Posted on 01/03/2022 8:23:46 AM PST by Mariner
In American culture, it's bad to be fat. Rarely is this more apparent than at the start of the new year, when diet culture, fat phobia and capitalism converge. Exploiting body shame and people's desire for renewal, weight loss companies ramp up ads, gyms reduce rates and diet companies promise to help people realize the elusive goal of weight loss that lasts.
Sociologists and medical professionals who treat patients using a model of health at every size say this yearly cycle underscores society's obsession with thinness and fuels dangerous misperceptions about the relationship between weight and health.
"I tell patients right off the bat, 'I'm not going to focus on your weight,'" said Dr. Greg Dodell, whose practice is based in New York City. "And first thing they say is, 'Oh my God, what a relief.'"
January's anti-fatness may be cloaked in wellness and body positivity, but its core message to potential customers is the same it has always been: Their body is not good enough, and they have not been disciplined enough to lose weight. Sociologists say that message also suggests weight and health are solely the product of individual choices rather than the result of sexist, racist and classist systems.
"People are doing this to avoid the social stigma, the economic stigma, the moral stigma of being fat or just not being as thin as they could be," said Natalie Boero, a sociology professor at San Jose State University and author of "Killer Fat: Media, Medicine and Morals in the American Obesity Epidemic."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
It's the fault of racist, sexist and classist systems.
And you can be perfectly healthy at 300lbs and 60% body fat.
I blame the fork.
Late at night, I hear the silverware jabbering in the drawer and the fork insists it’s the spoon’s fault.
>>In American culture, it’s bad to be fat
Pretty sure it’s bad to be fat, no matter what culture you are in.
There is no such thing as being fat and healthy. Doesn’t mean everyone should be anorexic either - but if you are carrying around the equivalent of a small child in excess weight, you are unhealthy. Period.
Want to be fat? be fat - I have the same struggles as everyone else - but just admit you are fat, and unhealthy - don’t try to convince everyone is it’s just a perception problem - it’s not.
LOL!
But don't expect me to have to pay for your healthcare.
I think eating salads makes one fat....thats because everyone I see eating them is fat....
OMG...I have watched those highlights online...:)
Priceless!!!!
Hilarious!
One very simple way to lose weight..without any diet..without any pills, is to simply chew every bite 20+ times before swallowing. If you observe fat people earing in a restaurant, you will notice they swallow after only 2-4 bites. That causes eating too much too fast, before the brain can signal you have eaten enough.
You can prove this theory by quitting after eating half of your meal, and wait 20-25 minutes. All of a sudden you will feel full. It is because there is a 20-30 minute lag between stomach having enough food and brain processing it.
Thank you for posting these! So freaking funny - a show that could never, ever be aired now.
Caesar Salads usually have more calories than a Big Mac.
ODAAT works as well.
That's because you didn't see them eat a box of sugar cookies, two loafs of bread, a bag of chips and a container of dip before their salad.
A fat society is a visually ugly society.
Well said.
Being fat is bad. Bad for your health. Bad for your life expectancy. Bad on the eyes.
We don’t have to make judgements about people for being overweight, but it is far worse to try to convince people it is not only okay, it is beautiful.
I know grossly overweight people who have beautiful minds and beautiful personalities, and that is what I judge them on, but I find it repellent when entities try to make us believe that being fat is physically beautiful.
It isn’t.
” but it is far worse to try to convince people it is not only okay, it is beautiful”
It’s NOT OK, never healthy and never beautiful.
And it is ALWAYS the result of choices made by the fat person.
100% of the time is is consuming more calories than expended.
Making resolutions is all about will power.
But will power alone is not enough. Seek out revelations about how the body REALLY stores fat, and obey the findings of those revelations. Then apply the will power, to compel yourself to continue to observe the sanctity of those findings. The practice of yoga is a good way to set the mood.
A kind of self-hypnosis to shift the paradigm.
The key is making your body use fat stores as fuel, just cutting calories isn’t enough.
The doctor in the OP is part of the problem. You don’t have to “focus” on it, but it’s important to bring it up. And kids/young people should really be encouraged to tackle it early since it’s much easier to make changes then.
I lost a significant amount of weight once between appts due to a lifestyle change. I actually had to bring it up to the doc who said that she had noticed it, but that patients often don’t like her to bring up the topic of weight. Um, what if I had lost that weight without changing anything? Seems like a highly medically relevant thing for her to at least to ask about.
“It’s the fault of racist, sexist and classist systems.”
Well I guess that means America was a fair and equitable place, 50 years ago and prior. Everyone was pretty much height weight balanced back then.
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