College's Too Fat to Graduate rule under fire.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I do agree with this statement. Rather than argue that people that are obese are healthy, it is probably more appropriate to argue that EVERY student could benefit from learning healthy eating and living habits. One of the most harmful things we've done in our society is convince ourselves that since skinny people may not exercise or eat well that they are equally as "unhealthy" as obese people are. The research actually shows that normal weight people who exercise live longer than normal weight people who don't exercise who live longer than overweight people who exercise who live longer than overweight people that don't exercise. We've also done a disservice to people by not calling obesity when it's appropriate. It's a shock to know you are obese, but it gives you a realistic picture to the health risks you face.

I'm not familiar with this philosophy. Of course being Obese is not healthy and NO ONE wants to be obese. The bigger issues for the obesed and all of us are Food Addiction, Bulimia (and other eating disorders), Our Food Industry, and how we relate to Food, Health, and Fitness in our society. It's not only Obese individuals that overindulge and are gluttonous when it comes to food. This is a societal problem and until we treat it as such and involve everyone as opposed to singling out a particular group, which causes other problems, including the eating disorders above, we will not be successful overall.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

I'm not familiar with this philosophy. Of course being Obese is not healthy and NO ONE wants to be obese. The bigger issues for the obesed and all of us are Food Addiction, Bulimia (and other eating disorders), Our Food Industry, and how we relate to Food, Health, and Fitness in our society. It's not only Obese individuals that overindulge and are gluttonous when it comes to food. This is a societal problem and until we treat it as such and involve everyone as opposed to singling out a particular group, which causes other problems, including the eating disorders above, we will not be successful overall.

Clearly you are right, and our population is getting more and more obese at younger and younger ages (though you can't diagnose a child as obese, btw!) Anyway, even physicians get so used to seeing so many obese patients that we get immune to it and start thinking its normal. I can't tell you how many times I and many of my friends have said, "Oh, Mr. So and So is a little overweight..." looked down at chart, looked up and said, "oops, he's over 350 lbs! He doesn't look that big!"

My statement before, though, is a commonly held belief. "My skinny friends aren't any healthier than I am." It's not true. "I'm not really obese. My BMI is 30, but I'm big boned." No, you are obese. The BMI problem applies to a very small subset of elite athletes with extremely high muscle mass which is heavier than fat.

I, of course, say all of this as a life time over eater in a family of over eaters and type 2 diabetics. It is hard to control these behavioral patterns, but lying to yourself about your weight doesn't help.