Reply to Everything you know about obesity is wrong.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In a nutshell: fat shaming does not help.[/quote]

I get that. I also get that the US needs to stop subsidies to big Agra and their health wrecking foods. Perhaps subsidize healthy foods instead and revamp the school lunch program so kids learn to eat better from a young age. Snap benefits should encourage purchase of healthy food over unhealthy food. Doctors should not fat shame but get to the root of the problem (whether endocrine or some other disorder, prescribe proven drugs, address mental health issues). Build trails and bike lanes in more places to encourage activity or subsidize gyms. I don’t what else, but address it like an epidemic. It’s a public health crisis. Use some of the money from defense to fight this.

Do all that. Where does that leave personal responsibility though? Not sure the article addresses that and I don’t have an answer. I personally know MC and UMC educated people (doctors even) who are clinically super-morbidly obese. Money and education are not an issue. They are not limited to eating processed foods like some poorer people are. They live in nice neighborhoods with green space. They choose to go on cruises, steakhouses, Disney, etc and eat at the food and festivals. Desserts and sugary cocktails galore. Fat shaming doesn’t work. They have access to healthcare and healthful foods. What more can be done for them? Or do we accept that they are just fine the way they are. It’s a lifestyle and they have similar weight friends so have support from each other—to stay the way they are, to celebrate it. Don’t fat shame but what? Give them a tax incentive or disincentive?

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Super skinny and fit people do all of those things too. The difference is metabolic. You are shaming again without acknowledging the difference in body chemistry. The same meal will not have the same impact on two different bodies who engage in the same exercise.

Analogy: A man and a women of equal weight drink the same amount of alcohol -- the alcohol does not effect each of them the same way. An alcoholic man and non-alcoholic man drink the same number of drinks -- the alcohol does not have the same impact on each of them; one needs to drink much more to get a buzz, nor does it lead to the same follow up behavior (addiction). Alcohol interacts with body chemistry; food interacts with body chemistry. But you can't go cold turkey on food -- you have to eat to live and as others have pointed out, it takes more food to sustain the health of a formerly obese person. It's cyclical. That's why the amount of food needed to sustain the Biggest Loser star's weight was called a starvation diet -- it will starve him (i.e., start to negatively impact his health) to stay at the weight maintenance level of nutrition, even though it might be enough food for you.

So yes, we need to prevent kids from becoming obese in the first place by protecting their metabolism and acknowledging body chemistry (not every body is born with the same body chemistry so a big part of pediatrics needs to focus on figuring this out for each and every child), and by changing the "food" available to the general population and make sure kids can afford to each real food that never saw a box or a bag. [/quote]

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