The Fat Activist Weighs In!
We received this comment about the post, “When Your Child Is Fat.”
Her comment:
Hi Aunt B,
I’m a new reader that just happened to find my way to your site. I’m also a fat activist that was drawn to your title “When Your Child is Fat.” I appreciate the healthy suggestions that you’ve left, but I would go so far as to say EVERYONE should be practicing those eating habits. Heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure have all been wrongly directly connected to being fat. I understand that some people have both, they eat larger amounts of unhealthy food and their body grows along with their bad health. But what about folks that are naturally fatter and eat well and exercise? What about children that are skinny due to their metabolism and yet eat junk food and are sedentary.
The world’s hatred against fat is more unhealthy than all the fat people combined. It’s again, an oversimplification of the great complex beings that we are. Love your children and support them, it’s not easy being a fat child (or adult) but if you begin at an early age, they can learn to love their selves and their bodies and make their health choices based off of those good feelings instead of shame and embarrassment about their weight.
Thanks for your information and for caring about the health and well being of today’s young people. Keep up the good work.
Dear Fat Activist,
Your enthusiastic flag waving is misplaced. There was nothing in this post that suggested or implied anything “severe” about being overweight or obese. The emphasis was on health, and the perspective is from a Mom, looking for creative ways to model a moderate lifestyle for her daughter. And yes, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease does happen to people that are not overweight, however, excess weight does aggravate and increase the risk for these diseases. They are not “wrongly connected to being fat,” nor is it an “oversimplification.”
I live in the land of silicone and honey (a large city on the west coast) where the pressure to be stick thin is everywhere. Gyms are as plentiful as artificial boobs. 10-year-olds worry about the size of their thighs. To infer that I condone the insanity of never-ending diets and the madness of trying to reach a photo shopped aesthetic is ludicrous.
One hundred and ten pounds and eight years ago, I suffered from diabetes, high-blood pressure and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I took medication and injected insulin daily. I was still in my thirties. I wasn’t really living. I was eating and slowly dying. Was I exercising? Yes. Did my weight contribute to my health problems? Hell yes! I was using food as a drug.
Even after the weight loss, at 150 lbs. I’m considered overweight by my doctor and have chosen not to lose any more weight. Instead I eat everything I want in moderation and try to exercise regularly. I’d choose my curvy 150lb body vs. my unhealthy 260lb. body any day of the week, with all the fat acceptance flags waving, fat characters on television and even our fat Oscar winner the adorable Gabourey Sidibe.
I no longer take hypertension meds, inject insulin and I no longer have PCOS. And that’s because I lost the weight.
There’s nothing “quick” or “revolutionary” about your take on fat in connection to this post, so take your well meaning fat flag and fly it elsewhere.
- Aunt B
obesity has become a serios health threatening issue in the our lives worldwide.one mut avoid eating fatty foods and replace burggers and fizzy drinks with a fruit snack every now and then
Hi Debora,
I think a burger and a fizzy drink every now and then is okay. To be honest, I never met a french fry or a potato I didn’t like.
I’m firmly planted in the middle. I see unhealthy at both extremes of the scale. I support moderation in everything. We don’t all need to look a like, but we need to make healthy choices more often than not.
Be Well!
Dear Aunt B:
Wow. Talk about misplaced anger redirected at someone else. There is nothing condemning in Fat Activists post. There is nothing directed at you or your post. She is just suggesting that your suggestions for healthy living and eating be directed at all people. And I agree.
When we marginalize our messages around body image (regardless of which direction), it perpetuates physical and emotional marginalization. That is all she is saying.
I appreciate your openness about how you have dealt with your health. And I hope you listen to what others have to say about the topic rather than suggesting they fly their flag elsewhere. Who knows. You may even find a new way of talking about something.
Peace,
Guttersnipe
Angry? No. Snarky? Yes. Misplaced. Absolutely not.
For Fat Activist to say that the three diseases mentioned are “wrongly connected” to obesity I believe is misinformation. Yes, thin people get these diseases as well, however, extra weight increases the risk and/or aggravates these diseases.
My messages around body image have been consistent. I don’t believe in dieting, I also believe the current aesthetic is responsible for the profusion of pro-anorexia and bulimia sites and the behavior that goes along with that that is killing our young women and men. My messaging is consistent about moderation and loving the body that you’re in.
The problem is much more complex than me saying “When Your Child Is Fat” and that the messaging coming from “well meaning sites” such as this one is not where Fat Activist’s energy should be directed. Marginalization starts in the upper echelons of Madison Avenue, in my humble opinion, a more appropriate place for Fat Activist to wave their flag.
with all the health problems related to obesity, why would you want to slowly committ suicide?
Some people can’t afford to eat healthy. Fast Food restaurants are pretty cheap then buying healthy groceries. When I see people coming out of the whole food store… they only have one or two bags but in walmart, kmart, target, etc., they have more than 10 bags… even though its a bit cheaper… low income families buy cans of veggies then fresh or frozen.