<p>Fat people disgust me.</p>
<p>"...there's a reason we've been evolutionarily programmed to think that fat people are ugly."</p>
<p>HA! Hilarious! It's nice to see someone inject some humor into the discussion (as long as they, and everyone who reads it, realizes it's a joke.)</p>
<p>banana_girl you are mistaken. There is a significant difference between voluptuous plumpness in a historical context and modern obesity. Very few individuals throughout history can compare to the archetypal fat American due to the recent advent of processed and refined "nutrition." </p>
<p>And yes, like it or not, we are, both socially and biologically programmed to view obesity as ugliness. When selecting a viable mate, we bypass fat individuals because they are genetically inferior. There are a myriad of health problems they could pass on to offspring and the healthy, vigorous survival of progeny takes precedence over self-esteem.</p>
<p>That being said, I am not repulsed by fat people, just annoyed by a culture that’s terrified of hard work.</p>
<p>I'm going to assume that everybody who laughs at or denies the biological/evolutionary reason has not taken a basic class in general biology.</p>
<p>
[quote]
voluptuous plumpness
[/quote]
</p>
<p>hmmm.... voluptuous plumpness :D</p>
<p>Why respect someone who doesn't respect themself?</p>
<p>They don't respect themselves because everyone treats them badly just because of how they look. Would you respect yourself if nearly everyone who looked at you made fun of you, or laughed at how you look? Probably not. It has to start from this side. Oftentimes, many large people are trapped in a circle of being fat makes people tease them, which makes them feel bad, which makes them eat to comfort themselves, which makes them fat, and so on it goes. It's not about the fact that obese people are unhealthy. Obese people KNOW they are unhealthy, trust me. It's about people not respecting their fellow human beings.</p>
<p>Why do so many people have such strong feelings about strangers' weight? A wise fat woman once told me it's because fat women are every woman's worst nightmare. Being fat is unpleasant for my friend, but her weight doesn't make my life difficult so her weight isn't a problem for me. Unless you're perfect, you aren't in any position to deride others for their shortcomings.</p>
<p>their refusal to take positive action to solve their weight problem and willingness to fall into that "circle of being fat" is their own fault. Everything that people put into their mouths and every action they take is their own decision. If people choose to eat crappy processed food and not exercise and they get/stay fat, then they lack any sense of respect for their own bodies or health. Any argument for why they do it or how it hard to stop is silly, since, in the end, every person decides for themselves what they do. If it is harder for some, so be it, but instead of just accepting "fate" and becoming obese, they should simply be more careful of what they eat.</p>
<p>@dntw8up: I have no problem with people being fat, it is their own decision, but I do find it pretty gross and wonder how they can let themselves ruin their bodies</p>
<p>so what advice would you give a 12 year old obese african american girl who's mother has fed her off mcdonalds her entire life because welfare checks werent enough to cover good, unprocessed, organic food?</p>
<p>There are obviously extreme cases or special circumstances like those.</p>
<p>What about the majority, the college-aged middle-class obese girls, or the middle-aged obese and overweight working at a steady job that puts them just below, at, or above the median income level?</p>
<p>Not to sound insensitive, but the advice I would give her is to ask her mom for the money she'd have spent on McD's and buy raw fruits and veggies along with GOOD seeds/nuts (not peanuts!) for protein if meat is too expensive. They cost that much (I do a lot of the shopping for my family). $3.29 will buy a 5 lb. bag of apples; less than $5 will buy a large tub of premixed organic greens. My family doesn't even buy that typically because it's cheaper to buy the radicchio, spinach, romaine, green-leaf, and endive separately. That makes a huge salad which lasts five people a full week. It's not like non-organic raw foods are the devil, anyway. They certainly won't kill anyone as quickly as overused frying oils and high fructose corn syrup. If you don't like the taste of that food, you eventually become accustomed to it, and you'll wonder why people eat anything else.</p>
<p>oh its sooo easy to give advice when you're not the one in the situation.</p>
<p>now a lot of you know how african american parents are...you don't like my food? then don't eat anything at all. the mom would porbably get offended and obviously not give the daughter the money to buy food. better yet...your idea of eating just apples isn't exactly smart either. too much of a good thing = bad. how about the necessary fats? calcium? i mean yes shell overload on fiber..but how about eveyrthing else?</p>
