Posted on 01/23/2008 5:22:10 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
For years, health experts have been warning that Americans are too fat, that we exercise too little and eat too much, that our health is in jeopardy.
Blogs written by fat people — and it’s fine to use the word, they say — have multiplied in recent months, filling a virtual soapbox known as the fatosphere, where bloggers calling for fat acceptance challenge just about everything conventional medical wisdom has to say about obesity.
Smart, sassy and irreverent, bloggers with names like Big Fat Deal, FatChicksRule and Fatgrrl (“Now with 50 percent more fat!”) buck anti-obesity sentiment. They celebrate their full figures and call on readers to accept their bodies, quit dieting and get on with life.
The message from the fatosphere is not just that big is beautiful. Many of the bloggers dismiss the “obesity epidemic” as hysteria. They argue that Americans are not that much larger than they used to be and that being fat in and of itself is not necessarily bad for you.
And they reject a core belief that many Americans, including overweight ones, hold dear: that all a fat person needs to do to be thin is exercise more and eat less.
“One of the first obstacles to fat acceptance is breaking down the question of whether being fat is a choice,” Kate Harding, founder of the blog Shapely Prose, said in an interview. “No fat acceptance advocate is saying you should sit around and wildly overeat. What we’re saying is that exercise and a balanced diet do not make everyone thin.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Bull. When I was in grade school, there may have been one or two (although I only remember one who had a glandular disease) obese children in the entire school, which meant pretty much half of a county. Now the one or two number actually applies to thin children. Anybody seen the parking lot of your local Wal Mart lately? Fat folks everywhere.
Then I might have to change tactics if you didn't find that grating or annoying. If I haven't pissed everyone off, than I am doing something wrong.
Ummm...is blobosphere taken?
blobosphere...good one.
Don’t remind the Fred supporters about the metamucil line from Huck. He wants his voters.
I know a woman who has that license plate, and she is a beaut! (and she knows it too)
Smart, sassy and irreverent, bloggers with names like Big Fat Deal, FatChicksRule and Fatgrrl (“Now with 50 percent more fat!”) buck anti-obesity sentiment.
With names like that their soapbox ought to be called the blob-o-sphere. Sheesh.
I feel a Freeper romance brewing....
haha
We are seeing fat people paying the price (literally) for their fat - buying two seats on an ariline for example. At some point this economic model will be expanded to things like healthcare. They may not like it, but I don’t know how our health care system can afford American’s ‘lifestyle choices’ moving forward. Besides there is nothing cool or hip about being obese.
I thought you were off the nanny state ping list :-)
The stupidoldmediasphere admiring the lame-name-o-sphere.
There’s a thought...
I’m sure Diana is very lovely. I tell my 3 year old daughter to avoid men like me (she can’t date until she is 45)...it’s nothing but trouble.
That’s good advice. I tell my 10 year old daughter to avoid men like you too.
:^)
Bwaaa-Haaa-Haaa! I already have a husband that is grating and annoying, LOL! He stole my heart years ago, so Eric doesn’t stand a chance.
Besides, Eric’s young enough to be my son, and I’ve already raised three boys. I’ve served my sentence in Mommyville! ;)
lol, I am just projecting a market reaction to what appears to be an unsustainable siutation. I mean if you went out and tried to get insurance, you’re obviously going to pay more if you’re a 66 year oldwith a history of heart disease than if you’re a 25 year old without so much as a broken bone. WHy should this be any different?
Yep, same as me- I’m skinnier but I probably smoke more to even things out. I’ll probably end up like all of my aunts, uncles and grandparents who tragically passed away at the tender age of 90 to 105.
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