Fatshaming

[travelinterest]

After a conversation with friends, and with obesity (especially in young people) becoming a bigger crisis than smoking in our society, am I unreasonable to think that as we villanise smoking and drinking, should we fat shame more to encourage people to change their lifestyles. It's certainly worked with reducing smoking rates. Don't attack me (I've lost 2 stone). Just wondering why we target smoking more than fast food?

Levels of "the stress hormone," cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. This can turn your overeating into a habit. Because increased levels of the hormone also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods.

I think it’s been said up thread. I’m not suggesting a bad week at work occasionally but day in day out stress. Lack of sleep has been linked to over eating, also in terms of blood sugar instability and food cravings.

It’s not simple. People today have very stressful lives.

Im sure it was pretty stressful living in a cave too! People are fatter cos they eat more and move less.

Stressful lives AND fairly easy access to any food they want, any time they want. Food is too cheap and we consume too much of it. Even on a budget it’s easy to overeat in this country. I don’t know what the answer is, except to make food more expensive and I don’t even know where they’d start doing that.

X post with lethal. In a cave there was easy access to food. It’s the combination of stress plus the availability of food. We don’t live in caves any more, so it’s not the same problem. We need to address the problem we actually have.

NOT easy access to food in a cave I mean!

I think people who are in favour of fat-shaming as a tool to "encourage" people to lose weight should step back and think about if they would like it done to their children if they were overweight or heading that way.

Think of it. Teachers and fellow classmates with carte blanche to point the finger. Comments by wait staff, in-laws, other parents at parties whilst they eat birthday cake, like everyone else. Well. why not, we need to get these kids to take responsibility and be warned that they are, god forbid, fat or getting fat.

I had a childhood of this, horrible and scarring. I have literally thousands of examples I can give of being shouted at by strangers in cars passing by, teachers and strangers and friend's parents having a dig and commenting, comments by family , discrimination and barring from sports.....so so many.

Did it work? I didn't lose weight until in my late 20's. Not because of fat shaming, mind. Or maybe it was, as I ended up with a superb eating disorder.

Be kind. Let's target the environment, food supply, government policy, education, attitudes but not individuals.

I would like to see more of an industry shaming. Such as Jamie Oliver twizzlers. Society is teaching children that going to the cinema involves eating popcorn, drink and treat all wrapped up in a little box. They become the adults who cannot sit through a film without consuming their body weight in popcorn. Going shopping involves coffee and cake. The “going large” on meals. Being hungry is to be avoided with constant snacking. Organic raisins when your child is not hungry is little difference to a chocolate bar. All the medical and emotional reasons for overeating are irrelevant when three year olds are already overweight and watching adults overeat. I also believe there needs to be a look at maximum calories, winter is approaching with the specialty coffee that contain the calories of a meal. Unhealthy doughnuts made even more unhealthy by fillings and toppings, then if you buy with a milky coffee you get another free.

I agree bluebolt. Someone posted a video on another thread that showed people at the cinema 50 years ago. The seats were smaller but there was still room, and nobody had food. They were able to sit in one place for 2 hours without eating. Now temptation is everywhere and it's deliberate habit forming by the food and drinks industry. I heard somewhere else that the reason McDonald's give out 5 money off vouchers is because if a person goes to McDonald's once a week for a certain amount of weeks, it forms a habit where they then go in more often. Industry needs to be shamed, and then people need to stop moaning about not being able to buy 1000 calorie pizza's.

People fat shame me all the time. I don't give a shit what they think.
I am reducing my weight slowly but surely as I have a hereditary heart condition and need to lose 3 stone for my own comfort.
Luckily I have a fairly thick skin and mirrors in my house so I am a realist about how much weight I need to lose.
Fat shaming never helped anyone to lose weight so it just bounces off me.

I hope you keep that two stone off otherwise you may be on the recieving end.its education,sugar tax,health checks that will work not cruel attitudes and critisism.

The problem lies in education. I totally believe that people have been given inaccurate information and it has led to obesity. End of story. Studies show that it is not a lack of compliance or caring or effort that causes people not to lose weight, but rather poor nutritional education. It’s so incredibly unfair and makes me so sad to see people struggling with their weight, trying really hard with their diets, getting nowhere and giving up because they don’t have all the facts.

People eat low fat foods, sugar laden foods (everything has sugar in it!!), poor fruit to vegetable ratio, put too much emphasis on exercise, avoid perfectly healthy foods like olive oil and avocados because of the (irrelevant) calorie content, eat way too many grains and cereals. All of this is poor information and not the fault of the individual. The NHS needs to invest money in updating their nutrional advice because they are doing a serious disservice to overweight patients. It’s so unfair.

Sugar is addictive. And sugar is in everything. I feel that it is mostly sugar that is to blame for this situation as it fucks up your hunger signals and messes with your metabolism and yet, people are eating low fat, high sugar foods thinking that they’re doing the right thing. It’s so frustrating.

