America is full of them.
I'm sure that won't make me popular, but it's been heavy (pardon the pun) on my mind for several years now. When will we stop? When all of us need to be in motorized wheel chairs with canisters of oxygen strapped to our backs? When we are too fat to even get out of the house and need someone to come in and drop food into our mouths where we'll be waiting like some gargantuan baby bird? I think maybe that's about the sad end to the story.
You go to a restaurant and the portions are just huge. Super size it? Of course! Free refills? Well we'd be appalled at a place that didn't offer them. Buffets abound here. It's not good food, of course. It's mass quantities of poor quality food. It doesn't matter though, as it's mass quantities.
You go to the store and see people that are in the electric wheel chair, and I use the word 'in' loosely as they're mainly hanging over the chair, that are forced to be in it for the sole reason of being obese. You see mothers with severely obese children in the cart surrounded by piles of junk food. The epitome of this train of thought I witnessed in Wal-Mart in Houghton Lake, MI. Three generations, all severely to morbidly obese. I'm giving the child the severe status as I just don't know how fat a toddler has to be to be considered morbidly obese. Mom was in the stores motorized wheel chair. She was pushing Grandma (by nudging her along with the scooter as her arms were too fat to reach the handles on Grans chair)that was in a regular wheelchair, who was pushing the shopping cart with the overstuffed toddler in it. The child was devouring a bag of potato chips. It made me sad. I wanted to say something, but of course that's not the done thing to do. Not only that, what right do I, as an obese person, have to say to anyone else? I just wanted to cry.
God help me I may be fat but I certainly didn't bring my children up that way. They didn't have mountains of junk food and they ate fruit and veg. They played outside instead of sitting in front of the TV daily. They participated in sports in school and they were active. They might have learned bad habits later on, but I did give them the basis for healthy eating. Why doesn't everyone? Why, if you're a fat adult, would you bring your children up to have the same bad habits and problems you have? I just don't get it. I just never, ever understand seeing a fat adult with a fat child. It's worse when it's a child under age 5. Before that child starts going off to school where he can steal other kids lunches etc, his feeding is solely the responsibility of the parent. That means, the parent has chosen to overfeed that child. WHY???? I wish someone could fill me in. It just hurts me to see this.
Our nation is full of obesity related illnesses. I can't even imagine how much it costs the insurance companies. It's our right to be fat I guess. I think we need to wake up and smell the vegetables! Oh, I'm right along with the best of the obese. I know I'm the last person that should be talking about this. I guess it's a bit of do as I say and not as I do, but it's my blog and it's what is on my mind so I'm spouting it nonetheless. I think parents with children under age 5 that are obese (for no medical reason of course) should be fined. I think an insurance company has every right to charge you extra if you're obese. I think they have every right to give you a certain amount of time to rectify the situation or cut you off. I've read of people that weigh over 700 pounds that can't even get out of bed, never mind out of the house. People bring them food. They should go to jail. They're killing these people. I mean really, if they can't get out of bed and are solely dependant on you, bring them lean protein and veggies for goodness sakes! There was a huge discussion on the WW boards one day about this. Oh they're not enablers, they're just caregivers. No they're not, they're murderers!
I know how hard it is to lose weight. I've been trying all my life. I've been fat since I was 6 years old. I'm not blaming anyone but myself. Ultimately, it's all up to us. I'm the one that puts the food in my mouth, and I'm the only one that can choose to not eat it. God I know it's hard but we Americans have got to do something soon or we're all going to die. As I said, it's up to us but a little help from the outside world would be great. C'mon fast food restaurants, do we really need super sized fries? Do we really need a double whopper or a Wendy's triple? Do we really need portions that are big enough to feed a family of 4? Scale it down people! Give us fat people a fighting chance!
I've noticed a few changes lately. More places are serving salads and there's fruit to choose for a kids happy meal now. We just need to start choosing this stuff! The schools need to quit caving to the adults that say their kids NEED the junk served. No they don't! They NEED healthy food in moderate quantities. They NEED exercise and activity. If the schools only served the healthy food, the kids would have to choose it. Yes Mom, that means you are NOT to pack a lunch full of shit for your kids to eat instead! Tough love! Just because we've screwed our generation up doesn't mean we can't try to correct it in the future.
People complain that airplane seats are too small and theater seats etc. Make them bigger, they cry. Fat people have rights. So, the seats are made bigger and we get fatter. Fat discrimination is cried. Oh it's a real enough thing for sure. I know this from personal experience. What I've been thinking lately though, is maybe it's not such a bad thing. Maybe if we can't fit our fat asses in the regular size seats, we'll do something about it. Don't keep making them bigger, make us conform to the norm! Years ago I couldn't fit in clothes from the store. I had to make my own. Now you can buy clothes that would fit a baby elephant. I don't necessarily think that's a good thing.
I don't have an answer for the problem. I just needed to get this off my chest. George Carlin said it best here. I'm sure he didn't make any friends, but he told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I miss him. I can hear the outrage of the people that listened to this as they'll think he was making fun of them. I think he was just getting it off his chest. Like me.
I'm off in my one ton doolie now. I need to go to Wal-Mart to buy things. I'll probably go out to lunch too.
Why yes, I do believe
10 years ago
4 comments:
We have issues with obesity here but not to the same extent. Buffets are rare here and portion sizes are generally normal and not supersized. Like you say, I think a lot of it is down to portion size. Also, the higher fat food is cheaper in the supermarkets (and in the restaurants I expect) so that doesn't help.
The mainland Europeans are so healthy compared to us (in the UK) as they generally don't eat ready made fatty food. They have lovely salads, grilled meats, etc, etc. We need to take a leaf out of their book I think.
Oh Milo! That was too punny! I adore a good pun!
I was thinking a lot about the UK when I wrote that post. When I'm there, I think how much America could learn about eating. It never occured to me that you'd be wanting to learn from someone else. I always feel out of place there as I'm always the only fat person in the crowd. I've not been for a few years, if you guys are getting obese too maybe I'd feel more comfortable. Again, probably not a good thing!
Hopefully we'll all get it together some day. In my current state of mind, I'll get it together and forget where I put it!
LOL, I hadn't even realised I'd made a pun until I just re-read what I wrote!!
Great post Debby. Lots of truth none of us want to see.
I quit going to McDonalds for a while protesting the fact that if you want to get small fries instead of a large fry with the mealdeal it costs you more money. So heaven forbid I spent 20 cents and get the small bag. I end up eatting what I didn't want. Not only are we fat, some of us are a bit stupid to boot. Now I'm depressed and need to go find something soft and sugary to cheer me up!
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