Free Republic

TRENTON, N.J. - The Republican in New Jersey's race for governor wants the incumbent to eat his words over the challenger's heft. says Gov. Jon Corzine should quit hinting at his weight with unflattering ads and "Man up and say I'm fat." Christie also told radio personality Don Imus he'll be "a big, fat winner" on Election Day. "I'm pretty fat," Christie deadpanned on Imus's New York-based radio show Thursday morning. Asked by Imus, he joked he weighed 550 pounds.

American nightclubs catering specifically for fat people are proving a hit with plus-sized partygoers looking for acceptance. Venues like Club Bounce and The Butterfly Lounge in California are aimed at people who may be made to feel unwelcome at certain fashionable nightspots because of their size. Such clubs are a relatively new development, with a handful scattered across California, mainly in coastal cities such as San Diego and San Francisco. Lisa Marie Garbo, who opened Club Bounce five years ago, said she did it for herself and others who were tired of being "the only fat girl at the local...

Jello. Ever see it wiggle? Does it make you cringe when you see that same effect on parts of your body like your legs, thighs, and buttocks? Cellulite is that condition of the human body where the skin of the lower limbs, abdomen, and pelvic region becomes dimpled after puberty, according to Wikipedia. This appearance is much more common in women than in men because of differences in the way fat, muscle, and connective tissue are distributed in men and women's skin....

Rosie O'Donnell has confirmed that she and longtime girlfriend Kelli Carpenter are on the rocks. In a new interview with USA Today, she says, "We're a family. We will remain a family forever. And we are working on our issues." The 47-year-old O'Donnell -- who has been suggesting a split on her blog -- wouldn't confirm a National Enquirer report that Carpenter, 42, has moved out of their Nyack, NY, home and into Manhattan. (USA Today notes that Carpenter was not at the house during the interview.) Meet Rosie O'Donnell and other stars' surprise BFFs "We're a family, we remain...

A woman who claims to have been beaten up because she is overweight is campaigning to see discrimination against fat people outlawed. Marsha Coupe, 53 was attacked on a train by a woman who began verbally abusing her for her size. I was returning home one night on a train and a woman sat across from me started kicking me and said, Hey fattie! You should not be on the train, you need two seats, she said...

Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby. But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.

By Andrew W. Griffin Red Dirt Report, editor Posted: October 6, 2009 reddirtreporter@gmail.com REVIEW – Larry The Cable Guy – Tailgate Party (WBR Nashville) 2009 When it comes to gittin’-r-done, country comedian Larry The Cable Guy (Dan Whitney) is usually on the mark. His 2005 comedy recording, The Right To Bare Arms, was a hit and the off-color jokes, redneck observations and timing – believe it or not – were, well, funny. This time, on the just-released live comedy recording Tailgate Party, on the WBR Nashville label, Larry does his routine before 50,000 fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.,...

Though he has profited by over $50 million selling his product in the marketplace, left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore contends that capitalism hasn’t done him any good. “If I made all that money, where is it?” Moore asked. While wags may jibe that there is ample evidence that Moore has put a large portion of his profits into augmenting his personal girth, Moore contended that “a system that allows a person to frivolously spend on items that endanger their health, like America does, victimizes people.” Moore argued that “a socialist government like Cuba would’ve still let me make movies, but would...

Lizzie Miller is considered too large to model plus-size clothes. Is the reaction that followed the publication of this picture going to change that? 'It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches," gushes Cindi Leive, editor of US Glamour in a post on the magazine's blog, "but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands." The picture in question, illustrating a story about body confidence, has generated more than 700 comments on the site, and featured on the US Today morning TV programme. What does it show? A beautiful, creamy-skinned...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – There is an epidemic in an old gold mining town in western Arizona: The wild burros that roam the town's single street are overweight, with rolls of fat on their necks and big, full bellies. But don't blame them. They'll eat anything. It's the half million tourists who visit tiny Oatman each year. They're the ones who have been feeding these critters carrots, hay or anything else, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says.

