I was looking through last Monday’s LA Times and found an article in the Health section that boiled my blood. The opening paragraph reads like this:
CALL IT Fattergate. Americans are getting scandalously big for their britches (and shirts and skirts and dresses and suits). And scientists would like to know why, so they can make it stop. After all, this sharp trend toward a well-rounded population has some pretty hefty (and heinous) consequences for public health.
There’s a simple explanation for the weight gain, of course: People consume more calories than they burn. The favorite explanation: They eat bigger portions of less nutritional foods at easier-to-get-to fast food places, even as they hunker down more and more faithfully in front of their TV and computer screens. “Most of us say it is a combination of reduced energy expenditures plus dietary intake not declining enough,” says Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
But why does that happen far more often now than 30 years ago? It’s not obvious, says Susan Roberts, a senior scientist at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston: “There is definitely no definitive answer on ‘what went wrong.’ “
Some of the “Fat” theories include:
too much stress
too much high fructose corn syrup
a “fat” virus
an overpopulated world
not enough sleep
Can anyone say ludicrous!? First off, let me call your attention to the last line of the quote which flat out says that scientist are trying to figure out what “went wrong” and guess what? They haven’t got a clue how to make fat people thin (See Gina Kolata’s Re-thinking Thin) so good luck with that one.
Second of all, the language that is used in this article is appalling. “Fattergate?!” What in the world is that?! Like we need any more language to isolate, criticize and label fat people. Then she uses the words “scandalously” and “heinous” which I might remind you usually refer to some type of crime punishable by law!
And lastly, she proceeds to give “simple explanations” for weight gain with NO empirical proof. People insist that weight gain/loss is simple mathematics and yet no matter how hard some people try they will never be a size 4. Why is that?
I got into an interesting conversation with someone yesterday in which we clearly disagreed. He told me that he was pretty upset by the fact that he had gained 10 pounds and really wanted to diet to get it off, after all, it wasn’t healthy. I gave my opinions on dieting (since he asked) and asked him to challenge the mainstream’s notions of weight and health. He proceeded to say, “Well, come on, a 600 pound person needs to lose a few pounds!” At this I was pretty furious…why do they ALWAYS bring up the 600-pound person???!!!! They are ALWAYS the scapegoat for the obesity/ weight and health argument. In the end we agreed to disagree but I think I left him with a few things to think about. (Plus, he told me how much he admired the fact that I’m not easily swayed in my opinions:-)
How did my friend get to these conclusions in which at the end of the conversation, it became clear he had no proof for? Well, it just so happened that it was his LA times that I found in the recycling pile which is where I stumbled upon this article. Coincidence? I think not.
Language is a powerful thing. Don’t ever underestimate the power of words like “heinous” and “scandalous” in an article, the writer is clearly trying to tell us something. (It’s no wonder we think weight is such a public issue.) I think it’s important that we know why we believe what we believe, after all, we are living in a world where we are all walking around with pretty strong opinions about health. And articles like these, as we like to say, “ain’t doin a thing!”
In that list of reasons why people are getting bigger, they forgot DIETS.
Before I go deeper into that point, I want to say right here and now that I believe that human beings are meant to be diverse. We come in all shapes and sizes. What is healthy for some people will be what is overweight for someone else. We all need to respect our bodies, etc, etc…
All that said, I think **if** the population is indeed becoming more obese, than I wonder if we have not dieted our way there. Dieting just messes up the metabolism and slows it down. It makes it harder and harder to lose weight and our poor starved bodies go into starvation mode and can remain obese even if we’re UNDEREATING. Sigh.
I want to state clearly that I am all about HAES (health at every size) and do not think obesity or overweightness is some big crime or scandal at all. I also believe there is some truth to the idea that this whole “obesity epidemic” is overblown and that people are pretty much the same diversity of shapes we’ve always been.
But, if anything “wrong” has happened in the last few decades, it’s the diet craze and all the havoc is has wreaked on our bodies, minds and spirits. Sigh.
