Taking responsibility for obesity

astrovivi
astrovivi Posts: 183 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is a brilliant article.

The author, Karen Hitchcock, is a doctor and writer.

She makes some interesting and excellent observations and gives an insight into a doctor's perspective when dealing with obese patients, often with chronic disease.

http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/march/1361848247/karen-hitchcock/fat-city
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Replies

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I read this today and really enjoyed it.
  • GeekAmour
    GeekAmour Posts: 262
    Thanks for sharing, loved it.
  • DragonSquatter
    DragonSquatter Posts: 957 Member
    Very much agree with this also. Good read.
  • REDI4CHANGE60
    REDI4CHANGE60 Posts: 170
    Great article ... thanks for sharing!
  • MCLA4mom
    MCLA4mom Posts: 219 Member
    loved this article! Thank you
  • luvriden
    luvriden Posts: 52
    Wow, this is a thought provoking article that is very sad and depressing. I'm glad I read it.
  • Iceman420
    Iceman420 Posts: 195
    Wow....just wow. Thank you so much for posting this article. It's a real wake up call for me.
  • dwalt15110
    dwalt15110 Posts: 246 Member
    Wonderful article. Thanks for sharing.
  • megaen29
    megaen29 Posts: 95 Member
    What a great read! Thanks for posting the link :)
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Great article, thanks for posting it.
  • TOPSmarca
    TOPSmarca Posts: 187 Member
    Thanks!!! Bump!
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    Wow...great article. Depressing, yes, but insightful and interesting.
  • violettatx
    violettatx Posts: 230 Member
    I read that article last night and I think it brings up some excellent points. I was talking to my employee at work about it today. She has MS and is quite young. She is always upbeat and very positive. Her take on it is why would anyone not do something about being obese? After all, they CAN do something about it before is seriously affects their health. Others are not so lucky.
  • teresab101
    teresab101 Posts: 56 Member
    Bump
  • cappri
    cappri Posts: 1,089 Member
    I had a friend who had been anorexic and spent her teenage years in and out of hospital, being fed through a nasogastric tube. She recovered in her 20s and managed to channel all of her intrusive obsessional thinking about food into athletics. One day she said to me that she didn’t understand why she could be hospitalised against her will for not eating enough, and yet there was no limitation on how fat you could get. It was completely unfair, she said, that you could be refused alcohol if intoxicated but roll into your local fish-and-chip shop 100 kg overweight and be served the equivalent of a week’s worth of calories for lunch.

    That right there. Just WOW!
  • ehimass
    ehimass Posts: 92 Member
    "He has no friends, no money to buy other consumables, little education, no partner, no job. Some days he doesn’t leave his bed. The choice for him is to eat this food or experience no pleasure. "

    Wow, that hits a little close to home, and for myself, strikes to the heart of the matter (sans the education and job part).
  • astrovivi
    astrovivi Posts: 183 Member
    Oh hey, I don't think it's depressing. I think it's a wake up call to everyone ... we should be taking responsibility for our health.

    I think the message is that doctors can feel helpless when faced with patients who are obese or who rock up asking for a solution that doesn't involve them actually doing something positive about their own diet (and exercise, lifestyle).

    I like that she encourages a focus away from aesthetics and more on health. This is important for everyone and a good message for anyone at the extremes of healthy weight, whether obese or extremely underweight.
  • astrovivi
    astrovivi Posts: 183 Member
    I had a friend who had been anorexic and spent her teenage years in and out of hospital, being fed through a nasogastric tube. She recovered in her 20s and managed to channel all of her intrusive obsessional thinking about food into athletics. One day she said to me that she didn’t understand why she could be hospitalised against her will for not eating enough, and yet there was no limitation on how fat you could get. It was completely unfair, she said, that you could be refused alcohol if intoxicated but roll into your local fish-and-chip shop 100 kg overweight and be served the equivalent of a week’s worth of calories for lunch.

    That right there. Just WOW!

    yes I loved that too. As someone who also had anorexia in her teens, I used to wonder the same thing :O
  • newmein2013
    newmein2013 Posts: 674 Member
    Great read. Thanks for posting.
  • shortie_sarah
    shortie_sarah Posts: 177 Member
    thanks for sharing. There is someone that I really wish I could show this to but I would just be told that I'm "judging" her or something along those lines...
  • sewingdiscontent
    sewingdiscontent Posts: 112
    Whoa! Awesome article! Thanks for posting!

    I like what she says about a fast food chain's sales going down 25% after not running tv ads for a week. It is so true. If I don't see it, I don't even think about it, which is why I pirate all of my tv (no commercials). Do I feel bad about "stealing" from corporations who are trying to kill me? Nope.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Well written article.
    The attempt to help people lose weight is generally seen as one of the most futile acts we as doctors of internal medicine can perform: pretty much all we can do is make you feel crappier about yourself than you already do.
  • GymBeast2
    GymBeast2 Posts: 81
    Awesome read.
  • kazzsjourney
    kazzsjourney Posts: 674 Member
    I had a friend who had been anorexic and spent her teenage years in and out of hospital, being fed through a nasogastric tube. She recovered in her 20s and managed to channel all of her intrusive obsessional thinking about food into athletics. One day she said to me that she didn’t understand why she could be hospitalised against her will for not eating enough, and yet there was no limitation on how fat you could get. It was completely unfair, she said, that you could be refused alcohol if intoxicated but roll into your local fish-and-chip shop 100 kg overweight and be served the equivalent of a week’s worth of calories for lunch.

    That right there. Just WOW!

    That part of the article really struck me too...I had never thought about it....but so true...great article :)
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
    I didn't read the whole article, but, hmm... not sure about this part:

    "I wish you could get morbidly obese and be considered beautiful."

    I understand her point. That she wishes those who are "morbidly obese" are considered conventionally attractive, but the wording just rubs me the wrong way. Like, NO ONE who is morbidly obese can be beautiful. *kitten* off with that.
  • AwesomeSquirrel
    AwesomeSquirrel Posts: 644 Member
    really interesting article, thank you for posting!
  • blibby33
    blibby33 Posts: 53
    bump to read later.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    Whoa! Awesome article! Thanks for posting!

    I like what she says about a fast food chain's sales going down 25% after not running tv ads for a week. It is so true. If I don't see it, I don't even think about it, which is why I pirate all of my tv (no commercials). Do I feel bad about "stealing" from corporations who are trying to kill me? Nope.

    I watch Tv with those ads on & there is no motivation to go buy it. I dont think about it at all. I think it's more sad people have no willpower & wonder how on earth they walk past signs with any food on them without giving in or complaining.
  • Lifting_Knitter
    Lifting_Knitter Posts: 1,025 Member
    Great read!
  • teresab101
    teresab101 Posts: 56 Member
    Bump for later

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