Researchers searching for a cure for obesity said on Thursday they have developed a drug that not only makes mice lose weight, but reverses diabetes and lowers their cholesterol, too. The drug, which they have dubbed fatostatin, stops the body from making fat, instead releasing the energy from food. They hope it may lead to a pill that would fight obesity, diabetes and cholesterol, all at once. Writing in the journal Chemistry and Biology, Salih Wakil of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Motonari Uesugi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues said the drug interferes with a suite of...

More than 45,000 NHS workers call in sick each day — one and a half times the rate of absence seen in the private sector. The first national audit of staff habits has found that high rates of obesity, smoking, absenteeism and poor mental health are having a direct impact on the quality of patient care. Dr Steve Boorman, a leading occupational health expert, was asked by the Government to assess links between staff habits and NHS productivity. He will present his interim review today. His findings are drawn from six months of staff surveys, workshops, data reviews and responses...

Q. How can you tell that Hillary is blowing her African tour? A. When even supporters like Tina Brown says she needs to get back home ASAP . . . and hit the gym. The Daily Beast head made her candid comments on today's Morning Joe. Mika Brzezinski made a spirited defense of Hillary, claiming her latest gaffe—putting Florida 2000 in the same boat as Nigeria's notoriously rigged elections—was no big deal. But Scarborough, Buchanan and Barnicle all said it was past time for Hillary to return. And Brown put in the unkindest cut of all . . .

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee compares his past weight problem to President Obama's economic policies in a pitch Wednesday for a financial newsletter. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who failed to win the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, charges that the president "is devouring the entire free-enterprise system" and lists Obama's decision to bail out the auto and banking industries as mistakes. The pitch for "Successful Investing" was sent out to readers of the conservative publication Human Events.

An obese jail inmate managed to hide a gun from authorities after he was arrested - because he was so overweight he could conceal it inside his rolls of fat. 500lb George Vera, 25, hid the pistol underneath his rolls of skin, wheer it remained undetected during five seperate searches. The 5ft 10in Vera was arrested by Houston police and taken to the city jail on suspicion of bootlegging CDs. A spokesman for the Houston Police Department, Kese Smith, confirmed that procedures call for a suspect to be searched upon arrest, twice at the city jail and once more upon...

How do we trim health care costs? Weighing in on the national debate, a new study in the journal Health Affairs urges: Fight fat by fighting fat. An obese person spends $1,400 more in medical expense per year than normal-weight people, and obesity-related diseases cost this nation anywhere from $86 billion to $147 billion per year. "Real (health care) savings are more likely to be achieved through reforms that reduce the prevalence of obesity and related risk factors," the study's scholars conclude. Addressing "poor diet and inactivity," they say, will require "policy and environmental changes that extend far beyond what...

If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They spend 30 years ridiculing Robert Atkins, author of the phenomenally-best-selling ''Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution'' and ''Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution,'' accusing the Manhattan doctor of quackery and fraud, only to discover that the unrepentant Atkins was right all along. Or maybe it's this: they find that their very own dietary recommendations -- eat less fat and more carbohydrates -- are the cause of the rampaging epidemic of obesity in America. Or, just possibly this: they find out both of the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Health care costs keep growing fatter in part because Americans are, too. More than 25% of the increase in medical costs between 1987 and 2001 is attributable to obesity and obesity-related conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, according to a new report from the non-partisan Urban Institute. Come 2015, it is estimated that 40% of American adults will be obese, which is more than double the rate 40 years ago. And today, close to 20% of children are obese, up from 4% four decades ago. "What does that mean for health care costs years from now?"...

Teacher suspended for calling pupils ugly and fat A secondary school teacher called his pupils "ugly" and "fat" in lessons and asked if their mothers were attractive when planning parents' evening, a tribunal heard. By Matthew Moore 22 Jul 2009 James Cairney, who taught food technology, also made "inappropriate physical contact" with students while demonstrating restraint techniques. The General Teaching Council found that Mr Cairney caused distress to his teenage pupils by making public judgements on their appearances. He described three students as "ugly", "fat" and a "scumbag", while praising one's "good looks" and calling another "beautiful". When one student...