<p>all right...you are correct, I do not know how African American parents are...my (caucasian) parents always stood by the "at least one bite" rule. You are also correct, also, banana_girl, that I neither listed a complete diet nor did I list a balanced one. However, what do you suppose is the nutritive content of a fast food diet? Probably not much better than a diet of apples, in the long run.</p>
<p>When I was much younger, my family was very badly off for a few years after my father walked out on us. We survived, and I can tell you very truthfully that we rarely ate fast food. In fact, my entire family followed a raw food vegetarian diet during that time. I admit willingly that the success of such a diet lies heavily in knowing how to balance it, and if those resources are not available, it's probably not an option.</p>
<p>In that situation, one cannot even advise her to eat less because every cell in her body is screaming for food, even if she has just stuffed herself with a Big Mac. The bread is basically empty calories, the iceberg lettuce is little more than water with a tiny bit of chlorophyll thrown into it, and the sauce and meat are drowning in grease, which has no value other than energy.</p>
<p>All that being said, my suggestion was designed for an "ideal" situation in which the mother would be open to alternatives which would in turn be easily accessed. I understand that is rarely the case, and convenience foods carry the day.</p>
<p>Taking care of yourself is important, and with a few medical exceptions, the obesity epidemic is the failure to do just that. I feel most sorry for the kids who don't make the decisions regarding their diet and exercise, where their parents teach them that it is ok to eat like crap and sit in front of the TV all day.</p>
<p>There are ways to be healthy without spending a ton of money on organic food or an exercise club. The most obvious example to me is something I do almost every day - RUN outside. The only hard part about it is the mental aspect - getting out there even when it's early and cold and I don't feel like it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
there's a reason we've been evolutionarily programmed to think that fat people are ugly.
[/quote]
this person is actually sort of correct. not sure if there reasoning is correct but here's how i'd look at it. when looking for mates, animals genetically programmed to look for the healthiest, strongest, smartest, etc. mate that they can get. back in the 16th century, overweight people were, you guessed it, the healthiest, smartest, strongest (in terms of politics and what not), etc. so it makes sense that people were attracted to that. today/in modern times being overweight is associated with being unhealthy (which it is), not smart, not wealthy, etc. so it makes sense why overweight people are no longer perceived as being attractive. this attitude will be forced to change again since obesity/being overweight is expected to continue to become more and more common in the next few decades...</p>
<p>in regards to the show, i think that it's pretty good. not all of the women on the show are obese. some are skinny, some are slightly overweight, etc. i have seen a few though that seemed bizzarre because the woman in the episode was ok looking though.</p>
<p>Ignorant, bigoted people disgust me.</p>
<p>For what is supposedly a group of intellectuals who are concerned with their academic development, this lot seems to be rather closed-minded, no? I doubt your professors at Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Williams, etc. wouldn't be very happy to hear you making sweeping generalizations about overweight people and African-American parents.</p>
<p>With all the talk of biology...</p>
<p>how can we ignore the studies that indicate the idea of a "set point" in the body?</p>
<p>When one diets, the body resists. It slows metabolism down to try to keep weight steady. Likewise, the body also tends to speed metabolism up to keep from weight gain. I think the latter part tends to fail because of unnaturally unhealthy food we've synthetically created that the body was never prepared to ace. </p>
<p>Once one is fat, it is incredibly difficult to become slim for good. The body doth protest.</p>
<p>I agree with wmk. </p>
<p>We can't assume that all obese people are just naturally overweight. I've seen obese people with families so skinny you couldn't possible tell that they're related. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Once one is fat, it is incredibly difficult to become slim for good. The body doth protest.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree. Diet and exercise go a long way.</p>
<p>missmichelle, how many organic markets have you seen in poor neighborhoods</p>
<p>for those on their high horses, go check out some neghborhoods and see what is in the stores that people have access to</p>
<p>and if you think a person can survive on lettuce and endive, that is a starvation and anorexic diet</p>
<p>as for the show, you don't KNOW what those women have done</p>
<p>there are shows coming up with skinny women as well</p>
<p>and to assume that those women pictured eat fast food</p>
<p>i am almost 50, eat very well, but just went through menopause, and I tell you, my body metabolism has changed- i don't eat fast food, but now it takes more to keep the weight off, though I am eating less and exercising more</p>