Being Fat or Smoking: Why is One Worse Than The Other?

I was in Europa Kavehaz last night with Susannah.. we looked at what cake we'd get with the coffee. Whipped cream, chocolate, many kinds ... oh, and then there was one ample slice ("szelet") dressed with whipped cream, and it was called ...

"Fitness szelet".

Heh. Musta been low-fat whipped cream ...

Even low fat crap has too much fat in it! I indulged myself a bagel w/ cream cheese (indulge because I am allergic to dairy) and got the low fat stuff (easier on me) and it was still 16g of fat in one serving! Yikes.

It also comes down to the fact that Americans are lazy asses in general. Everyone shops from the internet now, sits at their desks all day for work, then claims they're "too tired" to go to the gym. Everyone drives an automatic...so many things to list.

That list showed Japan at the bottom for obese people. Well DUH! They eat healthy, whole foods. Rice, chicken, and a lot of fish. Not potato chips, ice cream, and Hot Pockets. Which leads to my next point....

I've talked about this with my friends: it's RARE to find American women who don't have un proportionally big asses. And I'm talking 20-somethings. They all chug beer and eat crap. Then bitch they can't find men.

disproportionate to what?

My ass is proportional to the rest of my body. I don't have much for hips though so maybe that's why.

Another contributing factor to the obesity epidemic is the popular, pervading notion that every single one of us deserves pampering and that if no one else is pampering us we are entitled to pamper our selves.

We use food as part of our personal reward systems.

Not meaning to get personal, but nobody needs a carmel during an office work day unless that person has bought in to the myth of Perpetual Pampering in a Culture of Plenty.

Nibbling is just as likely to pack on the pounds as gorging.

Case in point.

exactly noddy. but it is just sitting there begging my taking...however, i did resist today. and nope, i don't NEED it, i WANT it. i have started to try to pamper myself in non-food ways...as in, if something good happens, i will get a massage or get a manicure (or even leave work a little early!) or let myself sleep really late on a saturday.

how have we become a society of plenty? why have we? oversizing food portions, oversizing vehicles, etc. etc...

The McDonaldization of society. Instant gratification. Gimmie gimmie now now!

Yes, and this goes much deeper than food.

I see people every day who are just so self centered, who have no concept of a world outside their immediate needs.

I feel blessed when someone actually holds a door open for me, or makes eye contact when walking down the hall.

This instant gratification could be a great thread in itself.

Ronald McD sings:

"You deserve a break today.


We deserve breaks. We deserve labor-saving household equipment. We deserve one hundred tv viewing choices every hour of the day or night.

Delays waste our valuable time--so we deserve pampering.

Bella Dea, I'd be very interesting in an Instant Gratification thread. Why don't you start one?

Dragon. Two carmels will do you more good than one. Get out of public view, put one caramel in each hand as a superlight weight and swing your arms round and round and round.

Repeat whenever you have an urge to eat a caramel.

Consider increasing your weights along with your will power.

its all in the will power...yes noddy i can do it!!!!!!!!

Our team has an afternoon Smartie-eating ritual. Starts at 4:30 p.m.



I decided I couldn't do it anymore, so I took 7 Smarties and put them on my desk by my monitor. As long as they're there, I don't NEED to join in the ritual - I already have my Smarties - and I brought in a box of Muslix to snack on instead. High fibre mmmmmmmm

Regrettably, someone on the night-time cleaning crew has been dipping into my prevention stash. There's one lonely Smartie there. I feel like it should be eaten. It's driving me nuts.




and yes they do seem that big (they are powerful lil buggers)

Ah yes - the late afternoon low blood sugar....

My old team had chocolate rituals when the stress levels reached a certain level.

You could guage how bad it all was by how much food kept appearing.

BASTARDS!

ehBeth--

Smarts, not smarties.

See how they've distorted this entire page?

Goddamn, they're huge.


So, slight tangent here, but related (as a tangent should be).


Went in for a physical yesterday. Answered some questions on a piece of paper, including questions about whether I smoke (yes), how much (6-16 cigarettes per month), and whether I think I need to lose weight (yes, 25-30 pounds, ideally).

Med student on rotations (or resident, I dunno how things work for them), won't even say that I'm overweight, just notes that I wrote that I think I'm overweight. But the smoking -- which is really pretty light in my mind, considering that I used to smoke one to two packs a day -- keeps drawing her attention, even though she says, "I know that you know" -- 'cause I've told her that I'm in the middle of the vet med curriculum -- "so I'm not going to preach to you..."

But of course she does, repeatedly, and every time I nod along, trying to explain that I know that it's bad for me, it's been tapering off for years, it may never go away, I'm not sedentary or unhealthy (the weight is because I like my food and drink, and, oddly enough, she never even mentions the booze), I've lost about 10 pounds in 2 years, BP is and cut back on the smokes, BP is 120/60, no abnormal breath sounds, never any heart problems -- things are going in the right direction, but, damn it, I've gotta ENJOY things...



But she's a young idealist physician who doesn't do anything naughty, so she doesn't get it, even when I point out that everybody in my family is senile 15 or 20 years before they die and that pants-crapping crazed longevity is not a big goal of mine.

And no nice pills (or recommended massage or chiropractic, for that matter) for a spine that is legitimately screwed up and has been fractured in two different places.

So -- wrapping things up -- if all a doctor's going to offer as an alternative to occasional crapulence (and its fumaretic and gastronomic equivalents) is asceticism -- who's going to want to listen?










(Remembering that early on in the visit she lamented her husband's peanut allergy because it meant she couldn't have peanut butter. I guess the healthy appetite was more resonant for her than the desire for the occasional stogie...)

Hey: I just found this thread. It's very interesting.
I read through it all, trying to compose myself, to make sure I don't write in an emotional state

Bella asked >>Why do people get defensive over saying someone is fat versus someone is a smoker? <<

I think that's the core question right there! People are so much more defensive when it comes to weight. The subject has become taboo. I think the reason for this is that the 'story line' goes in America and Canada too:
Strive to be thin and gorgeous(you are better if you are). Meanwhile, the majority of the population is fat. The way of life promoted goes directly against the ideal that is crammed down people's throats. So, they feel ashamed when they can't be 'what they are supposed to be'.

It's a personal beef of mine.

Obviously, being fat (yes, fat) affects your health just as smoking does.

What bothers me about this situation is the claim that people make, to justifiy being jerks to smokers, that the smoking affects others health as well.

When you live in a lifestyle that promotes obesity, and refuse to even see that it is a problem just like smoking, you pass that mentality along. People teach their kids to be fat. They endanger their kids health. How is that any different?

People have always come in different shapes and sizes that are healthy; but obese is obese. It is not healthy.

thanks

Are you mocking me?? :wink:

Bella, Not at all. I was being quite serious.

I wanted to write something that wasn't just pure emotion!

I was just kiddin' ya flushd...there are certain reasons why I made that disclaimer. I didn't want people shouting at me that I was an insensitive idiot and making it personal.