We absolutely should not be shaming fat people. How will that help?? Pushing people away and isolating them makes the situation worse. We need to pull people in when they’re struggling, give them a support network and community that can help, provide accurate nutritional information so people can make actual informed choices about what they’re eating and then lift them up so that their self esteem will allow them to believe that this is achievable and that they deserve to succeed. I know none of this is easy but fat shaming is just going to make it 100% harder.

I do not agree with the education part, for me it is the food industry, diet industry and the advertising industries. I took my morbidly obese niece to her dieticians appointment as she can no longer walk. The dieticians was also obese as with many NHS workers, all the knowledge in the world is not going to help when society has programmed the mind from a very young age. Most obese people know why they are overweight but by this point it is so ingrained into who they are that it is psychological not educational. We know more about calories and nutrition than ever, it now just twisted to sell whatever product is being promoted.

smoking hurts others, being fat doesn't ( and i don't what Gwen said re makes others around you eat more - that's a choice to join them in getting fat, secondary smoke isn't). Demonising smokes isn't hurtful to anyone, fat shaming is hurtful.

I think they should expand/increase the sugar tax and use that money to subsidise fruit/veg.

Demonising smokes isn't hurtful to anyone, fat shaming is hurtful

I imagine there'll be some smokers who wouldn't agree with that (and no, I'm not a smoker myself)

Personally I'd rather avoid being hurtful at all - though that's not easy when even the gentlest HCP remark is instantly damned as fat shaming - but if it's going to be done, surely hurt shouldn't be reserved for a particular group, with others considered exempt?

Smokers are definitely demonised and believe me it hurts like s personal shame, the same shame of stuffing your face.

I went to a show when I was a smoker, I resisted all night been with non smokers, in the end we waited on a 7ppl taxi for hours so I walked to the corner had a cig When I returned one of the ladies refused to share a 7 seater because I was clearly gross to her. I smoked for the reasons and excuses been thrashed out for over eating on this thread.

I agree about portion sizes!
Have you seen for example ready meals compared? The now portion and the 90s-80s portion? It's massive difference.

Plates got bigger too. It took me a while to find nice plates which would be "normal" sized.

Yeah but saying smoking is disgusting is an attack on an action. Saying obesity is disgusting is an attack on a real person.

That horrible tomato.

I'm fat mostly because when I was 10-13 I was lonely and bored and gave up hobbies and ate too many snacks. Since then I've lost weight, put it back on...usually plus a bit extra. On repeat.

Have never managed to get to grips permanently with it but I'm not stupid or lazy or addicted to cake (despite the username)

The opinions/adobe of some smug naturally slim people just irritate me tbh. "Oh I just eat healthily and move around a lot, it's easy why can't you just..."
esp some of the smug slim doctors/nutritionists on tv
I just don't think they get what it's like

they can fatshame me all they like but it will go in one ear and out the other and won't save the nhs a dime and tbh just makes me want to eat pizza....

Advice not adobe (autocorrect)

Its interesting how many people on this thread are obese and gaining weight whilst existing on a near starvation diet. They eat very little, but gain weight. In fact they eat so little it would have an anorexic hospitalised,

It's interesting how few, if any, people say its because they eat too much and move too little. It's nearly always someone or something else's fault.

I know when I gained weight it was becayse I ate too much and moved too little.i know medical research says that's the case for 99 percent of people who are over weight or obese.

So maybe the shame is already there, to the extent people will actually deny they pretty much don't even eat enough to stay alive.

I'm obese and have a near starvation diet most of the time. Have done since I was bullied as a teenager. I starve myself for days, weeks or sometimes months. Weight falls off me, my periods stop. And then I eat. I eat everything until I feel like I'm going to be sick. Then I cry myself to sleep in pain and shame. But as soon as pain subsides I start eating again. It goes on for days, weeks or sometimes months. I don't even like the stuff I'm eating. Weight piles on, more than I lost. Then I get control and I stop eating. And the cycle continues.

I used to get help at an eating disorders clinic. While going there my eating and weight stabilised and started to gradually come down. Then funding was cut and the clinic closed. Now I have no mental health support. My weight is the highest it's ever been. I need to see a psychologist, that is the intervention I need. I know this. My GP knows this. I'm on a waiting list. I've been on it for three and a half years.

As my weight goes up so does the number of cruel, humiliating, dehumanising comments. Every single one breaks me a little bit more. I no longer go out alone because nobody says anything when my husband is there. Only when I'm alone an vulnerable.

Yeah but saying smoking is disgusting is an attack on an action. Saying obesity is disgusting is an attack on a real person

Not so IME; you only have to look at the threads on here. It's certainly not the cigarettes which are slammed but the smokers themselves ...they're "disgusting", they "stink" and they're "completely selfish". Try using the first and third adjective on the obese on here and and the sky would fall