when people imply I am lazy or stupid and don't know any better. I do. And I still have the probelm. Millions of people do. Have some compassion please.

[dasein]

Lots of bad habits are potentially learned in childhood, doesn't give adults a free pass to continue them once they have a rational, mature mind to choose better options to bad habits. Tired of the pervasive victim mentality in this country. Poor diet choices for most are simply a bad habit like smoking or drinking too much, regardless of when it was learned. Moreover, food is not as addictive as either nicotine or alcohol.

 

I know this because I come from a family that tends towards obesity. I did learn very bad habits in my youth. I have to work harder than others not to be obese, and you know what, it's just not that hard. Continuing to choose an unhealthy lifestyle is socially selfish, and if we tax cigs and booze because of their social costs, then other bad habits should be taxed as well. Fat people should have to pay more for diseases related to obesity for instance, medicare shouldn't pay 80% of 80k heart surgeries or diabetes or stroke expenses for sedentary people who refuse to change their habits. Modify just those simple three medicare benefits to lifestyle choice and the health care crisis would evaporate overnight. This is a problem that will not be solved until the people who are incurring all the social costs are hit in the wallet.

[AmEricanWomann]

Oh sure its easy to lose weight. I lost hundreds of pounds in my life. I gained it all back. I never thought it was OK to be fat. I thought it was horrible, I felt horrible, I looked horrible. So why did I eat too much? Because I was hungry. I never felt full. My stomach and my brain didn't communicate properly and I almost never felt a feeling of fullness and satisfaction until I had eaten way more than my body needed to actually sustain itself.

 

Three and a half years ago I had gastric bypass and its like I became another person. I was finally able to feel full. I lost nearly 200lbs in 2 years and have been maintaining for a year and a half. Sometimes lll put on a few lbs, but because I can get full now as long as I eat the right foods, I can take off the weight pretty quickly.

 

Some people who judge fat people will want to judge me and say I took the easy way out. And I would say, its not the easy way out, there are consequence that come with everything, but even if it was, so what?...its a way out.

I dont think anyone is nasty to fat people or judges them harshly because they are practicing tough love or because they want those people to be healthy. They judge them, because it makes them feel good to act superior. If we want people to be honest, then those people who are so quick to put others down for how they look or what they eat, need to be honest with themselves first.

[Cypress25]

The same way we scorn smokers, we should scorn overeaters.

 

You think that would make them lose weight? Does scorning smokers make them quit smoking?

 

Many overweight people are emotional eaters. Food is their drug. They eat to sooth negative feelings like stress, anger, loneliness, sadness, etc. Just like smokers reach for a cigarette when they're stressed, angry, lonely, or sad. It's a coping mechanism. Some people drink to numb their feelings. Some people shoot heroin. And some people eat.

 

So if you scorn these people and criticize them for being overweight, that will only make them feel bad, which will cause them to eat even more. No one ever successfully lost weight by feeling bad about themselves. People are much more likely to start taking care of themselves when they feel positive, when they feel good about themselves. Shaming overweight people doesn't do any good. It won't make them thin. In fact, it will probably make them even fatter.

 

But of course, you don't really care about helping people lose weight. That's not why you want to scorn them. You just want an excuse to be critical and judgmental.

 

It's hypocritical that we tax cigarettes and alcohol exorbitantly and don't tax other bad health decisions.

 

Cigarettes and alcohol are not decisions. They are products and that's why they can be taxed. You can only tax products that have a price tag, you can't tax intangibles like decisions.

 

What would you tax if you wanted to punish fat people? Food? What kind of food? Junk food, fast food, sugary food, refined carbs? But not everyone who eats that food is fat, so you might end up punishing thin people too. Any kind of food can make you fat, if you eat too much of it.

 

Fat people should have to pay more for diseases related to obesity for instance, medicare shouldn't pay 80% of 80k heart surgeries or diabetes or stroke expenses for sedentary people who refuse to change their habits.

 

Not all fat people are unhealthy, and not all thin people are healthy. I know plenty of thin people who eat like fat people. But they're not fat because they were blessed with the metabolism of a humming bird. So when a thin person gets heart disease as a result of poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle, should insurance pay for their care?

 

Most health problems can be blamed on lifestyle choices. You have skin cancer? Too bad, you shouldn't have neglected sunscreen when you were younger. You have mono? Too bad, you shouldn't have kissed that girl. You have anorexia? Too bad, you should just eat more. You have osteoporosis? Too bad, you should have been drinking more milk. You have Alzheimer's? Too bad, you should have done more crossword puzzles in your youth. You have an STD? Too bad, you should have used a condom.

