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Why Aren’t We Talking About Losing Weight?
The other day I was on the phone with a friend who is high-risk for COVID: he’s over 60, has diabetes, and is overweight. I never thought of him as overweight, but the math doesn’t lie. And so, he’s taking some serious steps to lose weight and explicitly said that he’s doing so in order to reduce his susceptibility to the virus. And it got me thinking: why aren’t we promoting weight loss as a general tool in our arsenal to fight the virus? This morning I saw this tweet from Kyle Smith:
An under-noticed aspect of why the US has been hit especially hard is that we lead the world in obesity. Skinny countries do much better. pic.twitter.com/Q3qRNOcDbM
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) August 21, 2020
The answer is of course we’re not allowed to talk about weight-loss because that’s “fat-shaming.” And there’s a difference, of course, between making someone feel badly for being overweight and explaining the health implications for obesity. It’s not even that subtle of a distinction to make. And yet, it’s a taboo subject because it might make people feel sad. You know what else makes people feel sad? Dying of COVID. So maybe we should start promoting wellness as a tool in our fight against this virus.
Published in General
I believe that you have the “responsibility” to stay healthy. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation. It’s going to help you in all aspects of life. And you only get one life, right?
The problem is America looks down on corrective mechanisms for poor behavior. Oprah makes millions off of lying to people. “You’re beautiful at any size.” People eat that slop right up. It’s easier to believe lies (and lie to yourself) than it is to put in the work. A physician won’t make any money off of telling you to lose weight, but they will make money off of giving you pills for your back spasms. Fad diets > working out. And I could list many more examples. It’s almost identical to the racism/BLM business. Lies are making the people who propagate them rich.
Our health care, which is already socialist, also encourages poor behavior. We think we’re invincible. An insurance company must cover you, no matter what pre-existing conditions you have. This would be seen as ridiculous in any other insurance field. You can’t purchase home insurance if your house is on fire. Health insurance should be no different. I’m saying this as someone who has been type 1 diabetic since childhood. Insurance and health care are two different things. It should be up to outside agencies to provide care for special conditions, not insurance carriers. People would make much better decisions if we disassembled the hyper-regulated monster that is our health care system.
The libertarian in me doesn’t care what you do. But if you do decide to throw your life away, I’m not going to subsidize it. And I want the correct societal and economic corrective mechanisms put back in place to discourage people from doing this.
One reason fasting works when other diet approaches will not, is that if you fast, you automatically avoid the foods that are causing a person to be bloated and unable to lose weight. Dick Gregory came to find out that just water with lemon juice was a very good approach, as the lemon juice eliminates the toxins the body is trying to excrete during the fast. I was always able to lose ten pounds by fasting for three days, but now that I am older, I only lose 5.
If an individual is currently on meds for IBS or acid reflux, the problem behind the need for those items could be the body being sensitive to gluten, or corn, or rice or dairy. Same is true if the individual burps a lot. The worst thing is if the individual is sensitive to some combination of those four items, as then it is harder to figure it out.
For sure! I have definitely gained weight during these lockdowns. Which is another reason why they are counterproductive. Along with the link between Vitamin D deficiency and worse outcomes.
Precisely the point, thank you!
Agreed, but I didn’t look on Bethany’s post as advocating some national diet directive. Just telling the public the truth about risks.
About seven years ago I lost 40-some pounds, mostly by eliminating a lot of carbs and increasing protein. I’ve kept it off. I found that once the weight was off, if I stay active, I can eat a little more and not gain weight. However, I’m still about 20 pounds heavier than when I got married and had my daughter. I just barely squeak into the “normal” category by BMI. If I shrink any more as I age, I’ll become “overweight.” People tell me I look good and that if I lost another 20 I’d be skin and bones. I wouldn’t mind another 10, but then I’d be in a size that’s hard to find. I went from a size 14 to a 4, which is about the smallest size that’s easy to find. Sometimes in the gym, before they closed, I’d carry two 20 pound dumbbells around and think, wow, this is how much weight I lost.
Sure
When I wake up I have a glass of orange juice and maybe an apple. I might have a sandwhich for lunch but that tends to be every two days. I tried salads at first for lunch. didnt work out. I find soups are fine as well. Then for dinner I have whatever I want. But the most important part is to have a large serving of protein. This meal can carry me for the evening and into early morning the next day. Hence my light breakfast and lunch.
During the day I snack on grapes, and carrots and apples. Sometimes various berries. Up to you and your personal preferences.
I got rid of most junk food. I have one bag of microwave popcorn for a late night snack, and sometimes cheese or a small amount of sausage if I need a protein snack.
Coke Zero or Diet Coke is fine. I have an occassional coke if I need a pick me up. I dont drink coffee for my personal reasons.
I lost 20 lbs before I added excercise.
Getting rid of potato chips was the greatest thing. So much useless junk. Nothing filling in it.
It’s even worse than that. It’s not just people. Dogs, cats, octopuses, quail, ants, and gophers, too. Even parakeets! Almost every life form you can think of acts like it’s going to die if it doesn’t eat.
The first public high school I worked at was majority Hispanic and black. There was a very different perception of beauty and attractiveness. The girls described themselves as “beautiful” and “gorgeous” and even for the girls who were clearly bordering on obese, the choice words were “curvy” and “sexy”. While it was nice to hear girls being confident, it was also troubling because many of them clearly needed guidance on a healthier lifestyle and the teachers and administration (nearly all white) were so consumed with cheering on “community voices” from their POC population that they didn’t try to act like the adults in the room.
There is a variation of this theme in my private school now- there are students who need guidance on healthy habits but the school does not attempt to intervene even though they could do so in many different ways. They are afraid of angering the parents and having to talk down threats to send their child to another school because of a “fat-shaming” incident.
Ok.
I want to know where exactly the lockdowns were so drastic that you were prevented from walking outside for exercise.
I don’t remember people being welded into their homes like China, or needing a pass to walk the streets like in Spain.
If anyone is unaware of the fact that being fat, having diabetes, hypertension or immune suppression are high risk for serious infection, they must be living in a cave in Afghanistan.
But they taste so good.
“Awareness” is a huge industry in modern America.
By now everyone is “aware” of breast cancer, but the NFL still runs out pink everything in October every year.
Who?
This is why I don’t leave the house unless feeling very very strong.
Between the created jays swooping down and attempting to remove my head from my shoulders, to the squirrels “chi chi chi”ing complaints, it seems much more peaceful inside the house than out.
I’m almost never able to finish a meal at a restaurant because of the size of the portions. In the past, I’ve asked waitresses to just give me half a serving; I get tired of wasting food.
We usually just take half home and have it for two days.