Do a google search and you'll find plenty of scanned Playboy pictures of her (if you dare!).
Posted on 02/04/2002 9:51:57 AM PST by Jean S
I keep an enormous file, as it were, called "fat," with column fodder. There has been no column on the overweight, because I fear poundage activists as much as I do the animal rights crowd. If these two groups ever combine forces, elk the size of Harrier jets will be riding ubiquitous mass transit powered by clean natural gas.
Fat liberation activists, as they call themselves, have landed ordinances in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and D.C. that prohibit discrimination against the fat in housing and employment.
Fat discrimination books abound: Marilyn Wann's "Fat! So? Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size," and Sondra Solovay's "Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination." Fat liberation activists are heavy on the puns.
"Shallow Hal," a movie in which Gwyneth Paltrow wore a fat suit to play an obese character with inner beauty was met with protests from the portly.
Miriam Berg, president of the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, complained, "It's making horrible fun of fat people, and that is still acceptable in our culture."
Fat demands abound. Elizabeth Fisher, 5-foot-6 and 350 pounds, whose Honda minivan seat belt will not cover her girth, began a campaign to require U.S. auto manufacturers to provide seat belt extenders on all cars. The finest part of this story is her 140-pound friend's quote, "If they're in a car unbelted and people are careening around, it's dangerous not only for the people without seat belts but for all the occupants of the vehicle."
Translation: "Laws of physics being what they are, you don't have a prayer if you are a passenger in a car with 350 unbelted pounds on the loose."
There are tons of overweight people in the United States. The December 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's Report concludes that 61 percent of adults and 13 percent of children are overweight. There are "oversize" models, clothing lines and a "Big and proud of it!" mentality.
I don't want to see Aunt Bea in lingerie. I also don't want new laws, new seat belts or lectures from Carnie Wilson on fat jokes. Kate Smith or Kate Moss — it makes no difference to me. It's the mind, not cellulite, that interests me. Weight is not a discrimination category because, unlike race, it can change. With very limited exceptions, fat is not an illness, a disability, a medical condition, or another one of society's "it's not my fault" maladies. The weight thing is simple: too much food + too little exercise = fat. Reduced, as it were, in simplest terms, to self-discipline.
Weight loss and weight management are tall orders. I want no mail, dear readers, demanding compassion. Lacking metabolism, I've been on a diet since 1970. Losing the 35 pounds from each of four pregnancies was an experience the
Supreme Court should ban as cruel and unusual punishment.
Left to my desires, I'd be with Ms. Fisher, seatbeltless, hoping for the best as we sojourned. I am stunned at how little one can eat in middle age just to maintain the same weight. I haven't had a potato chip since 1982 and French fries have been out of my life since 1990. My treadmill is worn treadless. If I'd had the discipline I have now at age 20, I could have put Ally McBeal to shame.
Weight is a daily, no, hourly battle, and I am not alone. Dolly Parton, who loves Velveeta, confessed that she tried every diet under the sun, including the alleged Dolly Parton diet from National Enquirer. She lost weight and keeps it off by controlling portions. John Travolta dropped 40 pounds by eating half of his usual meals. Sylvester Stallone ate only steak and watermelon to lose weight for Rocky II. Ironically, Jared, the Subway guy, lost about 1,000 pounds eating foot long sandwiches.
America, get some discipline. Overweight is your fault. Waiting in the wings are trial lawyers poised to blackmail McDonald's and Hostess. Marion Nestle of NYU, author of "Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health," called last week for pursuing the makers of M&Ms M &Ms and Slushies as we did tobacco companies. Activists dog Medicare, Medicaid and health insurers to pick up the tab for weight loss.
Somewhere there is a weight loss formula for everyone. Nutrisystem, fen-phen, liposuction, and health-club contracts used for about a month are evidence that no one is alone in the battle of the bulge. Fergie and Monica Lewinsky aren't paid the big bucks by Weight Watchers for walks in the park, although such an exercise regimen is helpful.
Miserable, constant and uphill self-discipline brings downward trends on scales. Trial lawyers, government regulations, and insurers can't change that harsh reality. Please, just give up food, or portions thereof, per Dolly.
Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Her e-mail address is mmjdiary@aol.com
61% is nothing to be proud of. In fact, its a serious problem when most of Americans are fat. Obesity leads to problems like diabetes, which then reflect back to all of us in the way of higher health insurance rates.
Hypothyroidism is a verifiable cause of weight gain, but you obviously have a proactive plan on dealing with your problem.