 

I could go on and on about all the people who should be denied insurance coverage on the basis that they could have prevented their health problems. But that would be ridiculous because all health problems can be prevented, as long as you live a perfect life in a perfect bubble. So should all preventable diseases be denied treatment, or only the ones that fat people suffer from?

 

We all know this is not about money. It's not about insurance. It's not about taxes. Some people just want an excuse to vilify fat people. They want to blame fat people for all of society's problems.

 

They judge them, because it makes them feel good to act superior.

 

This is the truth. And no one is fooled by it because it's so obvious. When you point fingers, no one looks at the person you're pointing at. They look at the person pointing their finger.

[Feelin Frisky]

Oh sure its easy to lose weight. I lost hundreds of pounds in my life. I gained it all back. I never thought it was OK to be fat. I thought it was horrible, I felt horrible, I looked horrible. So why did I eat too much? Because I was hungry. I never felt full. My stomach and my brain didn't communicate properly and I almost never felt a feeling of fullness and satisfaction until I had eaten way more than my body needed to actually sustain itself.

 

Three and a half years ago I had gastric bypass and its like I became another person. I was finally able to feel full. I lost nearly 200lbs in 2 years and have been maintaining for a year and a half. Sometimes lll put on a few lbs, but because I can get full now as long as I eat the right foods, I can take off the weight pretty quickly.

 

Some people who judge fat people will want to judge me and say I took the easy way out. And I would say, its not the easy way out, there are consequence that come with everything, but even if it was, so what?...its a way out.

I dont think anyone is nasty to fat people or judges them harshly because they are practicing tough love or because they want those people to be healthy. They judge them, because it makes them feel good to act superior. If we want people to be honest, then those people who are so quick to put others down for how they look or what they eat, need to be honest with themselves first.

 

* gives standing ovation* :)

ETA: I almost succumbed to that surgery a few years ago but the wanted me to lose 30 lbs before to shrink my liver and then they cancelled me for two moths because the doctor had to deal with his father's death in India. I wound up losing twice the 30 and realized I was too healthy to bother with getting cut--which I never wanted to do. I still struggle but I know I can win campaigns to lose weight. I planned one starting at the end of this month when my health club membership resumes and I've let some bone surgery I've had on my foot heal properly. ope by spring I will be "normal" for one of the few times in my life. I started dieting last week. So far so good.

Edited September 10, 2011 by Feelin Frisky

[quankanne]

Three and a half years ago I had gastric bypass and its like I became another person. I was finally able to feel full. I lost nearly 200lbs in 2 years and have been maintaining for a year and a half. Sometimes lll put on a few lbs, but because I can get full now as long as I eat the right foods, I can take off the weight pretty quickly.

 

good for you! I know that it's a struggle relearning "how" to eat, but to have kept off so much for so long is fantastic!

 

now to be a Debbie Downer: There's going to be someone out there who will scoff at the fact that you "cheated" by having surgery, because you "don't have the willpower to do it on your own." Hell, one of the girls I graduated high school with who had gastric bypass had the nerve to tell me that at least *she* didn't have some foreign object put in her stomach like I did! WTH??? As if making the decision to do something to help yourself live a healthier life didn't count because it wasn't a method she approved/had???

 

some people will never have compassion, but just choose to be judgmental. I'd like to remind those folks that Karma's a bxtch, and Irony is her twin ...

[Feelin Frisky]

Three and a half years ago I had gastric bypass and its like I became another person. I was finally able to feel full. I lost nearly 200lbs in 2 years and have been maintaining for a year and a half. Sometimes lll put on a few lbs, but because I can get full now as long as I eat the right foods, I can take off the weight pretty quickly.

 

good for you! I know that it's a struggle relearning "how" to eat, but to have kept off so much for so long is fantastic!

 

now to be a Debbie Downer: There's going to be someone out there who will scoff at the fact that you "cheated" by having surgery, because you "don't have the willpower to do it on your own." Hell, one of the girls I graduated high school with who had gastric bypass had the nerve to tell me that at least *she* didn't have some foreign object put in her stomach like I did! WTH??? As if making the decision to do something to help yourself live a healthier life didn't count because it wasn't a method she approved/had???

 

some people will never have compassion, but just choose to be judgmental. I'd like to remind those folks that Karma's a bxtch, and Irony is her twin ...

