These days decent people don't make fun of someone because of a disability, or their sexual orientation, or the colour of their skin...and that's good because you must really be a disgusting human being to do those things, but it's still not only acceptable but encouraged to make fun of fat people. Late night comedian's do it, tv sitcoms do it, drama's do it, everyone does it. It's cool, right? I mean it's not like people with weight problems have feelings or at least the don't have the right to have feelings you realise this, right? I mean fat people are only fat because they can't control themselves! Sure they all, every single one of them, just sits in front of a TV and shove food into their mouths! None of them have medical issues, none of them are on medication that cause weight gain, none of them have issues that they're dealing with because of something that happened to them or the fact that they're depressed, nah they just can't control themselves. Every single one of them fat asses just can't control shoveling in the food. The thing is? I'll bet most of the fat people that you know have one of those issues, if not more, that I just named, you just don't see beyond the fat. Like being gay, I don't think many (or any) people desire to be fat, they don't make a concerted effort to be overweight. I really can't picture a human being choosing to be fat, unhealthy and miserable. I think the miserable is the underlying issue as to why people are fat. There are people out there who are not having of a lot of money and see food as a reward so they over-eat but is that true or are they eating emotions? I think 99% of the time they're eating anger, depression, feelings of not being good enough because they're not having of the material possessions they deem worthy. I also think that it's not so much the material possessions they crave but something else, something deeper, they just don't have a way of figuring out what they really do need or they're so depressed they don't care.
So you have fat people who are fat because they eat emotions and lets face it, if you're miserable you're gonna eat good tasting food and maybe you can make broccoli taste good enough but it's never going to be as satisfying as ice cream. There are studies out there that say people do eat for comfort, that there are reactions in the brain and through out the body that tell us comfort food is needed and will be like a great, big hug. Who doesn't need a hug every now and then? Then realise that there are people out there who need not only that hug but even more and the only way they have of getting what they need is through food. I mean lets face it, we have to eat in order to live so we cannot avoid eating. Quite a large number of us are, at least part of the time, slaves to the taste buds and we want to put things in our mouths that taste good. There are good foods out there that are not harmful that taste good, fruits for one, but lets face it, they're not as plentiful or affordable as the bad, really good tasting stuff. That's another thing, the good-for-you-foods are usually quite a bit more expensive and some people just can't afford to buy a lot of them. I remember watching a show about how some of the poorest people in this country live on Mountain Dew and how it effects their health in a negative way that most of us who may drink that soda once in a while (personally I hate the stuff). It rots the teeth for one, it's so full of sugar and caffeine it's not even funny, it gives me heart palpitations just thinking about it. McDonalds is much more affordable than a regular, sit-down restaurant and kids are always begging to go there and how many actually order the salads they offer? Ok I do, and often, but I also get french fries 'cos lets face it, NOBODY makes french fries like McDonalds!
I know it all comes down to moderation, you can pretty much eat whatever you want as long as you eat it in moderation and you exercise. Again, if a person is depressed they're so not giving a shit about moderation or getting in a good workout, they just want that bag of potato chips. Stressed out people aren't going to go for a run after they eat a tub of ice cream. It's not about self control, it's about giving up. Yes, believe it or not there are folks out there who are so miserable they just don't care anymore, they've given up. They won't actively suicide but they'll eat themselves to death.
Then there are medications that either make you gain weight or make everything you put in your mouth taste bad, except for ice cream and cake. I know this as a fact, I've been on steroids for injuries and packed on the pounds and I've had medications that made even soda taste horrible, I could only eat spaghetti and ice cream, everything else made me vomit. I didn't have to be on those meds for a long time but they're only two examples and taking the weight off is always way harder than putting it on. Using myself again (as I'm overweight) as an example, I have no health insurance, I have no doctor so I am unable to get monthly blood tests to control an under-active thyroid. The summer of 2009 I tried to lose as much weight as I could for my upcoming trip to England. I've dreamt of going to England my entire life and the reason I was going was to see a band I'd dreamt of seeing live since 1984 (Spandau Ballet) but never got to because they never toured America. I did not want to go out there, meet all these wonderful people I'd met via the internet and see Spandau Ballet the way I looked so I got serious. I exercised, I ate nothing that tasted remotely like ice cream or chocolate and I made sure I snacked on healthy fruits and veggies. I worked out for an hour a day, six days a week. I walked for at least 45 minutes every day. I did this for over a month and ended up gaining 2 pounds. Talk about falling into a funk! All that for what? To GAIN weight? Sure it could have been muscle weight but I gotta say I honestly did not feel any better, no healthier, so I figured why continue. I let myself down. Which in turn depressed me even more. Now I have all these wonderful memories of the trip of a lifetime and it's drenched in shame. Because I looked horrible. Because society has made me feel that I'm worthless and have no self control. Most of the time I just ignore all that shit society puts on me, I don't think we all have to be super, model skinny, but some times its just impossible not to get down. I can't seem to lose weight because I'm not on medication to help control my thyroid. I can't afford medication or a doctor because I'm not insured. Of course that's another rant but it has a lot to do with a lot of problems in this country at this time. I'm not that unique that I'm the only one having this problem. My job is incredibly physically challenging, that alone should help keep me in some sort of shape but has absolutely no effect. Pulling and pushing hundreds of pounds, lifting heavy linens and bending and stretching and constantly walking for miles should have an effect but it doesn't. I have a great friend who's lost a lot of weight and she said once she got her metabolism working she was able to eat decent sized meals, enough to fill her up, and still continue to lose weight. That's my problem, my metabolism doesn't exist because the thyroid controls that, and mine doesn't work. But it's ok to make fun of me, to make jokes and to point and laugh, you see I have no self control. Even though I can diet, I can exercise and I can eat right but all to no or very little effect. But that's my fault. All my fault. Not really saying it's not but there are some things out of my control, like in this economy finding a job that will not only pay the bills but provide health insurance at the same time are just everywhere. ::sigh:: Oh well, I keep soldering on, what else can I do?
It's just shit that people still think it's ok to make fun of fat people when they don't know why those people are fat to begin with and even if it's from a lack of self control, even if it's from a strange desire to be fat, why does hurting someone make so many other people laugh? Even normally decent people, people who care about others and put their money where their mouths are, find it ok to make fun of fat people and I just don't get that. I'm even guilty of this! How gross is that! I guess it's true that most people in the world can only feel good about themselves when they put other's down. Really sad isn't it?
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