They never seem to get around to implicating dieting or medication use in these stories, even though there’s overwhelming evidence that they have a lot more to do with people being fatter than television (which has been around with people “hunkering down faithfully” in front of it for over 50 years) or fast food/TV dinners (which similarly have been around for over half a century). Also, working-class people don’t have to do as much hard labor for a living, and poor people actually get something to eat once in a while, and oh, the population’s not as overwhelmingly Caucasian as it used to be and those are GOOD things are they not? Are they? Hello, LA Times, ARE they?
Yes. Another article that tries to tear the blame away from the individual for their current state of existence…as if people don’t have a choice in gaining weight.
I realize that there are diseases and ailments that can cause weight-gain, but honestly, I think most Americans are just lazy. Of course there will be weight gain if you only ever work at a desk or eat food with barely enough nutrition…and then everything we do we’re almost always sitting.
And I agree with you that the language used to address this situation is ridiculous and cold.
Yes, Brittany. People often like to think that people not them are just lazy, which means they get what’s coming to them. Stereotypes are the reality TV shows of our critical faculties – we can feel superior, and excuse our profound lack of compassion, with ‘we get what we deserve’.
However, I’m sick to death of having that judgement show up and mock my hard-working fat ass. So I call your stereotype, and raise your “lazy Americans” with an individual ante of “lazy thinking” via stereotype.
Here’s another one we both would have suffered at the beginning of the century: women are too sentimental to have intelligent, critical positions on issues. If you fight the ignorance of the second statement — which you must, or why would you speak? — I ask you to re-evaluate the damage you’re doing with the first.
@ non-trolls: Real data shows that diets, anti-depressants, and birth control all cause weight gain in a significant percentage of people, and anecdata shows that even most of my thin friends have seen a few pounds show up on A-Ds or BC. I think those are the most likely factors, but have a another one that hit me: the other night I saw a movie from the 40s and everyone smoked continuously the whole time. If the 1960s is our baseline, and people gain about 5 pounds from quitting smoking, and our obesity epidemic is really only a small number of pounds per person, then this might be an aggregate continuing factor.
So Brittany Marie, you think there’s no such thing as a lazy thin person? Do tell. Intellectual laziness counts too, boy does it ever, but what I really want to know is whether you’ve never seen able-bodied thin people drive two blocks to see their friends or wait around ten minutes for an elevator when they could have walked down the stairs in less than two minutes. I’ve seen it all my life, and I am OLD.
I walk a mile to the grocery store every week and schlep the groceries a mile home, fat caboose and all. Even in the rain. Is that the mark of a lazy person? NOT that someone who doesn’t have the physical capacity or even doesn’t particularly feel like doing that deserves to be raked over the coals, either, but I also don’t think I’m the only fatass who ever does things like that, not by a long shot.
Meowser, I didn’t say that.
There are lazy “thin” people…and even if they don’t see the result of their inactivity in weight-gain, they probably will in other health issues down the road.
Perhaps I should have replaced the word laziness with “inactivity” and to further clarify, I am thinking of inactivity as a lack of decent exercise that properly accelerates a person’s heart rate.
Anyhow, I think my previous comment agreed with yours in saying “working-class people don’t have to do as much hard labor for a living” when I mentioned how a good portion of people work at a desk.
I think I can agree with your intellectual laziness comment as well. People should take time to research their medications and diets before pursuing those routes or jumping haphazardly into something they do not fully understand.
Either way, I still think a good percentage of Americans are lazy, physically and intellectually.
I still have to wonder why we, as a collective, continue to be so concerned about “other peoples'” fatness. So our collective, national (or world) body-type is evolving to have more fat…what is the problem there? We’re also evolving to be a few inches taller than our forebears but we don’t see news about the “Shortness epidemic” or articles proclaiming the onset of “Shortygate”…what gives?
What other physical characteristic do we give as much importance, page space, headlines, airtime minutes, time worrying about, concern with other peoples’, et cetera OTHER than fatness?
“Either way, I still think a good percentage of Americans are lazy, physically and intellectually.”
Wow, judgmental much?
For you Brittany, because you need to see it and break the stereotypes you hold about fat people. We’re not the intellectual and physical blobs you think we are:
EAST LANSING, Mich. — New research led by a Michigan State University scholar refutes commonly held stereotypes that overweight workers are lazier, more emotionally unstable and harder to get along with than their “normal weight” colleagues.