 

I'm a little confused by what you said, quank. Did you have lap band and she had the other full gastric bypass? or did I read wrong?

[dasein]

Does scorning smokers make them quit smoking?

 

News for you, it does.

 

You just want an excuse to be critical and judgmental.

 

Pot:kettle:black moment.

 

Cigarettes and alcohol are not decisions. They are products and that's why they can be taxed. You can only tax products that have a price tag, you can't tax intangibles like decisions.

 

You can tax anything that can be reduced to monetary value. When someone receives government benefits for an obesity related illness, they would be evaluated as to ability to diet and exercise, and are prescribed a diet and exercise plan as part of their treatment. It is much cheaper to monitor such than continue to perform expensive surgeries on people who refuse to follow the treatment. If they don't meet the milestones for treatment, their medicare benefit percentage reduces, simple as that. If you keep burdening the public medical system with expenses, and refuse to follow part of the treatment to get better, you pay 50% of your medicare expenses rather than 20% going forward.

 

And yes, sugared beverages could be taxed. And yes, fast food could be taxed, and they should be. Casual dining restaurants that serve garbage food should be taxed. If you believe that cigs and booze should be taxed heavily as they are, that other even more unhealthy food products should not be is an indefensible and hypocritical position.

 

But not everyone who eats that food is fat, so you might end up punishing thin people too.

 

Not everyone who smokes cigs gets cancer or heart disease, not everyone who drinks alcohol incurs social costs, yet it's fine to tax those?

 

Any kind of food can make you fat, if you eat too much of it.

 

Show me someone who got fat eating fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats and nothing else, and I'll show you one in a million.

 

Not all fat people are unhealthy, and not all thin people are healthy. I know plenty of thin people who eat like fat people. But they're not fat because they were blessed with the metabolism of a humming bird. So when a thin person gets heart disease as a result of poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle, should insurance pay for their care?

 

Mostly irrelevant, because a vast majority of obesity related illnesses are relatively rare in people who aren't obese, but the type of program I'm talking about with medicare would assess those factors as part of the treatment plan. Everyone, regardless of body weight, would get the exercise and diet protocols, and if they don't follow that part of their treatment, they get taxed on their benefits, fat or skinny.

 

Most health problems can be blamed on lifestyle choices.

 

Total rationalization. And it's a fact that the most expensive public medical issues are obesity related: diabetes, heart disease, cancer. If the non sunscreen users slip through, well we will get around to them one day. For now, let's just get the fat asses who milk the system paying their fair share in exchange for their poor choices.

 

We all know this is not about money. It's not about insurance. It's not about taxes. Some people just want an excuse to vilify fat people. They want to blame fat people for all of society's problems.

 

Is that what we all know? BS.

 

This is the truth.

 

No it's a lie. How dare you characterize people's legitimate concerns about paying for the bad choices of others as just pointing fingers? I pay taxes, and lots of the taxes I pay that go to medical expenses are hoovered up by the obese and all their myriad unnecessary health issues in the exact same way they hoover up twinkies and sodas. They are welcome to kill themselves any way they see fit, but their stealing billions and trillions of dollars from the rest of us in the process needs to stop yesterday.

 

Or here's a better idea, get rid of medicare, medicaid and SS entirely and watch two things happen nearly instantly in this country a) a return to the principles of personal responsibility in one's own life, as opposed to breeding a race of sheep suckling at the government sugar tit, and b) a resurgence of smart healthy lifestyle practices in the population the magnitude of which the world has never seen.

[GoodOnPaper]

Or here's a better idea, get rid of medicare, medicaid and SS entirely and watch two things happen nearly instantly in this country a) a return to the principles of personal responsibility in one's own life, as opposed to breeding a race of sheep suckling at the government sugar tit, and b) a resurgence of smart healthy lifestyle practices in the population the magnitude of which the world has never seen.

 

A resurgance of WHAT?? What fantasy world are you living in? Let's go back to our grandparents' era. Mine were good Republican farmers and believed in this brand of "personal responsibility" that rightwingers spout on and on about. They smoked, drank, and every meal was home-cooked chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes or something of similar high-calorie high-fat content. They died in their 50s and 60s and the heart attacks they and their contemporaries had ran up billions of dollars in health costs -- much of which ended up coming from the federal government.

