Jezebel 
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New York, 6:42 AM
Thu Nov 12
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/15/09
It is one thing to be healthy and plump but quite another to have poor diet and be overweight. This show highlights women who are the latter. I do not think people should embrace being overweight as serious health problems, like my grandma's, can arise as a result.
09/15/09
FAIL.
you are not the physician, personal trainer, or dietician for any of these people, so stop the madness.
09/16/09
My personal opinion is that being overweight is unhealthy because my grandmother's weight problems contributed to a lot of her health issues. I watched this woman who I loved suffer for years because she was too large to get herself out of a recliner and do simple things like walk, cook or go to the bathroom. It was horrible.
Due to my experiences with my grandma, I will never think that being overweight is healthy. That's my opinion.
09/16/09
But people who use the PC "I'm just concerned for their health" line really only seem to care about how unsightly fat people are.
09/16/09
Also, I would like to add, that if you're going to make a counter argument, it's much better taken when using intelligence and tact. Being defensive, condescending and rude gets you no where when trying to voice your opinions.
"But people who use the PC "I'm just concerned for their health" line really only seem to care about how unsightly fat people are."
-This is your own biased judgement. You believing this, doesn't make it true.
09/16/09
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09/16/09
Let me tell you a bit about myself - I eat healthy - my diet consists of fresh veggies, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins. I get good low fat dairy, I drink water like it's going out of style. I have days where I allow myself to eat things that are considered 'bad' by most. Why? Because I enjoy them. I'm not sitting around stuffing my face with Twinkies & Big Macs, or strapping on the feed bag of Ruffles and scarfing Hershey bars like it's a competition.
I exercise daily. If I don't feel like running, I take my kids for a walk or go for a bike ride or hit the gym. I do yoga to feel centered and relaxed. I don't sit around on my ass watching TV and feeling sorry for myself. I ENJOY being active. I like being active.
But you know what? All of that and I'm STILL fat. And in your opinion, unhealthy. Your opinion pisses me off. Yeah, you had experiences with your grandmother that impacted your view, but quite frankly, I will call bullshit on your painting all people that are overweight with the same 'fat = unhealthy' brush. I think it is hurtful, insulting and close-minded.
It also leads me to question - do you weigh exactly what the FDA tells you that you should for your height? Do you eat a perfectly healthy diet? Do you exercise daily? Are you a bastion of perfection in all that you do? No? Stop throwing stones ...
Just because people are overweight does NOT mean that they are unhealthy.
09/16/09
Man, I could go on and on!
09/16/09
having an opinion is one thing. taking your opinion and applying it to people whose personal health histories you do not even know is RUDE.
09/16/09
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09/16/09
09/15/09
In other words, we've made it extremely easy for the average person to live a sedentary life, eating less-than-healthy food, driving everywhere, and we've started to instill that value from childhood. This is about bigger change than what individuals eat.
We can fix it. Let's get going on that. Quit acting like a tool and blaming/shaming people for behaving the exact way we've set them up to behave, and start setting them up to behave in a different way. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
I didn't even get into how a lot of people just don't have cooking skills anymore. Or time to cook. Of course, someone always pipes in that they have 6.5 seconds per day to cook, but they always manage to put out a fat-free, salt-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, cost-free vegetarian feast for their family of twenty, single-handed, after working fourteen hours at their job hand-digging trenches. I think it's hard for us to see ourselves as outside the average just by virtue of posting here, and I suspect an awful lot of people never give their cooking/eating/exercise situation a second thought. That's why I'm so adamant that we need to make life different and better for those people, not just those of us who put a lot of thought/time/money into this.
09/15/09
09/16/09
Frozen veggies aren't practical if you can't buy them in a nearby store, as they melt, or if you don't have the freezer room. Canned veggies can also be a pain if you have to lug them in large amounts. And to buy bulk grains, you need a store that sell bulk grains nearby - again, in some areas that's not a reality. The whole economy needs to change for people to be doing the things you suggest - which are all good ideas, but just not very practical in many areas. That needs to change! And it can't just be changed by individuals changing their eating habits in the ways you suggest - it's got be a huge adjustment in how food culture and the economy works in North America.
And even with all that healthy living, a lot of women will never be a size 4 and a lot of men will never be a size 30, because they're simply not built or programmed that way. Society not only has to adjust how the food economy works, but what the "ideal" is.
09/16/09
09/15/09
the reality is there are massive health issues associated with carrying excess weight and from heart disease to osteoporosis.
people who are large are people and deserve the same level of respect. I don't dislike them or think it's right to make fun of them but being overweight is not positive and is unhealthy. And i had three relatives die of heart disease caused by bad diet and carrying excess weight before they were 44.
there is a good reason why the obesity rates in Europe are drastically lower then in America. They are active and don't eat all the crap. Being overweight should be frowned upon by society. It's not a healthy way to live.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
if she made the personal choice to risk her health and be overweight. Then it's his or her fault.
