And I would challenge you to something here, because you're still viewing this argument through the lens of your own experience. And we, neither of us, can do that if we want to understand the underlying causes of obesity. You mention weight issues as a child and an adult, and anorexia as a teenager. These experiences color how you view people who are overweight or obese and how you feel about them--after all, YOU managed your weight, why can't THEY? But this is a bootstraps argument and not everyone's life experience is going to be like yours. I would also challenge you to look at the emotions you feel about obesity, because you make some really negative assumptions:
"I do get frustrated, though, when I see overweight people shrugging it off as "oh well, it's genetic! nothing can do!" and then going to an all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner."
How many people do you personally know that do this? And how do you know that one buffet dinner is something being done on a special occasion? Do you know how they eat the rest of the time? But my guess is this is more of 'you saw an obese person at the Royal Fork, so you assume they just live there and excuse their weight as a slow metabolism.' Or you know one person in your life who makes consistently poor food choices, so you assume every fat person does the same. Either way, these are very biased, very judgmental assumptions you're making and they're going to be false when applied in such a broad fashion.
"You may not that my original comment, I said that if people were going to use the 'disease' theory as an excuse for their over-eating, then they will have to treat lit like a disease (i.e. get help/treatment, minimise exposure to lifestyle or dietary factors that aggravate the symptoms, etc.) rather than getting angry or defensive about it. if it's a disease, treatment should be strongly encouraged. if it is a lifestyle, stop excusing it as a disease."
Are you a medical doctor? Are you a bariatric specialist? Do you have any medical training at all? I'm going to guess you don't, because if you did, you'd realize that the last thing that belongs at the bedside are assumptions about the patient's thought process when it comes to their disease. Because we do treat obesity--it has it's own specialty (bariatrics)--and one of the huge components is recognizing that it's not as simple as pushing away from the table. For medical professionals (I'm an ER/ICU critical care RN) it's imperative that we leave our personal feelings at the door and work from the patient's perspective. Because I can preach all day about how well a chicken romaine salad with light vinaigrette dressing works for me and how I make sure to include at least an hour of cardio and weight work every day...but this doesn't help my patient at all. Hell, it doesn't even apply to my patient! What does help? Recognizing the social stigma my patients' feel and being sensitive to this. Recognizing that healthy food IS expensive and looking into resources for my patients if they want them. Recognizing that medical coverage may be nonexistent for my patients, so specialty bariatric programs may be out of reach financially. And recognizing that my patients have a right to pride in themselves that their weight and medical conditions should not diminish. They are not the sum total of pounds on a scale--they are people who come to my hospital for help and that's what I give them to my best ability.
Cool story sis...and then I'm done.
It was a busy night in the ER and the place was packed. I answered a ringing call light and in that bed was a woman who weighed about 400 pounds. She told me she needed to pee. So I asked her, "How well do you transfer? Can you walk?"
She surprised me by bursting into tears. I was taken back by this and asked her what I'd said that upset her so much. She replied, "No no, it's not that. You're just...you're just the first person who hasn't tried to put me on a bedpan because I'm fat. Because I can walk. I just need someone to unhook these wires for me."
Fat =/= lazy, gluttonous, or a lack of personal responsibility.
(Edited in an effort to shorten. It's just SO MANY WORDS...it's like a WALL of words...)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-03-18 08:16 pm (UTC)"I do get frustrated, though, when I see overweight people shrugging it off as "oh well, it's genetic! nothing can do!" and then going to an all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner."
How many people do you personally know that do this? And how do you know that one buffet dinner is something being done on a special occasion? Do you know how they eat the rest of the time? But my guess is this is more of 'you saw an obese person at the Royal Fork, so you assume they just live there and excuse their weight as a slow metabolism.' Or you know one person in your life who makes consistently poor food choices, so you assume every fat person does the same. Either way, these are very biased, very judgmental assumptions you're making and they're going to be false when applied in such a broad fashion.
"You may not that my original comment, I said that if people were going to use the 'disease' theory as an excuse for their over-eating, then they will have to treat lit like a disease (i.e. get help/treatment, minimise exposure to lifestyle or dietary factors that aggravate the symptoms, etc.) rather than getting angry or defensive about it. if it's a disease, treatment should be strongly encouraged. if it is a lifestyle, stop excusing it as a disease."
Are you a medical doctor? Are you a bariatric specialist? Do you have any medical training at all? I'm going to guess you don't, because if you did, you'd realize that the last thing that belongs at the bedside are assumptions about the patient's thought process when it comes to their disease. Because we do treat obesity--it has it's own specialty (bariatrics)--and one of the huge components is recognizing that it's not as simple as pushing away from the table. For medical professionals (I'm an ER/ICU critical care RN) it's imperative that we leave our personal feelings at the door and work from the patient's perspective. Because I can preach all day about how well a chicken romaine salad with light vinaigrette dressing works for me and how I make sure to include at least an hour of cardio and weight work every day...but this doesn't help my patient at all. Hell, it doesn't even apply to my patient! What does help? Recognizing the social stigma my patients' feel and being sensitive to this. Recognizing that healthy food IS expensive and looking into resources for my patients if they want them. Recognizing that medical coverage may be nonexistent for my patients, so specialty bariatric programs may be out of reach financially. And recognizing that my patients have a right to pride in themselves that their weight and medical conditions should not diminish. They are not the sum total of pounds on a scale--they are people who come to my hospital for help and that's what I give them to my best ability.
Cool story sis...and then I'm done.
It was a busy night in the ER and the place was packed. I answered a ringing call light and in that bed was a woman who weighed about 400 pounds. She told me she needed to pee. So I asked her, "How well do you transfer? Can you walk?"
She surprised me by bursting into tears. I was taken back by this and asked her what I'd said that upset her so much. She replied, "No no, it's not that. You're just...you're just the first person who hasn't tried to put me on a bedpan because I'm fat. Because I can walk. I just need someone to unhook these wires for me."
Fat =/= lazy, gluttonous, or a lack of personal responsibility.
(Edited in an effort to shorten. It's just SO MANY WORDS...it's like a WALL of words...)