Do you have to be thin to be fit for the role of nation's Top Doc? ================== Since President Obama announced his pick for the nation’s Top Doc, Internet message boards have been atwitter with the observation that Dr. Regina Benjamin is fat. Critics seem to believe it’s ironic that the nation’s top doctor would be overweight, and it’s led the most nattering of nags to conclude that she should not be picked for prom queen, er, I mean, surgeon general. You would think the entire population of the blogosphere had suddenly reverted to the seventh grade. “I refuse to...

The vinegar used to garnish salad dressings, pickles and other foods, may live up to its folk reputation as a fat buster and health promoter. Japanese researchers Tomoo Kondo and colleagues noted that vinegar has also been used as a folk medicine since ancient times, for a range of illnesses. Modern research suggests that acetic acid, the main component of vinegar, may help control blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and fat accumulation. Their new study showed that lab mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice,...

A new report, F as in Fat, says Texas ranks 14th in the nation — in how fat its adults are. The ranking means 27.9 percent of Texas adults are overweight or obese, according to the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, two non profits dedicated to health issues. In the same report, the state had the 20th highest rate of overweight youths, ages 10 to 17, at 32.2 percent. In no state did adults lose weight, the report says. Texas’ ranking didn’t budge from last year. (The new data are based on combined rates for...

Jerri Gray Has Been Charged With Neglecting Her Teenage Son Alex A mother is being charged with neglecting her obese teenage son, raising issues about whether the government has the right to intervene in one's family life. Born and raised in South Carolina, Alexander Draper grew up to reach a dangerous 555 pounds by the age of 14. That's when law enforcement stepped in. "The first and foremost concern is Alexander's health," Lt. Shea Smith told CBS News. Alexander's mother, Jerri Gray, was charged with unlawful neglect of a child for allowing him to become obese. "There have been opportunities...

As if the death of a family member weren't heart-wrenching enough, relatives of an obese Indiana woman were outraged Tuesday over the way the county coroner handled her death. Hours after the death of 48-year-old Teresa Smith, who weighed over 750 pounds, a flatbed truck was sent to her apartment to retrieve the body, FOX affiliate WXIN-TV reported. The Marion County deputy coroner told the station that it was their only option because of her weight.

While companies across the country are downsizing, some in the fashion world have decided that it's time for a bit of upsizing. This spring, the cheap chic emporiums, Target and Forever 21, will launch plus-size lines for teenagers. Forever 21's line, Faith 21, will have sizes ranging from XL-2X, while Target's Pure Energy line will go up to a size 30. It's about time, said several shoppers scouring the crowded racks of a Forever 21 branch in downtown Manhattan, New York, one recent afternoon. "I would love to be able to shop in one store with my friends that are...

Larry Armstrong has been volunteering with his local Boy Scout branch for years, chaperoning trips, serving on the council committee, even becoming certified in archery instruction for a day camp. But Armstrong, at 6-foot, 2-inches tall and about 370 pounds, may no longer qualify for some scout outings because he's overweight, part of a new push by the national organization to ensure the scouts and their volunteers are healthy. A new mandatory weight requirement by the national Boy Scouts of America that will take effect next January has some longtime volunteers concerned they will be left out of trips they've...

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Drive-thru foods may be convenient and easy on the wallet, but they're loaded with unhealthy fats, added sugars, carbohydrates, and sodium. Translation: They're no bargain at all when it comes to your health.

Pharmacists will weigh and measure customers to prevent some people taking new over-the-counter diet pills. Two pills that can help women rapidly drop a dress size will go on sale this week. The first helps slimmers lose 50 per cent more weight than through willpower alone, by preventing the body absorbing fat. The second tricks the brain into thinking the stomach is full, leading to weight loss of 10lb over three months in trials. Eating disorder charity Beat has urged drug company GlaxoSmithKline to ensure only adults with a BMI of 28 or more are allowed to buy its drug...