 

The difference between now and then is NOT our personal lifestyle choices. It's big ag that has come in with artificially-processed, hormone-filled food "stuff" that can be easily microwaved or bought at a fast food place. People take advantage of this because they need the extra time to work more hours, work more jobs, etc. to keep/improve their lifestyle or maybe even keep off the government dole -- in other words, being "personally responsible" for one's income.

[dasein]

A resurgance of WHAT?? What fantasy world are you living in?

 

Apparently Saturday is "straw man" day here on LS...

 

Let's go back to our grandparents' era. Mine were good Republican farmers and believed in this brand of "personal responsibility" that rightwingers spout on and on about. They smoked, drank, and every meal was home-cooked chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes or something of similar high-calorie high-fat content.

 

1. Unlike today, they didn't know any better. 2. The lower level of technology and automation then required more calories and fat in the diet. 3. I'm neither a Republican, nor a right-winger... straw man moar?

 

The difference between now and then is NOT our personal lifestyle choices.

 

Yes, it is. Regardless of what you are eating, if you start getting fat, you have a choice to eat better and not get fat, or at least 90% + of fatties do. My grandparents, who neither smoked nor drank, ate a ton of food because they did a ton of work. Had they done less work, they would have eaten less food... lifestyle choices. The problem came when children were raised into a service economy lifestyle by those accustomed to more hard work, and didn't modify their behaviors by choosing not to eat all the junk you complain about in addition to the hard labor level of calories.

 

But really, if people don't buy it, they can't sell it. I don't think anyone, no matter how abjectly ignorant, looks at a bag of Cheetos and thinks, "well dairy is one of the food groups, and it says 'real cheese' right there on the bag, so Cheetos must count as a serving of dairy..." Doh! Or maybe so much teat sucking actually has made the masses that absurdly stupid. Ketchup is a vegetable, right? How exactly do you think people get that monumentally stupid? or stupid enough to spend $150 on a pair of tennis shoes? Stupid enough to get hooked on meth and crack? They have to be coddled into it by the government over generations. You can't breed that much stupid (or fat) in one generation, there has to be a "war on poverty" or somesuch for years and years to really get a population on an oiled racetrack to the bottom. Our country is in the fine position of seeing just how low "the bottom" can go at the moment, and the obesity problem is a "whale-sized" part of that.

 

It's big ag that has come in with artificially-processed, hormone-filled food "stuff" that can be easily microwaved or bought at a fast food place.

 

Yeah they shoved it right down our throats. Simultaneously with that, the same level of technology that created all the cheap toxic junk just happened to drive down the costs of wholesome foods to never before seen levels... not to mention the greater variety of wholesome foods available in places they never were before. Bet you don't want to talk about that side of the "big ag" coin, though, amirite?

 

But OK fine, let's tax all that junk food, I'm game, thought I said that already though.

 

People take advantage of this because they need the extra time to work more hours, work more jobs, etc. to keep/improve their lifestyle or maybe even keep off the government dole -- in other words, being "personally responsible" for one's income.

 

Fresh fruits and vegetables have never been cheaper. I do my weekly shopping in about ten minutes and pay about $12-15 per week. I supplement that with eating at fresh vegetable buffets a few times a week. My food cost is well under $200 a month, and I eat more variety and better for less money than I ever could have 20 years ago, that's for sure. Yet the population at large just keeps getting fatter and fatter and fatter. Sure, let's blame it on "big ag" and Republicans.

 

I suppose some mean ole Republican poured all those Big Gulps down fatties' throats while they were asleep. Poor poor fatties, bad bad Republicans.

[Cypress25]

News for you, it does.

 

Then why do so many people still smoke? Scorning smokers does not make them quit. It just makes them go outside to smoke.

 

Not everyone who smokes cigs gets cancer or heart disease, not everyone who drinks alcohol incurs social costs, yet it's fine to tax those?

 

The taxes can't be that bad, or you wouldn't buy it. If you don't like the taxes, don't buy those products. You don't need them.

 

Show me someone who got fat eating fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats and nothing else, and I'll show you one in a million.

 

So you propose taxing all food except fruits, vegetables, and lean meats? Don't you think dairy and whole grains are important for a healthy diet? Vegetarians and vegans can't eat lean meats, so are they to be taxed for their non-meat alternatives?

 

And it's a fact that the most expensive public medical issues are obesity related: diabetes, heart disease, cancer. If the non sunscreen users slip through, well we will get around to them one day. For now, let's just get the fat asses who milk the system paying their fair share in exchange for their poor choices.

