[TW for fat hatred; denial and violation of personal autonomy.]
If I went out and broke both of my femurs in order to
insert fancy machinery that would gradually lengthen them, which would
mean 1-3 days in a hospital, the services of an occupational therapist
and weeks of rehabilitation, and assuming none of the complications
inherent in such a procedure were to occur, in the end, I'd be an inch
or two taller.
According to many leading authorities,
physicians and the media, I would also be healthier. Despite having two
broken, and therefore weakened, femurs; despite the stress and pain of
surgery (not to mention financial stress); despite the exercise lost
from reduced mobility and the hospital stay; despite the fact that
nothing whatsoever in the procedure actually addresses health - many
professionals would consider me healthier.
Because BMI.
It really is totally ridiculous when you take a moment to think about it.
What
happens if you bend your knees while being measured? If you just had a large meal? If you have heavy
things in your pockets? If you just took a huge dump? If you're wearing platform heels?
For me, not much, since I'm at about 40 BMI and am clearly a ticking time bomb or whatever.
But
for someone right on the (completely arbitrary) line between "normal"
and "overweight"? I mean, their entire life and future health could be
imperiled by those two pounds! Why aren't physicians working to prevent
this life-threatening scenario? Telling patients to fast before a
routine doctor's visit, sending them to pee before putting them on the
scale, stripping them? Heck, even a cavity search would be helpful - I
mean, the TSA does it all the time, so it's okay, right?
Whatever is necessary for the health of our citizens. We will do whatever it takes.
Or... maybe we could, y'know, do the vaguely intelligent thing and ditch BMI as a measurement of health.
Just a thought.
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
A Barrage of Coincidences
[TW for fat hatred and child abuse resulting in death.]
So many coincidental happenings today!
There's the abhorrent childhood obesity exhibit at Disney's Epcot. Because kids are clearly stupid and don't already get the cultural narrative that Fat Is Bad, and require reminding while on a family vacation at Disney World. The dramatic rise in childhood/teen eating disorders is just coincidence.
There's the terrifying news that an FDA panel - swayed in part by none other than Dr. Arya Sharma(!), who has frequently advocated for HAES-like philosophy in the past, has unanimously voted to recommend the weight-loss drug Qnexa for approval. This, despite being rejected in 2010 due to evidence that the component phentermine causes "side effects like elevated heart rate that may lead to severe cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and arrhythmias; birth defects; psychiatric problems; kidney stones; decreased bone mineral density and memory impairment." In what's clearly coincidence, cardiovascular problems is what killed some of the people who took Fen-Phen in the '90s! The 'phen' part of Fen-Phen totally doesn't stand for phentermine, or anything. Ahem.
Then there's the news that few people will really connect to the obesity hysteria: the heartbreaking death of a 9-year-old girl, because she had been forced to run for three hours after lying to her grandmother about having eaten candy bars. Not one thing in that article is said about obesity or weight. But really, now. Why would they use intense exercise as punishment for lying about eating candy? It must be coincidence.
Then there's the regular parade of celebrity scrutiny and diet tips and airbrushed models that have become utterly ubiquitous both online and in the meat world. This is obviously just a coincidence, since they're just always there.
Placed side by side to these articles, I found this: 'Am I Ugly' Videos Spark Disturbing YouTube Trend (video starts automatically, but has an accompanying article). Apparently, young women have been taking video of themselves asking if they are ugly, and posting them to YouTube. Predictably, some people are kind, others accuse them of begging for attention, and the trolls have come out in force.
Why would there be a connection between the first four points in this post and this YouTube trend, nevermind the chronic insecurities that the majority of the people in this country struggle with every day?
I dunno. It must just be coincidence.
So many coincidental happenings today!
There's the abhorrent childhood obesity exhibit at Disney's Epcot. Because kids are clearly stupid and don't already get the cultural narrative that Fat Is Bad, and require reminding while on a family vacation at Disney World. The dramatic rise in childhood/teen eating disorders is just coincidence.
There's the terrifying news that an FDA panel - swayed in part by none other than Dr. Arya Sharma(!), who has frequently advocated for HAES-like philosophy in the past, has unanimously voted to recommend the weight-loss drug Qnexa for approval. This, despite being rejected in 2010 due to evidence that the component phentermine causes "side effects like elevated heart rate that may lead to severe cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and arrhythmias; birth defects; psychiatric problems; kidney stones; decreased bone mineral density and memory impairment." In what's clearly coincidence, cardiovascular problems is what killed some of the people who took Fen-Phen in the '90s! The 'phen' part of Fen-Phen totally doesn't stand for phentermine, or anything. Ahem.