LONDON (Reuters) - Overweight people eat more than thin people and are more likely to travel by car, making excess body weight doubly bad for the environment, according to a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler," and food production is a major source of greenhouse gases, researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in their study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. "We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend...

Chicago, IL (AHN) - United Airlines has announced it will implement a new policy charging heavier passengers double the standard airfare. Under the new rules, United will charge passengers who "are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin; are unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender; and/or are unable to put the seat's armrests down when seated." Those who fall into these categories will be denied boarding unless they purchase an extra seat, and if no empty seat exists, the passenger will be forced to take a later flight.According to the airline,...

Airline Says Overweight Travelers Will Need To Buy Extra Seats Or Be Denied Entry To Planes. Chicago-based United has instructed its customer service representatives at O'Hare International Airport ticket counters and gates to be extra vigilant beginning Wednesday for passengers they deem to be overweight. Those unable to comfortably fasten a safety belt with one extension or sit comfortably with armrests down will be denied boarding unless they purchase an extra seat, even if they can be placed elsewhere in the aircraft next to an empty seat. If no empty seat exists, the passenger will be forced to take a...

One day a man woke up and decided he'd had enough. Things would have to change. He was bone-weary of discrimination and shame and reproach. The way he could feel people looking at him, mocking him — sometimes subtly, sometimes not. The way people talked about him, about people like him. The sneering, caricatured representations in movies. Everywhere, the pressure, the rejection — singling him out as a second-class citizen, as substandard, as (at best) silly and ridiculous, or (at worst) weak and deficient. Not good enough. But it was all ignorance and lies. He was born this way. God...

Philip Chawner, 53, and his 57-year-old wife Audrey weigh 24st. Their daughter Emma, 19, weighs 17st, while her older sister Samantha, 21, weighs 18st. The family from Blackburn claim £22,508 a year in benefits, equivalent to the take-home pay from a £30,000 salary.

FEED A FEVER--FEED A COLD This is an answer to my wish! (I just hope that it is truish!) It's not caused by calories-- it's the fault of maladies: I'm not a pig--I'm just fluish!

This is just what you need, in the aftermath of pumpkin pie and holiday parties: gross-out science about deep belly fat. In the annals of exercise research, increasingly the answer is "brisk walking." What's the question? Most people think it has to do with exercising the heart or getting rid of love handles and saddlebags. But scientists are finding it's about belly fat, also known as visceral fat, the interior kind that's snug up against your internal organs. Yeah, yuck. Put a glob of abdominal fat and a glob of thigh fat in a petri dish, add a little stimulation,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government. Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are "extremely" obese. "More than one-third of adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006, the NCHS said in its report. The numbers are based on a survey of 4,356 adults over the age of 20 who take part...

Women can stop worrying about pear-shaped figures — fat bottoms have been scientifically proven to be a sign of good health. New research, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggests the fat responsible for producing the pear shape flaunted by celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce may be active in protecting women from diseases by releasing certain hormones. Buttock and hip fat may protect women against type 2 diabetes, researchers from Harvard Medical School found.

She can make a serious novel a best seller, find a great gift for less than $100 and help elect a U.S. president. But losing weight and keeping it off? That's a tough one. Even for Oprah Winfrey. The talk show queen now weighs 200 pounds, up from 160 in 2006, according to an article in the January issue of O magazine provided early to The Associated Press by Harpo Productions. "I'm mad at myself," Winfrey writes in the article. "I'm embarrassed. I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still...

You drink diet soda, so you must be healthier. Right? That's what New York Gov. David Paterson is talking about with his proposal for an "obesity tax" — a 15 percent slap on non-diet sugary soft drinks. Think $1 for a Diet Coke, $1.15 for a Coke. There's just one problem: Studies have found links between drinking diet sodas and obesity and diabetes. A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were...

