Fat acceptance?

Ole Rodrigo

That report refers to being overweight rather than obese, and I'd imagine its just another example of the media latching on to a particular part of the report rather than considering the whole.

An interesting article in the guardian mentions the failure of british policy to tackle obesity because it focused at personal responsibility and ignored other factors such as where you lived, whether or not kids could play outside safely, easy access to purchase unprocessed food and enough time to cook it.

Obesity is not only caused by how much we each eat or drink: if tackling it were as simple as telling people to eat less and move more, we would have solved it by now. Our chances of being obese are also affected by factors like whether we have easy access to affordable fruit, veg and other healthy foods, and if it is safe to let our kids play outside. That's why if governments focus on personal choice alone it is, at best, a red herring and, at worst, a dereliction of duty for everyone's health."

http://gu.com/p/3cnt9

Chinasea

Nobody really wants to be this size, (except for the 'exception's).

Just like the concept of freak shows these photos are exploiting these desperate individuals. It is easy for people to point fingers, to laugh, to scoff but who would like to swap places. A high percentage of these people will die prematurely.

There are 2 posts on this thread also puzzling that the ladies have covered their genetailia, which again reaffirms the total dismissal and exclusion that people with this condition face on a day to day basis from 'regular' people all round them. Nothing to sneer at here.

Roadtrippin

ror_74 wrote: »

That report refers to being overweight rather than obese, and I'd imagine its just another example of the media latching on to a particular part of the report rather than considering the whole.

An interesting article in the guardian mentions the failure of british policy to tackle obesity because it focused at personal responsibility and ignored other factors such as where you lived, whether or not kids could play outside safely, easy access to purchase unprocessed food and enough time to cook it.

I agree. Obviously there is a difference between being overweight and obese. And yes, tackling obesity needs to be a state-involved issue and not just rely on personal choice.
But I think one thing that study I linked to highlights is that being slim by itself does not equate to healthy lifestyle. Also, a couple of extra pounds can protect people in times of illness.

vard

Roadtrippin wrote: »

I agree. Obviously there is a difference between being overweight and obese. And yes, tackling obesity needs to be a state-involved issue and not just rely on personal choice.
But I think one thing that study I linked to highlights is that being slim by itself does not equate to healthy lifestyle. Also, a couple of extra pounds can protect people in times of illness.

Even though they probably aren't aware, most people in this country are overweight. Many people who playfully refer to themselves as chubby or think they fall into the overweight category are in fact obese.

Ole Rodrigo

Roadtrippin wrote: »

I agree. Obviously there is a difference between being overweight and obese. And yes, tackling obesity needs to be a state-involved issue and not just rely on personal choice.
But I think one thing that study I linked to highlights is that being slim by itself does not equate to healthy lifestyle. Also, a couple of extra pounds can protect people in times of illness.

Absolutely. There is a difference between being thin through being undernourished and thin through food choice and exercise. Extra pounds available for times of illness are still in plentiful supply when there is between 6 and 18% body fat ( males ). In fact you can survive for weeks on just water and body fat, and fully recover afterwards. Most properly conducted studies conclude that when bodyweight goes up past a certain threshold, so does the risk of most lifestyle related diseases. So I suppose the indo article should be considered in that context.

Ole Rodrigo

vard wrote: »

Even though they probably aren't aware, most people in this country are overweight. Many people who playfully refer to themselves as chubby or think they fall into the overweight category are in fact obese.

I agree. You only have to look around in any of our city centers on any given day to see that is the case.

crazy cabbage

Obesity is nothing new, and it's not spiralling out of control either. I would venture that it's at the same levels it's always been at, despite "statistics" that might suggest otherwise.

Would have to disagree. Linky shows that more people are dieing of obesity and related deaths than of hunger and malnutrition...

Two decades ago, childhood malnutrition was the world's leading cause of early death. Now, the top global killers are diseases related to obesity.

swimming in a sea

Is there any real desire from governments to reduce obesity levels?

The American government continues to provide massive subsidies for corn farmers to produce High-fructose corn syrup. I remember talking to a pension fund manager and he said a lot of investments were in these massive farms but also in the same portfolios they were investing in pharmaceutical companies whose main income was government payments for diabetic medication.

Too many companies relay on fat people, maybe I'm a bit of a conspiracy nut.:)