God Bless and Good Luck
I hope you weren't saying that sarcastically. This young woman has worked very hard over the last three years to slim down to a very nice size, after being over 200 lbs. since her middle teens.
She didn't go on a diet, she changed her lifestyle. I have no doubt ten years from now, she'll be just as slim as she is now.
Republicans Responsible for American Obesity, Claims Al Gore
The fact that an increasing number of Americans are overweight is not their fault, says Vice President, Al Gore.
"The Republicans would have you believe that you are responsible for your own weight gain!" he bellowed very slowly, before an Overeaters Anonymous convention. "But it is their policies that have caused Americans to gain weight."
It is Gore’s contention that lead from bullets, which drop to the ground after firing, has increased the mass of the earth. "The right wing lunatics in this country fire an estimated 2 million bullets per day. Lead is very, very heavy. This increase in the earth's mass enhances gravity’s pull and makes each one of you weigh more than you should!" The audience cheered wildly.
Interviews conducted by the dessert table after the speech, showed that most members of the audience ate the speech up. "I’ve always blamed myself for my obesity. Now I find out that the Republicans are responsible," mumbled Greta Heffer, through a mouthful of Yodels. "They’re despicable."
Scientists initially denounced the concept as completely absurd. However, when the Vice President announced the establishment of $2 billion in government grants to study the phenomena, 1200 scientists immediately signed a petition agreeing to the theory’s validity.
Do a google search and you'll find plenty of scanned Playboy pictures of her (if you dare!).
Softer too! .
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
I had to check well first to make sure this didn't come from the Onion.
Still not sure.
If Al Gore said this, it has to disqualify him from any job which requires education past the third grade.
Stupidity should be a punishable crime.
I hate it when people spoil the punch line so if you want I will email you.
1) I am significantly overweight and have been my entire life with the exception of my last two years of college and the first year or two after that. I hit 200 lbs in 7th grade.
2) I am not a fat liberation activist.
3) I have tried with varying success: The Atkins Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Mayo Clinic Diet, Slim Fast, Metabolife, Meridia, Sugar Busters and more.
4) I have considered, but not as of yet, seriously pursued, gastric bypass surgery. I should note that my father died from complications from one of the earliest gastric bypass procedures - they are much safer now.
5) Up until two weeks ago, I was online to participate in a clinical research study which included counseling with a therapist. It fell through because of my allergy meds (without which I would be climbing the walls).
So, I too, know whereof I speak...so let me just say this: It's just not that simple.
Mechanically (technically?) it is a matter of consume less, burn more fuel. But that is simply easier for some than others.
For most obese people it's also an emotional issue. To put it simply, they (we) will go on a diet, lose a few pounds, then something happens (the weight loss slows, someone criticizes, etc.) and it's back to the fridge.
In other words, much as smoking and alcohol can be addictive, so can food.
And, as far as excercise, if you're 200-300 lbs. overweight, sometimes just walking to the bathroom is about all you can handle. For myself, because I'm older, and I have arthritis, I have trouble especially in the morning with the stairs in my house. (but for the record, let me say that's morning stiffness and I do low-impact aerobics later in the day).
I don't think obesity should be "protected" against discrimination. But I do know from personal experience that I've lost out on professional opportunities because of my size.
I'm still working on it. I'm still determined that one of these summers I won't be ashamed to take off my shirt at the pool.
But what I don't need is any of you skinny, or even moderately overweight, people telling me just to eat less. I happen to know that. I happen to know that if I exercise every day, I'll feel better and drop some pounds. I happen to know that if I cut out the refined sugars that I'll feel better.
So while I agree that these "fat activists" would better spend their time teaching proper nutrition and exercise classes I don't need anyone who hasn't walked a mile in my lard@$$ pants (which typically cost 25% more than yours) telling me how to live or eat.
Unfortunately, our bodies for many thousands of years perfected the process of keping us alive through famine and feast. That's why so many folks have great success with low-carb diets. They fool their bodies into thinking they are in for times of plenty. Then they eat only protein and fat. The body stops looking for carbs to burn or convert into fat and burns body fat instead.
I think it's great for losing about 75% of your total goal. I think the rest has to come off with discipline and exercise. But I will never eat carbs like I did--they are poison. The food pyramid is a joke and the Ag lobby's attempt to fatten us up like swine!
I, too would like to know that line from the Simpsons, though it'll be tough to beat, "Well, I'm a pretty bad President!"
I've never seen these toys... (think I'm a tad old for 'em anyways)
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