Re: A tale of a too-big-kid [OT mini-rant]

In article <1Tbqg.11030$Bh.9326@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jim Casey <seamus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Eileen Morgan wrote:

I dunno that weight and overweight is just about gluttony.

I referred to gluttony just to point out that the problem was recognized
long ago.

An aspect of this that I never really thought about is that, historically,
people had to make it from harvest to harvest on the food they had raised,
plus livestock and hunting. Someone who ate too much was almost literally
taking the food out of someone else's mouth.

That's not the case today.

I agree that some people are just going to pack it on, even if they eat
carefully and exercise.

- Jim

Then I guess, there are the lucky ones, like myself - As someone else
described it, I eat like a 5'10" garbage compactor, and without any
deliberate effort, have maintained in the 190-210 range since I was 20
years old, with very little of it actually fat. The old "Special K
Pinch" doesn't manage to find much.

I guess part of it for me is "I eat when I'm hungry, and stop when I'm
not", and I tend to do the gorge/fast thing. One day it'll be a box of
Kraft M&C with a half pound of hot dogs chopped into it, washed down
with a quart or two of chocolate milk and followed up with a couple
"regular size" bags of M&Ms, the next day it'll be a whole three or four
Mickey-D's fries snitched from my buddy's super-size order and a gallon
of chocolate milk, and the day after that, an egg salad sandwich washed
down with water. <shrug> It works for me...

Granted, I ain't exactly "Mr. Atlas", sporting a "six-pack" to die for,
but I damn sure ain't "porky the wonder-blob" either.

Appropriately enough to the discussion, in the local paper today there's
an article, front page, right-hand side, directly below the masthead -

Headline: Should kids be told they are obese?
Chicago (AP) - Is it OK for doctors and parents to tell children and
teens they're fat? That seems to be the heart of the debate over whether
to replace the fuzzy language favored by the US government with the
painful truth - telling kids they're obese or overweight.

Labeling a child obese might "run the risk of making them angry,
making the family angry," but it addresses a serious issue head-on, said
Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician and co-chair of an
American Academy of Pediatrics obesity task-force.
"If that same person came into your office and had cancer, or was
anemic, or had an ear infection, would we be having the same
conversation? There are a thousand reasons why this obesity epidemic is
so out of control, and one of them is that no one wants to talk about
it."

<elide CDC debate over changing the current "at risk of overweight" and
"overweight" labels to the more truthful "overweight" and "obese",
respectively>

Obese "sounds mean. It doesn't sound good," said Trisha Leu, 17, who
thinks the proposed change is a bad idea.

<My commentary>
Damn right it doesn't sound good - It SHOULDN'T sound good! Because it
*ISN'T* good. The picture of Trisha that they include with the article
shows me a disgustingly fat glob of a girl - Or at least, I *THINK* it's
a girl... breasts? She doesn't have any - she's got a massive roll that
starts at her neck and doesn't end until past her waist - Or at least, I
*THINK* that might be her waist... Thighs? Each one is as large, maybe
larger, than my entire TORSO. Each of her upper arms is easily twice the
size of my thigh. And this after undergoing something referred to as
"gastric banding" surgery as part of an adolescent obesity study and
losing 60 pounds! We're talking about a 17 year old that's likely
tipping the scales at *WELL OVER* 350 pounds, based on the picture. But
she shouldn't be called "obese"? Or even more accurately, just plain
*FAT* because "it "sounds mean"???

AUGH!!!! The "politically correct" dripping off this article is enough
to make me want to gag! Face reality, girl - You're not "chubby". You're
not "big-boned". You're not even "obese" - You're Just Plain FAT! The
first step in FIXING the problem is admitting that you *HAVE* a problem.
Not covering it up under some "not mean" sounding tag.

***... I didn't intend for this to turn into a rant, but this is one of
those topics that doesn't just push my buttons, it jumps up and down on
them repeatedly. Call a spade a spade, fercrissake! To hell with the
mealy-mouth bull*** of "at risk of overweight" when anybody with
functional vision can look and see that it's just plain *FAT*.

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@xxxxxxxxx - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info
.