Obesity

[PovertyJetset]

There is so much talk around this at the moment and I'm somewhat uncomfortable with a few things.

Fat shaming- not ok, people should consider their shape, size, attire etc a private matter and feel totally free from discrimination and inequality everywhere all the time.

Obesity- a medical fact. Many many negative Heath implications.

So how does one support an individuals choive to live as they wish as a private citizen while at the same time is making a lifestyle choice which negatively impacts their body which has a wider social impact.

Totally cognitive dissonance for me.

Are we as a society saying if some one is obese it's similar to a drug addict or alcoholic?

Thoughts??

I dunno, do you judge people who do dangerous sports? Drive fast cars? Ride motorbikes? Get drunk at the weekends? Work in highly stressful jobs? Have children? Run marathons? Climb mountains? Etc etc. All these things have an impact on 'wider society' (presumably you mean the NHS?) but we don't judge people for doing them (usually - I'm sure some people do!).

I tend to think that a person's weight is between them and any medical professionals who treat them for an obesity-related or exacerbated ailment. Otherwise I think they have just as much a right to use the NHS as anyone else.

Isn't the problem that obesity is becoming normalised? That I have an issue with.

Another thread about obesity?

Totally agree with peach, except that I find it distressing when emotional issues mean that someone is destroying their lives and their health, i.e. Drugs, food. I only hope people are getting the support they need but I fear that they aren't. It's all a bit broken.

Yes peach, precisely but I think we as a society are framing being "fat" as a dreadful illness like a drug addict or alcoholic and we are moving to a space where those freedoms of being a private citizen is being eroded.

So good point- where is the line?

When is starts to cost the NHS?

My dad died of cancer and a cancer that he most likely incubated whilst working with toxic chemicals in the pharma industry. That's pretty common I think. So why no shame or outcry there?

Why are we choosing to attack those who are medically obese?

Just saw the other posts.

I totally agree, we shouldn't be fat shaming anyone and we should be educating and enlightening people to make better choices. I see the work done around anti-smoking and it's been quite incredible. The numbers are astounding in a really positive way!

So why are we obsessed with people's shapes and sizes- is it as simple as it's visible?

So, if you are addicted to alcohol or drugs and you are able to abstain you're in recovery and find ways to cope with the difficulties of that.

Obesity isn't caused by a single or discrete number of substances someone can abstain from.

It's not possible to abstain from being fat. Lots of people who are fat don't want to be but there's no programme I know of that has a huge likelihood of long term success for a very large cross section of people wanting to have socially unremarkable weight. This suggests to me that the condition is not fully understood.

There needed to be far, far more physical exercise in school, every year.
We are meant to be moving, active creatures. We sleep better, feel better, and are more healthy when we exercise. We focus better, learn more effectively when we get to have exercise breaks.
It doesn't have to cost anything. There are hundreds of games and exercises you can do with zero equipment.

If you exercise enough you can eat pretty much a bit of anything without getting too big.

Agree with beachy . Some Scottish schools have the daily mile and this has had a massive impact on childhood obesity.
It's costing the NHS now! Watch the panorama on diabetes - still on iPlayer.

And I don't think it's fat shaming to say people need to take responsibility for what they eat and what they feed their kids.

Also real government investment in making car use less attractive and cycling and walking more attractive. Not just painting a few white lines on roads which cars park over.

So as we as a species evolve are we becoming so sedentary that we loose our motivation to be the homosapiens we should be?

i know it's relatively simple to keep trim and healthy but I also know that as an individual I come from a place of immense opportunity and privilege that enables me to do that.

When I read then individual and anecdotal storieS here I hear women who are unhappy and battening their bodies.

It's so shit.

This is just one. Please feel free to help yourselves to the whole packet.

I genuinely don't mind if other people are obese. I don't judge

I would if it was my own husband or kids.

Beachykeen in my experience that's not entirely true. My whole life I've been obese/overweight I understand now that it was mostly because of my sedentary lifestyle. Now that I'm more active I can have a treat here and there but I exercise at least 9 hours every week and calorie controlled my diet for the most part. Yes, it's doable, but it's not easy and I'm sure more than a few people would think that running half marathons and eating 1800 calories a day is their idea of hell.

broke your leg while skiiing? common injury. you should have known it might happen. pay for your treatment.
People who go skiing don't go with the intention of breaking their leg, it actually has a physical benefit. Breaking a leg is accidental. I think there is a line between doing something that will knowingly harm you - smoking, drinking excessively, speeding etc compared to something that has health benefits which then injures you.

We have normalised being overweight in this country. I say overweight rather than obese because it is socially acceptable to be overweight but being overweight leads to obesity.

We have also completely normalised really crap food. Kids are programmed to think it is normal to have biscuits/cake/crisps etc everyday. It's not. It is completely unnecessary. We are not perfect by any stretch but my ds was recently made fun of because apparently I'm the health police because I didn't give him a whole packet of biscuits or family size bag of crisps with his lunch.
I think there should be a very high tax on all processed food with high sugar and salt contents (fruit juice included). The same should apply to alcohol. Some of that money should go to subsidise local fresh produce to make it affordable for all and some should go back into the nhs where the burden is being felt the most.

Very true @thedcbrokemybank . I always feel awful about telling my DS she can only have a small dessert. She thinks it's outrageous as in school they sometimes even give them seconds :/

Yes - 10 years ago smoking was banned in pubs etc in England and that has had great benefits to the health of the nation. What can the government do to force Joe public to eat more healthily. Unfortunately the least healthy food is very very cheap.
My DS (10) is also complaining that he doesn't get crisps and biscuits every day in his packed lunch and Coke is an occasional treat.

It's not about the individual it's far far wider. The food industry is massive and extremely wealthy, they can spend far more on advertising foods that make us fat than public health can on the public health message.

It is so so difficult.

I am fat. I don't want to be fat, I know in theory hoe not to be fat but the reality is I find it impossible and I am not alone.

Until big food is tackled, which it won't be, people will keep getting bigger and bigger and people will keep wringing their hands offering platitudes.

chips why the biscuit?

I'm not hugely interested in a cure or an "answer" and it's interesting to hear the chiming in of people with good ideas and intentions.

But can't we let people live as they wish as private citizens and give everyone a good education etc and all the tools and then how we/they use those tools is up to the individual?

That's the crux of it for me. Indiciduals should be permitted to make choices (right/wrong) and as a society we shouldn't judge people on how they LOOK.

I would offer you a but fear that they might make you fat...

Now then you see this sort of attitude "But can't we let people live as they wish" rings alarm bells with me - why do normal people think that being clinically obese is something you might "wish" for?

No one wishes for it. It just happens.

Anyway who are I to tell you how to live?

well being non-fat is a lovely easy way to virtue signal that you are a responsible citizen. Clearly being overweight, obese etc is the mark of shame that no don't have the self control to look after yourself.
reminds me of Brass Eye. Would they do "good obese" and "bad obese" thesedays? She's fat because she has emotional problems and doesn't put her health first, she's bad fat. He has a disability and takes medication that makes him gain weight, he's good fat, through no fault of his own