But again i see you don't rebut the fact that being overweight is healthy and that it's Americans that have the obesity problems. It's not a body image issue it's a stop eating poorly and start excercising. Nobody but other women and gay dudes reading womens magazines expect other women to be super models. Besides models are rail thin and hideous. Real men tend to like a figure. But a figure does not mean fat. It means hourglass. it means big but little waist. It doesn't mean shaped like a pear. Regardless it's unhealthy and should not be rationalized away short of a person having a medical issue. This in no way is justification for being rude to people or ridiculing them in the street. But these people need to stop rationalizing away bad health choices.
09/15/09
09/15/09
And, sorry find me a doctor that says some guy that is obese is healthy and i'll show you someone that needs to have his license revoked.
this isn't dangerous territory. What's dangerous is the increase chance of diabetes that that eating crap food and lack of exercise give you. Sorry the look at the crap these people in this clip are eating. One of the commentators objects to them "showing" them eating. She should object to the utter crap that they are eating. What is that in the last frame? a chocolate covered frozen banana. Do you know the sugar and saturated fat that's in that crap. See she should be complaining about that diet. That's whay people in this thread should be mad at. That this women is not eating correctly and doing all she can to not be the best she can but instead is eating poorly. Sure there are people with medical issues but most people with weight issues in America don't have a thyroid issue. They just eat more calories in a day then they burn.
09/15/09
Likewise, when I mentioned thin people eating poorly I wasn't talking about anorexics. There are plenty of thin people who fit into society's exacting aesthetic standards simply because they look right when if you examined their diet you'd see they are actually fairly unhealthy.
On the other hand, it's incredibly simplistic for you to assume that all overweight people are gorging on chocolate covered bananas coated in peanuts and sitting on their fat asses with a box of fried chicken in one hand and a tub of lard in the other.
And pardon me, but you're going to judge how this woman eats based on one screen shot? God forbid a fat person eats anything sweet or *sotto voice* naughty! Please.
To clarify, I never suggested being overweight was unhealthy or a real problem. I said that having a poor diet + excessive weight was probably not the sign of a healthy person IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY as having a poor diet and being thin is probably also not healthy. The difference is that people like you would never assume the thin person is unhealthy simply because you can't point at it and shriek 'fat! fat!'
09/15/09
"Besides models are rail thin and hideous. Real men tend to like a figure. But a figure does not mean fat. It means hourglass. it means big but little waist. It doesn't mean shaped like a pear."
Honey, there is so much wrong with this it's hard to know where to start. 'Real' men can like a 'figure' all they like - but they'll be hard pressed to find anything resembling an hourglass on approximately 92% of the female population. That's not diet baby, that's genetics.
09/15/09
09/16/09
09/15/09
Just once I'd like these shows to focus on the male pressure to date a socially admirable body type. I've had a few guys tell me they're not averse to extra weight on a girl, but the shit they would catch from other guys for dating her is the real factor stopping them. But god forbid male psychology comes under media scrutiny.
09/15/09
09/16/09
The other gender matters, and we all want to be seen as attractive, right?
09/16/09
Men can write off or otherwise explain away a woman that doesn't want to fuck them but a woman that they don't want to fuck (and doesn't care that men don't want to fuck her) holds even more power because she defies objectification. She exists w/o needing them and that is scary.
09/15/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
I'll come out right now and say I live that scenario - I married someone much more attractive than I am by the societal standards and have lived with 13 years of the "*that's* his wife?" raised eyebrow puzzled looks from people.
09/15/09
FUCK. YOU.
09/15/09
The Duke study only looked at whether or not thin people would date overweight people, which is a huge flaw from the outset. Most of the country isn't thin, you don't look at the minority to see how the majority acts.
In the Duke study, did the women just say that weight didn't matter or did they actually choose men regardless of weight? Men tend to be much more open about their dating preferences than women. I know lots of women who say looks don't matter, but not one of them took physical attraction out of the mix when they picked who to actually date. Perhaps women are a bit more open about looks but I really doubt that the women who said they didn't care about weight would all be willing to date a 500 pound guy with a great personality.
09/15/09
/Tar Heel
09/15/09
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09/15/09
Did they really have to do the fucking study? I can walk outside with a thinner friend and prove to you within three blocks that weight matters WAY more to guys than gals, and the onslaught of these stupid shows isn't going to do anything to change that. These shows make it worse by herding fat people onto sets where they are prodded by producers to eat, act ridiculous and talk about how awful it is to be fat.
09/15/09
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09/15/09
And that obviously only applies to assholes who are making appearance their #1 most important thing they look for in a partner.
09/15/09
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09/15/09
also, i hate to admit this, but i have realized on more than one occasion than my thinner friends like hanging out with me because they look thinner standing next to me. nobody touches on THAT phenomenon, but it's real and nobody will bring it up.
09/15/09
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08/25/09
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