Re: Obese at Disney World

mickeyc_78SHOES@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: 

All of us are limited by our own life experiences,  e.g. many men have
no idea what peri-menopause even is, let alone what it does to a
woman's physical, mental and emotional states. But it is also true
that just because something , like losing weight, gets harder, we
still have to face the fact that we must, as individuals, take
responsibility for excess weight. We all have our individual stories,
but with very few exceptions, there is usually some degree of personal
responsibility involved. I think that was Rodney's core message.
(correct me if I'm wrong RG)

I was not going to reply to this thread any more since I seemed to have really bothered a lot of people, but for you, Mickey, I'll make an exception. :-) Yes, that's pretty much my core opinion, but it's a little more than a "degree", in that I believe the process of becoming obese and not reversing it before it's too late is solely a person's own responsibility (except in a few cases of very rare medical problems).

As for my 2 cents, I believe this is a  uniquely American debate that
kind of turns my stomach. (no pun intended) Many of us heard about the
starving children in Asia or Africa when we were growing up, as a
manipulation by our parents to try to get us to clean our plates. (the
genesis of many of today's weight problems!) Well, when I think of how
many children are starving in the world now, it makes me want to eat
even less.

When I was growing up, I also heard about the starving children. There were differences, though. First of all, my mother cooked fairly well-balanced meals. There were no meals made up of chicken fingers or mac-n-cheese. We had a meat, at least two vegetables, and bread. We drank either milk or water. Since there were four of us (I have a younger brother), meal sizes were always "just right" so rarely were there seconds or leftovers. We also did not eat out very much. I can probably count on my fingers how many times I went to McDonald's before I was a teenager. I'd say that's a stark contrast to the typical family meals of today.

I agree with Denise that portion sizes, in particular
American portion sizes, are out of control.

I agree for the most part, especially with respect to the fact that restaurants seem to like to give us loads of unhealthy "filler".

We can call obesity a
disease, but I think it is more of an indicator that our culture
places way too much emphasis on quantity v. quality in just about
every aspect of American life.  From people I know who travel a lot,
I've heard that they don't encounter as many people who need 2 seats
on a bus to fit comfortably in other countries like there are here. I
am sorry if that is an offensive remark, but there is something
seriously wrong with a compulsively dieting/ over-eating society with
increasing obesity and diabetes rates. I understand Rodney's
reluctance to have it labeled as a medical problem. We have a
stressed- out society that has little time to cook the kind of meals
that are healthier, more people eating in restaurants, unhappy people
who use food to comfort themselves, more sedentary lifestyles and
jobs, etc. etc. Being about 15-20 pounds overweight myself, I am not
unfamiliar with the depression and all the other baggage that comes
with the territory, including insensitivity and bias from others.

My entire reluctance to label obesity as a disease is that the obesity itself is not the disease no more than "drunkenness" is a disease. Just as alcohol or drug addiction is the disease that causes drunkenness, food addiction is the disease that causes obesity. In fact, I really don't like any sort of addiction being labeled a disease because it seems to take away some of the personal responsibility for the affliction and treatment. As for medicine continuing to work to find ways to help those that are addicted to food, I have no problem with that and if it takes obesity being labeled as a disease to make that happen, then I could live with it. My guess is that no magic pill will be found that will let us food addicts eat all we want. Instead it will be a therapy of some sort, either psychological or biological, that will simply allow us to more easily control our desires.

On
the other hand, at the risk of sounding arrogant and judgmental, we
made our beds and it's up to us to change.


That is the basic message I have been trying to get across!

--

- RODNEY

.

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