With the findings, employers are urged to guard against the use of weight-based stereotypes when it comes to hiring, promoting or firing.
Mark Roehling, associate professor of human resource management, and two colleagues studied the relationship between body weight and personality traits for nearly 3,500 adults. Contrary to widely held stereotypes, overweight and obese adults were not found to be significantly less conscientious, less agreeable, less extraverted or less emotionally stable.
The research, done in conjunction with Hope College near Grand Rapids, appears in the current edition of the journal Group & Organization Management.
“Previous research has demonstrated that many employers hold negative stereotypes about obese workers, and those beliefs contribute to discrimination against overweight workers at virtually every stage of the employment process, from hiring to promotion to firing,” Roehling said.
“This study goes a step further by examining whether there is empirical support for these commonly held negative stereotypes. Are they based on fact or fiction? Our results suggest that the answer is fiction.”
The concern about weight and appearance has gone beyond common sense. My seven year old granddaughter is worried that she will be fat. She is like a stringbean and it is unlikely she will ever have an ounce of fat on her. But at 7 is this what a little girl should be thinking of?
Weight is really an issue that only overweight and obese people really understand. It is not only weight, it is about the whole attitude of society with the individual. The jokes on television and in the movies, it is the last of the issues to need blasting off the planet.
Why don’t we teach our children that diversity and uniqueness is welcome in our world. We can learn to love fat people, just as well as any other group of people.
Guess the key is to reinforce in every individual self love and strong self esteem. That way when the bigots and comedians are having their say the overweight and obese can give themself the hugs they probably need after hearing the ridicule and callousness of others.
Wow I just wrote a post on pretty much the exact same argument I had, but it was with my friend who is a medical doctor. So even people who are educated on these matters believe the hype. But good news is we did reach a consensus and I think I won him around if only by a little bit.
ps – brittany, if we are oh so unhealthy in the west then why are we living longer than ever before and the average age keeps increasing. This fact does NOT suggest that we are unhealthy.
Also, I agree in general that ALL people should try to be active and eat well. But overweight people who eat well and are active and healthy are just that overweight people who eat well, are active and are healthy. They don’t tend to lose weight as a result of this lifestyle.
Ever noticied, the more gyms and diets there are, the fatter the population gets…hmmmm……
“no matter how hard some people try they will never be a size 4.”
This is true. Nor should everybody BE a size 4. Too small is as dangerous as too big, but people who are too small and rewarded far more.
I think people should be diverse in their size. I applaud people who love their body regardless of size or shape, especially if it’s not the stereotypical body we’ve decided should be on the cover of magazines, and I am appalled at what has become our standard of beauty. And I think ‘fat’ and ‘obese’ have become catch-all phrases for anybody who ISN’T a size 00 with magically gigantic break
but. as much as I agree that the language in that article was demeaning, insensitive, and uses scare tactics, it is true that there is a point at which being simply large crosses over into a health risk.
that doesn’t mean that I think every large person has bad health. but at some point, for some people, they are bigger than even the healthiest of lifestyles can maintain.
so while I think that a huge part of the problem is a society with a vastly skewed sense of beauty and size, it is true that there are now more people who have gone beyond what is healthy – and that point is different for every person.
“I still have to wonder why we, as a collective, continue to be so concerned about “other peoples’” fatness.”
This is such an interesting question… I have been pondering it since I read it. While I’m sure the answer is complex, I have a few ideas about this I’d like to share.
The diet and fitness industry has long promoted this idea that you have to suffer to be “healthy” or fit or whatever. This can easily evolve into a kind of self-mistrust and loathing where we feel we cannot listen to our lazy bodies and have to hurt them and punish them to achieve anything. I wonder if people then translate this into “tough love” for people who they deem fat. Or that… “I’m going to hate you for your own good”, thing.
On top of that, the media so demonizes fatness. I’m sure some people are so desperate to NOT be on the side that is demonized that they over-compensate by attacking fat people.