Then there's the news that few people will really connect to the obesity hysteria: the heartbreaking death of a 9-year-old girl, because she had been forced to run for three hours after lying to her grandmother about having eaten candy bars. Not one thing in that article is said about obesity or weight. But really, now. Why would they use intense exercise as punishment for lying about eating candy? It must be coincidence.
Then there's the regular parade of celebrity scrutiny and diet tips and airbrushed models that have become utterly ubiquitous both online and in the meat world. This is obviously just a coincidence, since they're just always there.
Placed side by side to these articles, I found this: 'Am I Ugly' Videos Spark Disturbing YouTube Trend (video starts automatically, but has an accompanying article). Apparently, young women have been taking video of themselves asking if they are ugly, and posting them to YouTube. Predictably, some people are kind, others accuse them of begging for attention, and the trolls have come out in force.
Why would there be a connection between the first four points in this post and this YouTube trend, nevermind the chronic insecurities that the majority of the people in this country struggle with every day?
I dunno. It must just be coincidence.
Really, CRACKED? Really?
[TW for fat hatred.]
Have you ever been to the humor website CRACKED? It's one of those places full of interesting tidbits of mostly useless information. I've gotten lost there for hours, reading article after article, and laughing all the way through.
Tonight, I read 6 Lies About the Human Body You Learned in Kindergarten. Since their lists count down to #1, I enjoyed the first five. Yep, I knew that the tongue tastes things pretty much equally everywhere; yep, I understand neuroanatomy enough to know about elasticity; yep, I know that there are many more than just 5 senses. And then I reached #1: Your Metabolism Makes You Fat or Skinny.
The image that follows this subtitle is a montage of a slender, muscled man on one side sitting in front of a plate of raw spinach, a fat man on the other side shoving a huge burger into his mouth, both superimposed on an image of fat-creased skin. The article predictably goes on to characterize fat people as gluttons who eat far more calories than they can expend, as time bombs to a horrible fat-related death and as incapable of accurately reporting their true caloric intake. Naturally, since CRACKED is fond of including hilariously subtitled images, there are six images of either fat people, food, or fat people eating food. I'm not going to paste any of the subtitles here; they're easy enough to find if you really want to read them.
In short:
Calories in != calories out. I'm not a machine.
Fat people live just as long as "average" [sic] people. Quit conflating fitness with weight, please.
Individuals are a better witness to their experiences than strangers are. Calling fat people liars because your experience/culture/really bad interpretation of scientific research tells you that 99% of fat people eat themselves into fatness is an extremely dishonest and stigmatizing approach that serves only to inflate ego and marginalize fat people.
To preempt the commentary that CRACKED is a comedy site and therefore shouldn't be taken seriously, bigotry of any kind does not happen in a void. Each instance reinforces prejudice and hostility.
P.S. If you choose to read the article, for the love of all that is holy do not read the comments.
Have you ever been to the humor website CRACKED? It's one of those places full of interesting tidbits of mostly useless information. I've gotten lost there for hours, reading article after article, and laughing all the way through.
Tonight, I read 6 Lies About the Human Body You Learned in Kindergarten. Since their lists count down to #1, I enjoyed the first five. Yep, I knew that the tongue tastes things pretty much equally everywhere; yep, I understand neuroanatomy enough to know about elasticity; yep, I know that there are many more than just 5 senses. And then I reached #1: Your Metabolism Makes You Fat or Skinny.
The image that follows this subtitle is a montage of a slender, muscled man on one side sitting in front of a plate of raw spinach, a fat man on the other side shoving a huge burger into his mouth, both superimposed on an image of fat-creased skin. The article predictably goes on to characterize fat people as gluttons who eat far more calories than they can expend, as time bombs to a horrible fat-related death and as incapable of accurately reporting their true caloric intake. Naturally, since CRACKED is fond of including hilariously subtitled images, there are six images of either fat people, food, or fat people eating food. I'm not going to paste any of the subtitles here; they're easy enough to find if you really want to read them.
In short:
Calories in != calories out. I'm not a machine.
Fat people live just as long as "average" [sic] people. Quit conflating fitness with weight, please.
Individuals are a better witness to their experiences than strangers are. Calling fat people liars because your experience/culture/really bad interpretation of scientific research tells you that 99% of fat people eat themselves into fatness is an extremely dishonest and stigmatizing approach that serves only to inflate ego and marginalize fat people.
To preempt the commentary that CRACKED is a comedy site and therefore shouldn't be taken seriously, bigotry of any kind does not happen in a void. Each instance reinforces prejudice and hostility.
