Morbid Obesity is a DISEASE

[nightingale2u 42]

Bright... I think that more and more people are fighting this fight... and one day they won't be able to catagorize us so easily. Somehow we all seem to believe that we deserve to be obese... and we are ashamed to tell people that we are seeking a tool to help... well I'm with ya Bright! I would sing from the rooftops about my band and about how the world looks upon people suffering from obesity!

[vinesqueen 2]

I have never been ashamed of my size. Okay, that's a lie, I haven't been ashamed of my size for many, many, many years. I haven't let it stop me from doing anything, not skiing, not belly dancing, not wearing a tankini bathing suit, not changing in the women's locker room. Of course, lately my weight and size have stopped me from breathing, but that is a different thread entirely.

I have been very lucky to live in a place like Seattle, where people are accepted pretty much for who they are and not what they look like. Gay or strait? No problem. Pierced and tattooed? no problem. From a foreign country? no problem. Fat? very little problem, unless you are as large as my husband was, and then it was mostly an accomidation issue. There is a level of acceptance there for who you are, unless you are cruel or rude or racist, well you get my point. We are pathalogically polite.

And then I moved to SE Idaho. For the first time in my adult life, I am looked down upon. I've been treated as if I have personally offended people simply by breathing the same air they do. I am treated sometimes with downright hostility. I mostly look like everyone else here, except for being fatter than most. No tattoos (yet. I'm going to get one for my birthday in 20 years.), no outragous piercings, and I'm pathallogically polite. Okay, I do love to dye my hair fabulous colors... Yet I am treated with hostility here because I am fat. It took me months to figure that out.

My new temporary home is a very "churchy" place. There is a lot of "you don't go to my church, so you are not one of the chosen" attitude. I have classmates who won't even acknowled me in the quad because I don't go to their church. (my buddy who is teaches Anthropology has been very helpful in figuring things out here...)

I've been reading several articles on the new Christian Diet phenominum. Many are screaming that "fat people don't go to heaven" and other such drivel. Who are they to say who does and does not get into heaven? What happened to "judge not lest you be judged?"

We make an easy target, heh, we are so damn big it's hard to miss us. I think it is soooo much easier to point the finger at someone else rather than look at our own shortcomings.

Those of us who are MO are seen as weak, and to a extent, wicked. Guttony being one of the seven deadly sins and all.

As long as we are viewed as being morally weak I fear that we will contintue to get little or no respect. The few bulimics that I know are "normal" size, and anorexics are certianly thin... Because they are thin and "normal" they are seen as being deserving of respect, sympathy, dignity and treatment.

[Zoe 6]

Vinesqueen, I think you've made one thing absolutely clear: No one on this board will want to go to SE Idaho! I'm sorry you have to live among such small-minded people.

The "Christian Diet" phenomenon is news to me. Fat people won't go to heaven? What's up with that? The bigger the body, the smaller the soul? Gluttony may be one of the seven deadly sins, but what about the others? Anger, avarice, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, and sloth. . . heaven must be sparsely populated indeed if anyone guilty of one of the SDS is barred from the gates.

Good grief. I hope you don't have to stay there long, V.

[vinesqueen 2]

Thanks Zoe, I only have two more years here then I head out to parts unknown after I finish my degree. Luckily I get to go home for Summers...

If you google "christian weight loss" you gett approximately 18,800 different entries, while "bible based weight loss" only nets your 31 google pages... Yeah, this is a big phenomina.

I believe the folks who are screaming that fat people don't go to heaven are the same types of people who either think that only people who go to heaven believe exactly the same way they do, or they are simply marketing weenies who use reliegeon to play on people's fears and insecurities.

And gutton is only my second favorite of the SDS... (While skin is the largest sex organ, the brain is the most important...) I do try to work on the other 5, but I have trouble with striking a balance with pride. Resumes built on humility don't get you the job you want...

[New Hope 37]

Not sure where you're getting your info., but the soul is what will go to heaven. Not the physical body. So our physical size, appearance, hair color, eye color, sex, nationality has nothing to do with it.

[vinesqueen 2]

Oh, Newhope, I understand that. Character is who you are in the dark. My point was that I think what travisty that this new faith based diet fad is. It plays to people's worst fears. As an arguement for not letting fat people in heaven, they often point to verses that site the body as a temple, and let no man defile that temple. Since we are fat, we've obviously defiled the temple...

How dare they suggest that the MO are less worthy than someone with a high metabolic rate or who barfs everything they eat??? How dare they judge, how dare they condem! They dare because they view us as less than worthy in this life; we are the new pariahs, the new lepers. It isn't illegal to discriminate against us (except for one state, I believe) and we make a convienient target.

Also, I think they dare because diet hawkers make tons of money off the misery and failed hopes of people like us.

[whippledaddy 5]

Defile the temple?

Geez Louise, I expanded it.

[Jammin & Losin 1]

This is a great thread with so much truth to it. Thank You !

[whippledaddy 5]

Discrimination is wrong. We all know it. It is wrong when we use a person's color to discriminate. It is wrong when we use physical impairments to discriminate.

With fat people, and with smokers and a few other groups, the RATIONALE is that it is okay, it's for their own, or greater, good.

Some groups condemn MO people because they are committing a sin. But most claim to have our best interests at heart. Sorry, I can't buy it. Prejudice is prejudice and cannot be rationalized away. I recognize prejuce even within my self. That doesn't make it any more palatable, I can tell you.

Under the guise of "for their own good" we criticize, ridicule, and judge. We hurt feelings, we crush hopes and dreams, and we shatter hearts. And, we pass this on to our children.

