You think that maybe the obesity naysayers would have calm down by now. After all three major studies (including two by the CDC) have proved overweight people live the longest and that even being in the obesity range doesn't cut your lifespan that much or that doctors don't know what causes you be fat, it isn't just about eating and moving.
Or that scientist have proved that diets consist of reducing caloric intake. It doesn't matter if you cut the carbs, the fats or the protein, short-term weight loss comes by reducing calories.
You think they would stop: diets don't work, no one knows why some people are fat while some are thin, diets are the same thing just in different packages.
Lancet has a study that "proves" that fatties live a shorter life. I'm not a doctor or scientist, I have read the study and admit that I didn't quite understand all of it. I did understand that there wasn't one large test group, that the scientists took the information from 57 other studies, that dieting was never looked at, that 35% of the study were smokers, at least 3 of the studies were self-reported and the study tried wave away people dying with BMI under 22 because more of them smoked.
Do I have a point? It's pretty simple. No one really knows anything. No one is sure is fat causes or helps fight diseases or if fat is a symptom not a cause of heart disease or diabetes. That is the issue, that is my problem. I'm sick of seeing articles that automatically assume fat causes X,Y,Z when there is research out there that states otherwise.
...or that it would be an acceptable excuse to discriminate against people even if you could prove that fat WAS in and of itself "unhealthy." Not even if you could prove fat people's behavior was the sole cause of their weight.
If I'm not harming YOU (general "you"), it's none of your damn business. Period. And don't invent trumped-up bogus reasons why my fat "harms" you like I'm sucking all the oxygen out of the environment or driving up health care costs just because I won't stop eating, because that's just ludicrous. That anyone actually has to be told that in this day and age is truly pathetic.
And that would be just as true even if everyone could just flip a switch and make themselves thin. I'm old enough to remember a time when young WASP hippie men routinely got the crap beaten out of themselves, sometimes even beaten to death, just for having long hair. I didn't think "well, if you'd just cut your hair and put on a suit, there'd be no problem" was an acceptable excuse for hate when I was 7, and I don't think so now.
Posted by: Meowser | March 24, 2009 at 05:28 AM
scientists took the information from 57 other studies,
This is why, even if I was prepared to spend money to read this 'study' (pause for raucous cackling), is why I cannot take it seriously.
My life is apparently to be cut short by 2-4 years, I'm guessing if they compared that with time I'm supposed to spend 'exercising' and finding out from them what I'm supposed to eat, the latter would be greater than the former.
Posted by: wriggles | March 24, 2009 at 07:46 AM
Great article. Definitely a lot of useful information. I myself am overweight and I hate how some of the tv shows are exploiting overweight people. For example, the biggest loser. They had them pulling cars! How do you feel about this type of tv? Look at the article below and you will see what I mean. Thanks again!
http://www.bloggingcentral.com/865052-Biggest-Loser-TV-Show-Challenges-Fattys-To-Pull-Cars-Biggest-Loser--865052.php
Posted by: Jen | March 26, 2009 at 02:22 PM