Obesity

[Illusional]

they probably had an elevator.

raverboy

[bluesummer]

No way. Too any obese people use their weight as a crutch. What incentive is there to losing weight when the government is going to hand you checks for being fat?

Obesity itself is a strain on our healthcare system for the countless health issues it generates. I say people who are obese and not actively seeking ways to help themselves should pay MORE for medical coverage since they cost the healthcare system more.

[vashti]

They don't really cost the health care system any more money because they die younger.

[bluesummer]

Yeah, but they spend years getting diabetes meds, cholesterol meds, heart surgeries among many, many other things. All this before they die early. If they die at 40 and I died at 40, they'd have cost the healthcare system more than I did. At least my cost is amortized over a (hopefully) long and healthy lifespan.

[vashti]

Yes, but without the associated health problems, YOU are very unlikely to die at 40.

Anyway, I first read about the myth of inflated health care costs for obese people in Newsweek, but of course I can't find a link, so I'll just put up this one:

[url]http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/15293006.html[/url]

On average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and obese people lived about 80 years. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on. The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000

[shheadz]

I'm torn, only after watching the documentary Half Ton Son. The kid didn't choose to be obese, it's just the way he was raised. So I think it's silly to think all obesity is a matter of choice.

[starbuck]

There are health problems associated with alot of things: smoking, drug use, alcoholism, eating disorders, workaholism, but somehow obese people get the short end of the sympathy stick.

I think most of the fat-phobia in our culture has to do with constantly being fed images of skinny people as perfection.

[vashti]

I kind of look at it like this: we all KNOW that ALL people have issues. Fat people just wear their issues so they are visible to the world.

The thing I dislike is how acceptable it is to verbalize hostility towards overweight people, like they did when they were 12. People suck.

[Lovable]

I agree people suck at any age when it comes to overweight people.

Too many people in the media, movies etc., shoving these anorexic people down our throats saying, "this is the perfect man/woman" & we all have to try to aspire to it or we are made fun of, shunned etc..

I'm no skinny minnie, nor am I morbidly obese. I see people look THROUGH me, it hurt for alot of years. Then as I got older, I didn't give a shit anymore, they choose to see only a bigger woman & not get to know me because of it, then they lost out on knowing a GOOD WOMAN!

I've seen shows on Discovery Health & I do think for alot of obese people they really can't help it. If you have a slow metabolism for instance, you're bascially screwed beause it's going to take a whole lot longer to keep yourself in shape. Sometimes that's discouraging for people, they do all they can & lose nothing or next to nothing, so they give up, sucks but when someone loses hope that's it.

[vashti]

The thing about obesity is that it's a vicious circle. Kids grow up learning how to eat from their obese parents, so you are talking about breaking lifelong habits and learning to enjoy foods that really don't taste as good as what they are used to. Also, a lot of kids nowadays are medicated, and the side effects of many medications include weight gain. As the child gets older and heavier, they start to suffer health problems related to their weight, commonly respiratory problems, which is treated with steroids, which cause you to gain even more weight. And exercise is MUCH more difficult when you carry extra weight. Can you imagine trying to walk even around the block with an extra 100 pounds strapped to your body? And then the depression about the weight and reduced mobility work together to demotivate people.

It's actually a very complex problem.

[Lovable]

Good point vashti.

Another thing that is leading to obesity is the internet video games. I've seen countless reports on the news of how more & more children are becoming obese from sitting hours & hours online.

I remember when I was growing up, we actually went outside to play, rode bikes, had imaginations when we played with our toys.

Now in the age of computers, computerized everything, all the kids have to do (even adults with their new "toys") is sit around the house & play with the keyboard or the joysticks of their games/computers.

[Petit Papillon]

Obesity can be fatal...For others

Overweight Woman Gets Probation in Boyfriend's 'Sitting' Death

An overweight Ohio woman who killed her boyfriend by sitting on him, told a judge she was sincerely sorry for squashing the father of her three children, Fox8.com reported.

Mia Landingham, who was believed to weigh around 300 pounds at the time of the August incident, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in Cleveland.

Her lawyer told the Judge Carolyn Friedland there was a history of domestic abuse between Landingham and her 120 pound boyfriend, Mikal Middleton-Bey.

"I just want to say that I am sincerely sorry about this situation," she said. "I wish I could take it back."

The judge sentenced Landingham to three years probation and 100 hours of community service — much to the dislike of the victim's family.

"So basically you can say that I can go sit on somebody and get probation?" one of the victim's sisters told Fox8.com. "I feel there wasn't no justice."

Source:
[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583493,00.html"]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583493,00.html[/URL]

[bluesummer]

I don't, by any means, think a skinny person is perfect. That would be hypocritical of me to say, seeing as I'm not a stick myself. But I'm relatively healthy. I'm also not saying it's okay to verbalize animosity towards obese people, but the OP asked if they should be coddled for their condition, and I said no. It's not like their problem is incurable.

[Gigabitch]

I'm torn, only after watching the documentary Half Ton Son. The kid didn't choose to be obese, it's just the way he was raised. So I think it's silly to think all obesity is a matter of choice.

That sounds like child abuse to me.

It's actually a very complex problem.

I agree, and I think calling it a problem, not a disability, is appropriate. Alcoholism is not a "disability".

[Disillusioned]

Case by case. I think there are ways of finding out if it's glandular and even if it is there can be improvement. I don't think low confidence, vicious a cycle as it is, can be considered a disability. A disability may contribute to it but a lot of being happy is learning how to be happy. To compound the problem of feeling miserable people get addicted to feeling miserable and many go to their comfort foods, don't feel like working out and just lose motivation. As the problem grows it can be overwhelming to the point where they need help. I'm not a compassionate soul when I think true grit can fix a situation but I have much sympathy for the difficulty of steeply uphil struggles. They are people too and they hurt relatively the same. I feel fortunate I'm slim because I'm one of those people who gets discouraged very easily. If I was in their shoes I'd be getting guff for it and it certainly doesn't make me feel like "wow, this person really knows what they're talking about! I just need to run around the block a few times and eat some salad! I'm so motivated I'll just get right on it."
It's their life but there are areas where it overlaps wih the lives of others. If you're handicapped you meet certain criteria. If you don't meet those criterea, well...you aren't considered handicapped. Voluntarily reducing your own mobility, like chopping off a foot, would probably get you a handicapped sticker for your car, so I'm torn. I don't think it's right but it's a complicated issue about the question of choice.