It’s Hard Enough to Be a Fat Kid Without the Government Telling You You’re an Epidemic

Growing up, I was always fat. Not as fat as I am now, but never, ever skinny. Never small. I was tall and athletic and big—I knocked stuff over, I blocked people's views, I was always in the way. Even if they made fashionable clothes in my size (which they didn't—OOH, MORE LOUD-PATTERNED SMOCKS, PLEASE), I didn't know how to make anything look good on my body. I was the girl the mean kids would target with the old, "See that guy over there? He likes you" gag. Good one, bros! In case you don't get it, the punchline is that I'm fat. So obviously he didn't like me—it would be against all the laws of the universe. At the same time, though, I played three sports, I was active and healthy, I was good at school, I was funny, and I was popular. I was a happy kid. And I was still miserable. Because that's what fat does.

I cannot even imagine being that same fat kid in 2012—having to put up with all the misery and the shame and the tunics (SO MANY TUNICS), along with the added pain of knowing that the government officially considers you an epidemic. You're a "problem" that needs to be "fixed." Newscasters with knitted brows talk about you in the abstract like your butt is a crime wave or a natural disaster; they show bodies that look like yours with their heads chopped off; they tell you that this body you have—the one that grew around you out of nowhere, that you're just getting used to—is bankrupting the nation and mowing down future generations like tuberculosis. Tu-pork-ulosis. Whatever.

http://jezebel.com/5945955/its-hard-enough-to-be-a-fat-kid-without-the-government-telling-you-youre-an-epidemic?utm_source=lifehacker.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation

You're as simple as you sound - you don't mind millions paying with their lives for the bad thinking habits you've stuffed into what passes for your brain about economics, politics, law, and freedom.

I'm smart enough to know obesity is causing tens of billions of unneeded medical expenses (record amount of diabetes, HBP, sleep apnea, premature joint problems, asthma/breathng problems, ..and oh HFCS? Yeah it causes problems if consumed in large quantities just as anything else but the key is moderation....which most Americans ignore today.

Crawl back to DU where you belong, you liberal moron.

I said twice I don't want the gov't telling us what to eat and I said I don't give a hoot what you stuff in your mouth and what quantities..just don't make me pay for your gluttoness behavior-how about my freedom from that?.I am the one calling for personal responsibility and you call me a liberal?? You want ME to pay for your bad behavior. I want the freedom What a maroon.

BTW you are clueless what is driving up health cost...

But you woouldn't be paying any higher premiums for health insurance if the government got out of the restriction business and insurers could sell across state lines, or make whatever combination of healthcare products fit a specific market, or compete based on consumer demands instead of collectivist political theories that killed 200 million in the last century

My brother works for Anthem BC/BS-sales director for 3 states. Those idea you mentioned will help some but the driving force of what is raising premiums is over utilization.i.e.e too many unneeded claims. Period.

..as for fast yeast etc yeah maybe to a degree but people are just stuffing themselves...face it..people just eat way too much.

A guy I work out with has been a Physical Therapist for 25 years. When he started 95% of PT was accident injuries or from people recovering from surgeries. Now 50% or greater is from the effects of obesity--people in their late 40's early 50's getting hip and knee transplants, back problems etc.

Again you want to eat yourself silly. Fine. Just don't expect me to pay for your medical bills resulting from it.

Americans, FReepers included, are content to allow medicine to solve (or temporarily mend) these health problems. They're not willing to accept that prevention is far easier and MUCH less costly for everyone.

I can't totally blame them. Look at crap like this--so many "experts" who don't know what they're talking about spouting off about how kids are going to get hurt by exercising with any level of intensity. I guess video games and the couch are preferred?

My wife tells me that the egg is once again being denounced as something that will kill us, while genetically-modified corn is actually very, very unhealthy, yet we're shoveling it into our mouths since, you guessed it, the experts say it's OK!

We're a very sick nation in many, many ways, and this particular one is going to get a lot worse IMO.

I agree with you that government should get it's grubby mitts out of dictating how the insurance industry can go to market. That would save individuals a lot of money and better apply the risk where it belongs.

Even if this fantasy island dream came true, our country would still have a vested interest in having a healthy population that lives a long and productive life without becoming a burden to their family or the state. Forcing people to be responsible for their bad choices would be a good start. I also think the state has a vested interest in people being educated on basic human nutrition. If we're going to have public education, I think people should be taught some simple basics about science. I also think they should be taught basic economics because that alone would end liberalism as we know it.

A case in point about having a population that understands basic nutrition comes from your comment:

life would also be easier for you if you understood how destructive high fructose corn syrup is to people trying to eat healthily

High fructose corn syrup is unhealthy? Huh? Any food can be "unhealthy" if you consume too much of it. People die from drinking too much water after all. HFCS has the same chemical make up as hydrolyzed sucrose (sugar). How one can be "destructive" to your health, in moderation, while the other is not, remains a mystery.

or the creation of wholesale weight gain and illness by using fast yeast in virtually all commercial bakeries

You're beginning to sound like a lot of overweight people who choose to blame something other than the true cause of their weight gain, so they don't have to accept any personal responsibility. Not good. Blaming fast yeast for weight gain and illness is new craziness for me, and I've been a food scientist for almost 30 years.

or allowing pharmaceutical companies to write the laws concerning what people may learn about what the government is forcing them to be vaccinated with, or restricted to buy in grocery stores.

That's quality tin foil you got goin' right thar. It also shows that you probably shouldn't be lecturing others on the forum about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.