The problem with the Fat Acceptance Movement

1.82 metres = hairs breadth under 6'.

84 kilos = 185lb 3oz.

 

It's odd that you lump in "private and public" insurance as if it's the same. With the mandetory coverages, no pre-existing conditions, etc, people will be made to foot the bill for the irresponsibility of others under Obamacare more than for private insurance which can charge higher rates for higher risk people under the old system. The problem with Obamacare is that it makes somebody's personal health habits the business of everyone else and it shouldn't be. If somebody wants to be unhealthy, they alone should pay the cost of that with higher premiums, etc. The problem isn't fat people, the problem is socializing risk.

 

You're arteries probably look like a horror movie.

 

It's odd that you lump in "private and public" insurance as if it's the same. With the mandetory coverages, no pre-existing conditions, etc, people will be made to foot the bill for the irresponsibility of others under Obamacare more than for private insurance which can charge higher rates for higher risk people under the old system. The problem with Obamacare is that it makes somebody's personal health habits the business of everyone else and it shouldn't be. If somebody wants to be unhealthy, they alone should pay the cost of that with higher premiums, etc. The problem isn't fat people, the problem is socializing risk.

 

So get the government out of healthcare. Then, you can pool your money with people who are as healthy as you. Controlling what people eat through the police powers of the state is about as fascist as it gets, nor is it likely to succeed as government sends very mixed signals about what is the "right food." Since the USDA first published the food pyramid in 1979, obesity has skyrocketed. It demonized healthy fats like coconut oil and lard, and now foods are laden with trans fats, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrups, all of which contribute to inflammation, obesity, and diabetes. Even if you aren't visibly fat, you could be suffering inflammation from what you eat, leading to heart disease. Visceral fat may surround your organs and can mean worse health than some of those morbidly obese people who simply show the adipose tissue.

 

Pick what every system you want and play politics. Regardless of the system a 300 lb woman ain't gonna be cheap to treat.

While a nice partisan hack response it won't make treating 300 lb people cheap.

 

Couple the fat problem with the proposed Social Security fix of extending the retirement age and one obvious question comes to mind.

How are we gonna keep all these fat people working longer?

Something's gotta give.

 

I hear you. This libertarian stuff has been taken too far...

 

Dude should have been forced to buy 2 seats, one for each ass cheek.

 

For the most part I agree with you. The problem with a completely free market health care system though is the same as with a completely free market fire department or police department: consumers have no ability to walk away.

When your house is burning, a murderer has a gun to your head, or you find yourself with cancer you have no leverage in the market place -- you'll agree to pay whatever it takes to stay alive. Supply and demand doesn't work when the demand is for life itself.

Add to that the fact that our insurance model for medicine hides the cost from folks when they're making purchasing decisions and toss in the consideration that the only differentiation that works in the market place is the perception of quality in service provided and much of the expense ends up being wasted.

Socialized medicine scares me and we have good reason to be cautious of not over doing it. But at the same time, we need some base line socialized medical services. Drawing the line between that baseline and luxury health services and also determining where to limit personal choice when it impacts costs shared by all of us... those are hard issues. There aren't simple answers.​

 

If this "libertarian" stuff were in place then the larger people would be paying their own way, not me or you. Then it is no one's problem but their own. As to the airline picture, I have two comments: 1) they're lucky they won't have to go through the full body scanner, and 2) the airlines can force them to buy multiple seats.

Problem solved without government.

 

I am not adovating any extremes here, but feeding one's children grossly unhealthy food is neglect at best, child endangerment at worst.

On the other extreme is vegan parents denying their children not only any meat, but also any eggs or milk.
I am not sure how I feel about that. I'm not sure if this is healthy for the children. And if the parents do not know exactly what they are doing and have the right combination of different vegan foods, it can cause serious health problems or stunt the growth of the child.

 

If a cataclysm hits Earth and the world's plant-life is depleted, the oil runs out... the United States will be poised to generate electricity by burning the liposucked fat of its obese population in the massive furnaces observed at emergency-use FEMA internment facilities.

By 2065 American families might even power their own homes through burning the fat energy their bodies have abnormally stuffed away from eating laboratory-produced science experiments.

Either this, or in 100 Million years space aliens, will wonder why this part of North America is unusually saturated with plastics and crude oils.

After digging up a North American specimen, the aliens could become confused and assume that all humans are spherical in shape, rolling around on their body using abnormally short arms and legs as paddles to make their way around.

 

it's not my problem if you're fat and have the related health issues, except it is because I pay your healthcare bill. So if you want that to continue, you'll have to stay in shape. that's fair to me. also, being fat isn't something good, of course it should be actively encouraged not to be obese.