Chicago (AP) -- When it comes to her weight, Oprah Winfrey has always been straightforward. The talk show queen continues the honesty, saying in the January issue of "O" magazine out Tuesday that she now weighs 200 pounds and has "fallen off the wagon" when it comes to healthy living.

Healthy food can make an individual more susceptible to diseases, according to a new controversial book. In the book titled, 'Trick and Treat: How Healthy Eating Is Making Us Ill,' author Barry Groves claims that healthy eating can sometimes fail to keep an individual hale and hearty. "Most people are eating in a way that is unnatural to us as a species," the Telegraph quoted Barry, who holds a doctorate in nutritional science, as saying. "We're a carnivorous species - our gut is identical to that of a big cat. Yet we're encouraged to eat foods that have been padded...

Voting drive at bar cut off by Ohio law Obama fans' plan, to let patrons in free for registering, called illegal enticement Tuesday, October 7, 2008 3:07 AM By Barbara Carmen THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH DispatchPolitics You can Barack the Vote, but you can't buy it. That's what some overly enthusiastic college kids learned when they approached a manager of the Mynt bar, 445 N. High St., to host a voter-registration drive. Fliers promoting the drive, to have taken place last Saturday, said: "Open Bar. Free Entry when you register to vote or if you are already registered." Mynt charges a...

Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDAre there really certain foods that can help you lose weight and keep it off? We're not talking about any so-called miracle food that "melts the fat" (does the cabbage soup diet ring any bells?). These are foods that really can help you lose or maintain weight, either by helping you to eat less or to burn more calories -- or, in some cases, maybe even helping to decrease your body fat.Experts say there are two basic categories of foods that can be considered "keeping it off superfoods" because they fill your tummy without piling on...

Millions of poor children in the United States may be getting fat before age 10 because their mothers are stressed out and the youngsters seek escape in unhealthy comfort food, researchers said on Tuesday. The stress is rooted in poverty and can be brought on by money woes, work loads, insufficient health insurance and other factors, said Craig Gundersen of the University of Illinois, who led the study.

EDINBURG -- Authorities scrambled Friday to figure out how to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute a woman estimated to weigh nearly half a ton who was indicted on capital murder charges earlier this week. Mayra Rosales, 27, has remained under house arrest since she was charged in March with beating her 2-year-old nephew to death. But now that her case has moved into the state court system, law enforcement officials must address a whole new set of logistical problems before it can go to trial.

The announcement this week from the Local Government Association that Social workers will consider taking 'dangerously overweight' children from their parents and placing them into care is guaranteed to tie all decent people in a veritable Gordian knot of conflicting liberal impulses. On the one hand we all abhor the idea that children might be so packed full of high-calorie low-nutrition takeaways and convenience food by uncaring or ignorant parents that they are effectively crippled by their own bulk. On the other hand we Britons have long rather fancied ourselves to be a more than averagely tolerant bunch, and the...

Government bans the word 'obese' to describe overweight children Obesity is a growing problem in the UK Parents of primary school children will start getting letters in September telling them how fat their children are. But however much they weigh, no child will ever be described as obese. The Department of Health has found in surveys that the term obese is a turn-off, so instead will use the term “very overweight” for those children whose body mass index exceeds 30, in an attempt to enlist parents’ support. Primary care trusts have been given a detailed set of instructions, and a...

She's plump, powerful and ready to cause more controversy than "SuperSize Me." She's Fat Princess, the star of Sony's upcoming video game of the same name. Debuting at last week's E3 expo, the colorful Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base. According to popular gaming blog Joystiq, two feminist gaming sites have already voiced their displeasure with the weighty issue.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than a quarter of all Americans are now obese, the latest U.S. government figures show. The percentage of U.S. adults who are obese grew by nearly 2 percent between 2005 and 2007, from just under 24 percent to 25.6 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee had the worst rates, with 30 percent of adults reporting weights that made them medically obese. Colorado had the slimmest population, with 18.7 percent of people reporting weights that put them in the obese category. Obesity is defined as having a body...