Among eating disordered women, I’ve also noticed this puritanical aspect around the idea of the “sin of gluttony”. This turns fat into a sin and just furthers the idea of the fat stereotype that fat people are lazy and bad and greedy, etc. etc. etc. Thinness becomes a virtue and a stereotype for strength, goodness and so on.
wow Brittany fat hate AND American stereotypes rolled into you’re posts… that’s nice kudos to you on being judgmental and ignorant.
Though intellectually lazy I think you’re there right on the top of the list. Taking what the television tells you without doing any research of your own… that is intellectually lazy.
Personally I’d rather know these people who are fat but very smart, funny, sometimes silly, able to use google in a proper fashion then someone who makes judgments on a group of people based on their weight and their nationality.
On to the post: The maybe we’re doomed before birth pissed me off big time. What the hell? Are you f*&^%$ serious… wow great way to tear down women.
I do want to make a note that they did mention drugs in there, they also mentioned some really off the wall retarded stuff. Basically the article is B.S. to the extreme.
“…it is true that there is a point at which being simply large crosses over into a health risk.
that doesn’t mean that I think every large person has bad health. but at some point, for some people, they are bigger than even the healthiest of lifestyles can maintain. …”
You’re new around here, aren’t you hookerbaby.
* ; )
Please don’t worry so much about teh fatties. Are you frightened of fat people in some way? I don’t understand your specialized philanthropy…so concerned about others’ health…what about scrawny people? I mean…there comes a point at which being merely fit crosses over into an obsession, thus creating a mental and physical health risk.
hope505 – oooh that was condescending.
“This is true. Nor should everybody BE a size 4. Too small is as dangerous as too big, but people who are too small and rewarded far more. ” – also in my comment.
worried about teh fatties?
there are health risks involved – like my cousin, who developped diabetes during her pregnancy due to her weight, putting both herself and her child at risk. Like my father, who has to watch what he eats to avoid high blood pressure and gall bladder explosions. like my mother, who has thyroid issues and needs to always watch what she eats and still doesn’t lose weight. i’m not scared of fat people. i’m scared of people i love dying.
if you are fat and healthy? more power to you. it works for the majority. it doesn’t work for everybody, and in the same way that you don’t want people judging every fat person as unhealthy and lazy and ugly, because they are not, it is unfair to judge everybody in the medical community and everybody trying to lose weight as sucked in and unable to think for themselves.
Is someone else going to take that one, or is everyone just about as tired of it as I am? Really, it’s exhausting answering the same things over and over and over.
Hookerbaby, start with http://www.junkfoodscience.blogspot.com and search “The Obesity Paradox” series. Then keep reading. For a few months. I’m really not kidding.
Oh, yes, and here’s a clearinghouse – it isn’t just that people can overdo diet and exercise, but that being underweight is *more* dangerous than fat. And a ton more information here: http://kateharding.net/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/
Follow the links. Please.
It’s amazing how polarized this issue has become.
Like a big blockbuster Hollywood movie
The Fat-O-Phobes v.s. The Fat-O-Philes
Fat people have very serious issues of legal discrimination to be concerned about. Naturally other groups do as well, but not based solely on their body size. That may account for some of what you’re seeing there, DR.
(To clarify – many people who are thin may belong to groups that are facing genuine discrimination; but not *all* thin people are. All fat people have cause for genuine concern just because they are fat.)
“…there are health risks involved – like my cousin…..Like my father…..like my mother….i’m not scared of fat people. i’m scared of people i love dying….”
It sounds like you are genetically predisposed to several health concerns, and, coincidentally, since so many of your family members are “fat”, you may have, or have had, issues yourself with your own weight. If you are fat and worried, I’d recommend following the links that anniemcphee has provided.
* : )
If, like me, you are average-sized and generally healthy, (because the term “fat” is merely an opinion if one is not clinically obese. According to the ever-holy BMI index, I am not.) then by all means, try to calm down and Eat A Cheeseburger.
Re: discrimination due to obesity – Has anyone read this article in the LA Times – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2008/07/overweight-work.html
Here’s some of the intro:
The perception might not equal reality, according to a new study comparing how people perceive overweight workers’ demeanors and how those workers actually behave. A body of research already exists about weight discrimination in employment and promotion decisions, but this study, published in the August issue of the journal Group & Organization Management, goes deeper to see if that discrimination has any veracity.