How much do we really know?
#1 There is agreement in the medical community about ideal weights?
False! Absolutely False! As a matter of fact, several studies shown that the best weights for maximum longevity are 20% ABOVE what is currently recommended. Why, then, did the government LOWER the weight standards a few years back? Because many at the CDC and NIH are in the back pockets of special interests, such as the pharmaceutical companies. The more people who are classified as overweight, the more customers the weight loss industry has.
#2 Fatness is always unhealthy.
Nonsense!!!! Fat people who exercise are healthier than thin people who do not. Furthermore, contrary to all the ways we are mislead by the media, obesity has NOT yet been proven to be the cause of disease. It is quite possible that it is just a symptom! _Big Fat Lies_ by Glen Gaessar is a great book to read.
#3 People are getting fatter.
This is true and the reason is DIETING. It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that dieting makes the body better at storing fat. In one study, they recorded what normal weight rats ate, then put them on a diet. Then they fed the rats what they ate before the diet. The rats gained 20 TIMES more on the exact SAME diet. In humans, dieting has over a 90% failure rate. This has nothing to do with lack of will power or psychological problems. Can you eat 20 times less than you did before the diet? For the rest of your life? Of course not! Want to know more about diet failures? Track down a copy of _The Dieter's Dilemma_ by Bennet and Gurin. Dr. Bennet edits the Harvard Medical Newsletter.
#4 Fatness is a product of modern life.
Absolute bunk!!!! There may be more fat people today, but fat people have been around ever since agriculture. The more diverse a species is, the better its chance of survival. And we evolved for the survival of the species, not the maximum longevity of specific individuals. The 20th century is the first time (allegedly) that fat people as a group did not live longer than thin people as a group. Fat people had a better chance of surviving famine and the "wasting diseases" such as t.b. In fact, our capacity to store fat is the reason we made it thus far. How ungrateful of us to declare fat public enemy number 1 and to stigmatize the people whose genes helped us survive.
#5 Weight obsession creates self-absorption.
True! Boo hoo. Poor us! We are healthier than ever before. We are living longer than any time before! We have used more resources than all the people who have went before us combined. We are absolutely blessed beyond measure in opportunities. Yet, we make ourselves miserable because we do not look like skeletons. We need to GROW UP! There are 1 billion people on this planet (1 in 6) that do not have electricity or clean drinking water. Those are real problems. There is nothing noble about dieting if it makes you grouchy to everyone around you! There is no wisdom in spending all your time thinking about NOT eating! Who are you helping by waiting to do things until you are thin? The truth is that small weight losses and consistent exercise are far better for health than dramatic weight loss. We have created an obsession with an unobtainable body out of our fears of living life to the fullest.
#6 This obsession is damaging both personally and socially.
True! There are several ways in which weight obsession hurts us. When we support the diet industry, we feed it more resources to suppress the truth. There is a reason we only hear about studies that show fat being harmful to health, and those that find otherwise are buried. It has also been alleged that the weight loss industry pays the media to "fat bash" much as the tobacco industry pays actors to smoke. And this is all fueled by the self-hatred of fat people who pay over and over again for a product that makes them fatter.
The second way that weight obsession is harmful is that it diverts our attention away from more important things. Ask us over and over what our number 1 problem is and we will say our weight. We were warned about terrorism, but we did not listen. Now, we are being warned about global warming, famine, water shortages, and pandemics. We are still not listening. We are too busy counting calories.
#7 There is another hidden agenda behind the obesity epidemic than just profit.
Sadly true. We hear over and over again that obesity causes diabetes. What we do not hear is that endocrine disrupters also cause diabetes, as well as cancer, heart disease, learning disabilities, and premature puberty. If we knew how dangerous they were, we would lobby for change. But change would cost money. It is far easier to pin the blame on obesity. That way, the victims feel guilty for their own poor health. And no one has to change. Until, that is, enough thin people also get these diseases and we will reach a point beyond denial! Want to know more? Plug in endocrine disrupters into a search engine.
#8 There is a better way to promote community
health than harping, phony obesity scares, and community weight loss efforts.
True! We can encourage exercise for ALL people. Thin people who are sedentary are just as much at risk for disease as fat people. They should not get off the hook just because they are genetically programed to stay thin. If we encourage people to walk instead of using their cars the planet benefits as well. Being a size 8 benefits nobody if you are taking your SUV to the gym, and then to the mall to consume as much as possible to reward yourself for being lean! The problem is that moderate exercise is free. That means the diet companies, and the drug companies do not make a profit. For that matter, the oil companies lose out too.
Why doesn't the government give grants for communities to set up natural food co-ops? It would help people afford healthier food, create jobs, and create community at the same time. They could have free exercise classes and teach ethnic dance so people could learn that moving can be joyful. And we could learn about each other's cultures at the same time. There are win-win situations where everyone could succeed and no one would have to be stigmatized. But then again, the fast food industry and the grocery stores might be upset. What is our physical, mental, spiritual and planetary health compared to making a buck!!!!
