Comments on: Fear and loathing in overweight America

By: Robert Johannesburg

Robert Johannesburg — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:51:39 +0000

I agree; moralizing certain weights or BMIs is not only not healthy (mentally, for sure, and probably physically as well - I could see eating disorder backlashes), but it's also not accurate. BMI is such a faulty system; what if someone is muscular, for example? Besides, it's an individual thing. It's important to have support, but someone's body is their own, and not a corporation's. I think that things like body composition scales are useful tools for people, but not for companies.

By: Dread Polack

Dread Polack — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:45:42 +0000

True. I’ve been overweight since I was about 5. I’m 28 now. One of the things scientists are learning is how little control we really have over our weight. The vast majority of people who try to lose weight don’t, and the vast majority of people who do gain it back. This is not a simple matter of not being disciplined enough. Despite what you do, your metabolism has the final say in what it does with the food you eat.

Personally, I spent over a year working out ever other day for 2 hours a shot. I watched what I ate. I weight 230 lbs all the way through. I haven’t worked out for about two years now, and eat fast food 3 times a week and I weigh 230 lbs.

Diet and exercise affect weight to different degrees depending on the person. Some people are skinny despite being lazy and eating poorly. Some people diet and exercise and can’t lose weight. Some people face food cravings most of us can’t imagine. Despite this, the general assumption in the public is, as you said, that fat people are guilty of now fewer than 2 sins- sloth and gluttony, and that thin people are paragons of virtue. This kind of thinking isn’t making people any healthier.

By: Nicholas David

Nicholas David — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:49:14 +0000

If people realized how much money they waste when buying that bag of chips, can of soda and box of sugar, they’re be in shock.

Eating healthy is cheaper than eating poorly.

Eliminate the crap and save money.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 02:43:19 +0000

And a big reason fresh food costs so much more is that our farm laws subsidize processed corn products, rather than actual food. So how ’bout we subsidize food that will make people healthier, if we really think obesity is a public health crisis?

Have I mentioned that I hate everyone?

By: infragilis

infragilis — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 02:24:22 +0000

“I think that half our problems would be solved if people ate only real food. ”

Quoted for truth.

The funny (in a really sad way) thing about real food is that, once you’ve had it, processed food doesn’t really taste like anything. I had a hamburger, one night, that was made from grass-fed beef, hand-made buns, and farm-grown cheddar, and it was -amazing-. The Wal-Mart-beef, Wal-Mart-bun, “American” cheese burger I ate a few nights later tasted like … nothing. How odd.