BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Large & Lovely Obesity is a Fat Lie

"Eric Oliver starts the acknowledgments of his new book, Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic, with a distinctive first sentence: "This was not the book I intended to write."

Like most Americans, Oliver says he, too, believed there was a real obesity epidemic worthy of the constant hand-wringing and dire warnings of everyone from health officials to the diet industry.

He says he was like the rest of us - until he started doing some research. The conclusion of the University of Chicago political scientist: The people with the most to gain from our constant obsession over our weight are the weight-loss industry and diet doctors."

I love this guy!

Read rest of article here.

A fascintating interview! The shift of the BMI has always bothered me. When the US women's Olympic rowing team is considered fat by the BMI there is a problem.

The local news did a story on the BMI, the reporter was considered Obese (there was no way their was an ounce of fat on the guy.)

If thats the case then we are all "to fat" for our own good and trying to live up to impossible standards!

I'm constantly told to loose weight or the results will be high blood pressure and diabetes (both of which I have), but I'm made to feel the weight is the reason and I'm a bad person because I'm fat. And since I'm not being very successful at loosing it, more guilt is shoved on me. However, I talk back! My doctor's cholesterol is twice what mine is and he is in his 30's, extremely tall and very thin and does everything "right". So I challenged him on it - his reply? His is "genetic". Well, mine could be too, doc!
They can't see beyond the obesity and it's driving me mad!

You are not a bad person. Don't give up the fight. Exercise, eat your veggies and enjoy what you have.
You are not alone!

Eat my veggies?! Yuck! Only kidding - I would like to think I'm fine the way I am, but I'm looking for a job. I just finished a course in medical transcription and have been on many job interviews, most of which I don't even make it to the typing test! All they see is a 58 year old woman who is obese and, therefore, likely to use up the health insurance and so I'm dismissed. That's the truly discouraging part of all this. Well, your advise is 100% correct and I will keep on keeping on. Thanks!

I don't like them either. LOL. But I eat em.

Good luck with the job search. Congrats on finishing the medical transcription course! I hired a retired obese woman a few years back. She was one of my most reliable employees. You will find something.

Unfortunately, obesity is a huge epidemic. I am sure the
figures on this report are higher now.

Facts according to the National Institutes of Health:

Seventy five percent (75%) of Americans are overweight.
Two million or more Americans become obese every year.
There are 18 million obese children in America. Obesity is linked to
over 60 illnesses, including Heart Disease, Hypertension and Cancer.
There were 1.5 million heart attacks in America in 2000, of which
200,000 victims never reached the hospital.
Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans with 1,000,000
deaths each year; cancer is number two.
It is estimated that within the next five years, one out of every two Americans will eventually succumb to heart disease, and one out of
three to cancer.
Today, one out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
More than eighty five percent (85%) of these cases are not genetically
linked, and they are a result of the environment we live in.

Cleansing the body and replenishing it with the proper nutrition can make all the difference.

A friend of mine lost 200 pounds in 300 days on a system
I introduced him to, while I have had other friends die
from gastric bypass. I think they figured it would be
easier.

It is so sad.

Julie

Julie - I am interested to hear more about your friend - losing all that weight so quickly has he actually managed to keep it off and if so - how long for?

Please read BIG FAT FACTS:
http://www.bigfatfacts.com

Gastric bypass was suggested to me, but I think it's just too risky. I know a few women for whom it was a huge success and went on to having healthy pregnancies. I also know even more people who have had gallbladder disease from loosing weight so quickly and two who have had miscarriages because they weren't able to eat for two and the babies just wasted away. So, I have to do this "the old fashioned way". I've learned more important than diet is exercise so have traded in my knitting needles for house cleaning whether it needs it or not - I like to see immediate results, but also walk daily.

It's so frustrating that I can't even get in for an interview, and when I do they don't do a typing test. They've made up their minds upon a visual assessement and that ends that. I wish someone would like me show my stuff and prove I can transcribe very well.

Well, I pray and I keep on trying.

Have you ever tried demanding a typing test? I mean if you think they've already made up their decision it wouldn't hurt. Then you'd be able to show your skills.

Even though we don't expect them the right things come at the right time (at least looking back).

You have the right thinking... "keep on trying". Be persistent. Call back. Good luck starmom.

Starmom...hang in there. Good for you for "doing it the old fashioned way" and focusing on exercise. I don't have any idea if you need to lose weight, but please, even if you do...love yourself as you are right now. Change is most likely to come from a base of acceptance. I am amazed, sometimes, to hear myself talking to 'me' in a negative, derrogative way that I'd never use when talking to anyone else. I take a deep breath and then talk to myself more gently. That's what helps me. Good luck with your job search. It can be really tough. A few years ago I was seaching for a job in Social Work. I'd heard a lot of "no's". Then at one interview I was told my size would be an advantage on this particular job because "the clients may be intimidated by your size". I didn't take the job (I don't want to intimidate anyone) - but it did make me laugh <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Please keep posting.

Juliann...I am very scared of any program that would result in the loss of 200 pounds in 300 days!!! If my math is right, that's 3/4 of a pound a day. My doctor would have a fit if I lost weight that fast, because it would signify a medical emergency - not a diet success. I understand this forum is a place for everyone to express themselves and I don't want to argue with you about this. I'm just concerned that in a culture where women abuse their bodies in an effort to achieve the "ideal" wieght, someone might read your post as encouragement to starve themselves.

Trish

I have heard that so many bypass surgeries end up with gallbladder disease and another operation all due to loosing the weight too fast. So 3/4's of a lb a day is going to land you in the hospital with more complications than is worth it.

I have a controlling diminishing husband. On the phone the other night, I realized I had just plain HAD IT! with his bullying and, matter of factly, informed him I didn't appreciate his particular line of bull. I FINALLY! have decided to stand up for myself and it was a real shock to my mental process. Whenever we do realize something that profound that springs up from our soul, our mental attitude is delighted and a special "lightness" comes over us. I feel empowered. And since that day, little things are starting to go my way. I came up out of my depression and started cleaning the house, and organizing my life. I am going to find a job, the difference being right now that I really want one badly enough to be a bit more aggressive. I pray all day that God will find me that perfect job, but when I pray I have to give him all the specifics. Even God has to have an exact blueprint to work with and so I get specific with him right down to the smallest detail.

Moe - I pushed for a typing test with one interviewer and then sat there totally amused at all the ways she tried to wiggle out of it. So I'd try another tactic and she'd wiggle out of it. I got to where I knew I wasn't going to get the test, but by now I was just enoying watching her squirm. Finally, I just told her I didn't think her hospital had an ideal employment history and I'd be happier looking elsewhere! If you know you're going to be the looser, I figure I have nothing to loose by being a bit assertive then. I still see her now and then when I'm there to see my doctor etc. and I always make sure to say, "How's the transcription business coming along?" She sqirms! I enjoy.

Starmom,

Great!!! Sounds like you are really taking control of your personal life and still looking hard for a job. With your positive attitude - success is on the way.
Funny...I can always tell how depressed/or not I am by how my house looks <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> On good days, I clean - on hard days, I just exist.
I so appreciate you sharing how life is going for you. Thank you! Good luck, and please keep posting.
Trish

Trish,
I never realized it until you posted about good days and bad days and house cleaning. Apparently I do the same thing. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If that man still thinks that then he has issues with reality. It is not just in his country it is also happening in many other countries. Speaking about facts is not shaming and it's not attacking either. Just like saying someone is fat and someone is obese is not shaming and attacking. These things are also not insults it is reality and facts.