 

You didn't address all the other health problems I mentioned. And you make it clear that you're only targeting fat people, which shows that you're not really concerned about medical expenses. Heart disease and cancer are not always caused by obesity. There are so many different types of cancer and most of them are not weight-related. If you're going to target fat people, then you'll have to target everyone else who has a preventable disease caused by lifestyle choices. And that would be almost everyone in the world.

 

I pay taxes, and lots of the taxes I pay that go to medical expenses are hoovered up by the obese and all their myriad unnecessary health issues

 

I pay taxes too, and yet I have no idea how much of my taxes pay for medical care for obese patients. How do you find out such a thing? Can you show me the numbers that prove your claim that a disproportionate amount of your taxes are being spent on obesity treatment?

 

My taxes pay for the same things as your taxes. But I have no complaints. I don't smoke, but I'm sure some of my taxes help pay for medical care for people with lung cancer and emphysema. I'm not overweight, but I'm sure some of my taxes help pay for the things you're complaining about. I don't have kids, but my taxes help pay for public schools. Everyone pays taxes that fund things they don't use or believe in. That's how taxes work, get used to it. They pay much higher taxes in Europe (to fund things like national health insurance and extended maternity leave). Paying taxes doesn't give you the right to judge people.

[D-Lish]

The worst thing I ever saw in terms of obesity was when I was in Florida a few years back and this mini-van backed onto the beach. Out came two morbidly obese women, a small husband, and 2 obese children.... CHILDREN.

 

They were probably 5-7 years old.

 

The back trunk opened, and out came buckets of chicken,bags of chips, Litres of Coca-cola... The amount of food they pulled out was astonishing.

 

The entire family was an early heart attack in the making at different stages of their life.

 

What bothered me the most is that THOSE PARENTS have set their own children up for an early death.

 

As far as I am concerned it's tantamount to an alcoholic feeding their child alcohol.

 

My biological mother is pretty huge, my adoptive mother is the same- I'm skinny as a stick despite the pre-dispotision in terms of genes and example.

[sweetjasmine]

And I'm sentenced to keep figting the same private battles many times every day and lose some. I have to live alone and make all my own meals or I'm in trouble. I really need a special woman who can help me stay the way she wants to see me. I haven't found one yet who isn't mi-oriented to what obesity is and how stict a suffer must be. I pay for it in lonliness. It hurts and sucks. I wish this on no one and I get livid when people imply I am lazy or stupid and don't know any better. I do. And I still have the probelm. Millions of people do. Have some compassion please.

 

Thanks for sharing, FF. I think a lot of people simply don't understand and never will unless they suddenly find themselves in the same situation.

 

I've never been more than a little overweight, but I'm close to people who have had serious weight problems. My mother used to be stick thin until she hit her 40s and 50s. Her working full-time (while still taking care of the house and family) and a huge amount of stress revealed that she's an emotional eater. She made the effort to exercise and was doing well until she had a painful hip injury and began to gain weight again. It took her over two years to finally get to a physical therapist who could help her with the pain, and she's finally started going back to the gym again to start exercising slowly. It doesn't matter how much information you stick in front of her face and how much she does or doesn't know about nutrition, exercise, and health. That's not the damn problem, but I'm sure some strangers have looked at her and assumed she's lazy or ignorant when she's really just exhausted, stressed, unhappy, and physically unable to get much exercise.

 

People really don't understand that losing weight isn't necessarily the hardest part - it's keeping it off that's the eternal struggle. A chain smoker who has been at it for 20 years can quit cold turkey, but someone with a weight problem can't quit food cold turkey, so the temptation is always, always there. It's analogous to that chain smoker needing to smoke 3 cigarettes a day to survive. How many former chain smokers would be able to stop at 3 cigarettes and not go back to 3 packs a day?

 

I doubt there's anyone on earth who has perfect self-discipline and perfect healthy habits. Everyone has weaknesses and failings. What good does it do to kick someone else when you have your own struggles to deal with?

[NoIDidn't]

some people will never have compassion, but just choose to be judgmental. I'd like to remind those folks that Karma's a bxtch, and Irony is her twin ...

 

Quank, can I borrow this?!

[dasein]

I'd like to remind those folks that Karma's a bxtch, and Irony is her twin.

 

Does this apply also to people whose willful bad choices negatively affect their loved ones and others? Does it apply to those whose actions and choices cause needless drama, suffering, anxiety and expense in the lives of those they love and others? Does it apply to addicts of any type who selfishly refuse to get the help they need? I think it does.

Edited September 11, 2011 by dasein