P.S. If you choose to read the article, for the love of all that is holy do not read the comments.
Fat and Pregnant? END OF THE WORLD.
So, apparently the UK'S National Health Service has decided to try drug treatment to prevent obese babies (what?). And they're doing it by giving pregnant fatties between 500 and 2500mg of metformin per day from 12 weeks gestation to delivery. Because VFHT. Because OMGDEATHFATZ is a worse fate than the drug's increased risk for hypo/hyperglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, lactic acidosis and unspecified cardiovascular risk, not to mention a host of other unpleasant side effects. Like smelling like a fish. Oh, and the completely unknown risks to the developing fetus: "There are no controlled data in human pregnancy. [...] Metformin is only recommended for use during pregnancy when benefit outweighs risk." No breastfeeding when the baby is born, either.
Somehow, I'm seeing a problem with the idea of giving pregnant women of any body type this kind of drug, unless she actually has diabetes.
What does metformin actually do, though? Well, it reduces the liver's sugar production and decreases the amount of sugar absorbed into the body. It also increases the sensitivity of the body's insulin receptors, which means what little sugar is left in the bloodstream is more quickly absorbed. Assuming this doesn't lead to hypoglycemia, the body will adapt to this by reducing insulin production.
This is all on the unfounded hypothesis that obese mothers transfer greater amounts of sugar to their fetus, which results in fatter babies. Reduce the sugar in Mom's bloodstream, reduce sugar to the baby, reduce baby size. We have officially moved into the realm of unsightly fat on infants, completely uncognizant of the health benefits of baby chubbiness. Is it just me, or does this actually sound like Baby's First Diet? The Pre-Natal Weight Loss System! Because reducing sugar intake totally makes adults lose weight long-term, right? It should totally work for a fetus, too!
The BBC article on the subject is, of course, full of anti-fat themes, not the least of which is the conflation of fat and health, but the most egregious part of the article is the inclusion of "expert advice" from Dr. Ian Campbell of the British charity (lolsob) Weight Concern. In his words, "In an ideal world you would want women to take stock of their weight before pregnancy, but in reality that's not going to happen."
He is literally saying that fat women should not procreate, and by extension, those that do are irresponsible. Nevermind that there is no solid scientific evidence that supports the idea that fat is unhealthy. Nevermind that the weight cycling that he is encouraging is far more damaging to health than simply having a stable BMI of 30 could ever be. Nevermind that the fat stigma that he is perpetuating encourages the weight cycling mentioned above, as well as depression, eating disorders, obsession with food and weight, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia - not to mention that it demotivates the pursuit of health.
How about we, y'know, start focusing on health, not weight?
Because that would be great.
Somehow, I'm seeing a problem with the idea of giving pregnant women of any body type this kind of drug, unless she actually has diabetes.
What does metformin actually do, though? Well, it reduces the liver's sugar production and decreases the amount of sugar absorbed into the body. It also increases the sensitivity of the body's insulin receptors, which means what little sugar is left in the bloodstream is more quickly absorbed. Assuming this doesn't lead to hypoglycemia, the body will adapt to this by reducing insulin production.
This is all on the unfounded hypothesis that obese mothers transfer greater amounts of sugar to their fetus, which results in fatter babies. Reduce the sugar in Mom's bloodstream, reduce sugar to the baby, reduce baby size. We have officially moved into the realm of unsightly fat on infants, completely uncognizant of the health benefits of baby chubbiness. Is it just me, or does this actually sound like Baby's First Diet? The Pre-Natal Weight Loss System! Because reducing sugar intake totally makes adults lose weight long-term, right? It should totally work for a fetus, too!
The BBC article on the subject is, of course, full of anti-fat themes, not the least of which is the conflation of fat and health, but the most egregious part of the article is the inclusion of "expert advice" from Dr. Ian Campbell of the British charity (lolsob) Weight Concern. In his words, "In an ideal world you would want women to take stock of their weight before pregnancy, but in reality that's not going to happen."
He is literally saying that fat women should not procreate, and by extension, those that do are irresponsible. Nevermind that there is no solid scientific evidence that supports the idea that fat is unhealthy. Nevermind that the weight cycling that he is encouraging is far more damaging to health than simply having a stable BMI of 30 could ever be. Nevermind that the fat stigma that he is perpetuating encourages the weight cycling mentioned above, as well as depression, eating disorders, obsession with food and weight, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia - not to mention that it demotivates the pursuit of health.
How about we, y'know, start focusing on health, not weight?
Because that would be great.
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