Somewhere a child sits in a playground. The game roars and charges around him. The other children laugh and play and run. Their cheeks are ruddy with the exertion, their hair is tousled by the wind. But the child sitting, once more, on the sidelines has ruddy cheeks as well. Made red by embarrassment and hurt, dampened by tears. He is miserable. "Don't pick Fatty, he'll make you lose."

If he were crippled, or retarded, or had leukemia, someone might come to his aid. But he's not. He's fat. It's his fault that he is the way he is. Let him suffer. Do him good. Maybe he'll think about that before he has that next plate of french fries. Maybe someone should realize that in that little boy's morose mind, that plate of fries is his last and only friend.

I'd rather be that tot's father, than have produced the cruel moppets who have reduced him to tears, who have ridiculed him once again.

I'd talk to him. I'd tell him to get ready. This is only the beginning. That he must dig deep within himself and find strength of spirit and courage and character. The discrimination will continue. He'll notice it first in clothes. They'll say "Big Mac" on them in large red letters. Like he needs to be labeled as well as his trousers.

Later he'll realize that all the girls are extremely busy on weekends. They sure do perm their hair a lot. And go to relatives. But they're always too busy to go to the movies, or the mixer, or the prom.

No matter how hard he works at his job he'll get passed over for each promotion.

Each week will bring a new plan, a new diet, full of success on Monday, doomed to failure by Wednesday. He'll be walking along, floating on air, euphoric over the five pounds he has just lost, when some well meaning joker who calls himself friend will say "Hey, Chubby, why don't you go on a diet? Here, have one of my Krispy Kremes". Can't you hear that balloon of positive thinking deflating.

Then, one day, near rock bottom, he'll decide he needs help. Real help. He's lost thousands of pounds over the years. They all returned, and like all vacationers, they brought more stuff with them. He'll go to a WLS surgeon. And this man, so wise and so thin, will REQUIRE him to lose some weight to prove he's serious. Yep. And he'll do it. Inside, he'll be that boy on the playground all over again. Inside he'll know that nothing's changed. It's still okay to kick the fat kid around. Only adults do it better, more refined. No one will tell him that he is ill, that he has a disease.

I've got diabetes. They asked me to take nutrition courses, and a course in controlling my diabetes. But they started treating me for it immediately! Nobody said "Hey, as soon as you can get your a1C down in the sixes I'll prescribe glucophage for you"

The different will always know when they are being looked upon by the gaze of discrimination. If you can't feel it, you've not been paying attention. We expect it now. It's our due. We're weak. We're unable to control our desires. We are just not as strong as thin people. But they know how to make us thin. Just follow the diet, count the calories. But it isn't the food, it's the addiction.

Some folks can take a drink and say "enough". Some can't stop.

If they'd just prove they could sober up for a few weeks we'd let them get some treatment.

Dormantly yours.

[Zoe 6]

Defile the temple? Geez Louise, I expanded it.

Amen, brother! Extra worship room -- hallelujah!

Loved your other post, Ryan; Jack's too. Hey, Donali, look what you started!

[Neicy 0]

MO is the common thread that binds us. We've all felt the pain, the frustration, and anger. We all cling to the hope that someday we will be "normal", and have self control, albeit assisted.

After reading these posts, I can't help but think that the "journeys" that we each relate, have brought us to the path of greater understanding and tolerance of others different from ourselves. Sounds like a lesson for the masses!

[donali 57]

Loving all your thoughts here. I am back to my "dormant" state, no longer frothing at the mouth, the point where I forget about my weight struggle because I'm too busy living my life to spare it much thought.

Okay, that wasn't an intentional lie - the weight struggle is always there in my thoughts somewhere, however deeply buried by "real" life, but I AM no longer foaming at the mouth... lol

I stick by what I wrote, though. Jack, your comments are well taken that ALL patients, regardless of their challenges, need to be an active participant in their own care. I do wonder, though, if you had been unable to demonstrate understanding regarding your diabetes management, what they would have done. Surely NOT withhold treatment. Probably arrange to have a homecare nurse drop by twice a day to give you your insulin shot.

Peace to everyone, and congratulations for taking responsibility for your health and life, and doing everything you can to make it better.

(((hugs)))

[DeLarla 22]

I'd like to go to SE Idaho and rip a big fat lady fart in the middle of the town square. How do I get there?

I guess I got lucky in my later years because fat discrimination never bothered me, it just fueled my fire, and you all know how I love a good brawl! Once a car full of teen boys drove next to me, and one started making fat cracks at me. I just started flirting really hard with him, thanking him for the compliment. I yelled, "you wouldn't be looking baby if you didn't want some of Big Mamma yourself, but your tiny pecker would get lost in all this, come here, come here, smoochy smoochy." Every insult he made just made me tell him he'd be hitting on the cute red-head in the other car if he wasn't so turned on by me. He was horrified and turned red while his friends all busted up, doing "high-five" signals to me out the window and laughing at the guy. I doubt he ever made fun of a fat lady again.

[Nykee 13]

I really like the first post.

When I was told I had to loose 40 pounds before I came for my WLS, it was like all my excitement and anticipation fell to the floore.

HOW could I loose 40 pounds in a month and a half?

I was real mad. I was sad. I was sure it couldnt be done.

They told me it was to shrink the liver to make the procedure safe, and the doctor will not do it if its not safe.

I was a nervous wreck all month.

Before I was sure I had secured that amount of weight loss, I thought for sure they would get inside me and then pull out and tell me "too bad, your liver is too fatty" and then charge me all htese fee's for the anastesia (spell?) and OH MY... I was almost sick with worry and dread.

Well, I did it.. ... I had to... I been waiting for this for too long...(one of the worse months of my life!)

Thank goodness for the magic of LOW CARB diets and the desperation of making my self puke every time I cheated!

[DeLarla 22]

Nykee, good for you! Now you better not be puking with that fancy new band! Nice to see you here.