 

I heard or read a figure some time ago. I've probably got my figures wrong but it went something like this. Around the world 42 billion dollars is spent on weight loss programmes annually but something like 24 billion annually on international aid.

Food for thought.

 

It isn't all carbs that are bad for you just WHITE carbs. Brown/wild rice is much better for you than white rice. Wheat/whole grain/rye/pumpernickel bread is much better for you than white bread. And honey is better for you than white sugar. Whole wheat pasta is better for you than "regular" pasta. Anyone who has diabetes knows that carbs turn to sugar almost as soon as they hit your saliva. However, non white carbs take longer to break down which is why they're better for you. Not to mention that anything that's white has been given a chlorine bath in order to give it that color. Plus everything in moderation and portion control is something everyone should be practicing.

As for Michelle Obama...I've seen some of the meals they eat at the white house dinners and there is no way she is following her own advice! Before someone tells me what I can and can't eat...I want to know that they are following their own rules because I refuse to listen to a hypocrite. Plus those school lunch guide lines do not take into account the age of the child or the amount of exercise each child gets per day. A school football player is going to need more calories than a child who belongs to the library club! This is why I find it so hard to swallow the fact that our brave men and women in the military are now allowed to only have TWO meals a day instead of the normal THREE!

 

Here's the most popular fat acceptance blog: http://thisisthinprivilege.tumblr.com/

Basically, the fat acceptance movement seeks to normalize obesity and if you tell the truth about it, you're labelled a hateful healthist bigot. I'm not even kidding. This is what many of these people believe.

Obviously, adults have the right to eat what they want and they have the right to suffer the consequences for it, but when fat acceptance activists go around telling everyone that weight is a social construct and that you're a bigot for not agreeing with them, I start to have a problem with them and I write them off as a bunch of busybodies.

 

I lost my George bush medal of presidential fitness.

OP - kids are complaining at school that they are going hungry. Maybe we should let them eat and get an education at school I stead of picking on fat kids. They get it enough.

 

You make some decent points ... The first one being the amount of people who take supplements, and have no idea they are wasting their money.
Supplements only work efficiently when taken with a balanced diet ... Like for instance, you can take all the calcium in the world, but without vitamin D it doesn't mean sh** because the body can't absorb calcium without it.
I mean the body can produce vitamin D on its own ... But guess what ... It doesn't happen if you are wearing sunblock, which is why so many people are vitamin D deficient today.

Look at all the people who take supplements in the morning with a few pieces of toast or whatever ... Stop by Starbucks on the way to work and dump a diuretic on top.
Boom ... Your supplements just got relegated to the toilet ... Yeah, you put some food in there but not enough to slow it down ... And if you skipped the food, you might as well have just flushed them down the toilet to start with.
All the supplements you take need triggers to effectively be absorbed into the body or the kidneys will get rid of them ... Taking a supplement doesn't make you healthier than eating a proper diet, and doesn't replace a proper diet.

All the bullsh** about taking certain foods away from children or people in general is just Nanny State meddling ... And sitting on couch eating a bag of potato chips won't kill you.
If that is all you eat ... You will have some problems ... But if you go outside and split a cord of firewood, those potato chips become a valuable asset.
If you eat dinner with a 16oz ribeye , field peas, corn on the cob, dinner rolls and six pack after the splitting ... You are still healthier than someone who ate grilled chicken salads all day and did nothing.

 

Maybe all of MOs picking on fat kids is an effort to get the teen suicide rate even higher. It has been spiking somewhat:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070907221530.htm

 

You die without any sugar in your BLOOD. You can easily live without any sugar in your diet -- although the bit of sugar in fresh fruit isn't going to hurt anyone.

All poison counts.

 

Excellent point, and this is how the powers that control our freedom want us to derail our thinking. Like the freedom to eat whatever, ergo the freedom to get sick, the freedom we should all insist on. HEHE Whilst the freedom of our cash doesn't even go as far as it went half a year ago. I wish republicans were not this stupid ... I would like to be smarter. ... Oops, not permitted. HEHEHE

 

Government Nanny State policies didn't have damn thing to do with this.
Screw the Atkins's Diet, Michelle Obama ... And pass another ribeye.

 

She is absolutely excellent! ... But didn't we all use to look like this, before Big Government started meddling, and entitle people for things, like junk food, and started to regulate farmers, so that you can't buy anything that is locally grown and healthy, but only nationally pre-approved nuggets of obesity/diabetes?

(I suspect, that the "ribeye" our granfathers ate didn't make them obese, the ribeye we eat does.)