My Crohnstipated Life

…..the constant blame-the victim message, the notion that anyone could be thin if they really wanted to or if they found the right diet, (is) not only demoralizing fat people but leading to a society in which prejudice against the overweight and obese has become the last remaining socially acceptable one … “Obese people get a level of abuse now that could not even be considered with any other group,” says Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller University … “We have this naïve view that the whole system of weight control can be controlled by willpower,” Friedman says. He likes to cite weight loss advice from two millennia ago – eat less and exercise more. “We have to do better than repeating two thousand year old mantras,” he says.

I found this book reference while skimming the web. What do you think of the quote? Do you agree that obesity is unacceptable in our society, despite the fact that 2/3 of us are overweight or obese? What about prejudice against fat people – have you experienced it? Do you agree that it’s the last remaining socially acceptable prejudice? Do we blame the victim, and if we do, is it a fair criticism? Can we do better than “eat less, move more”?

I’m going to be honest here and tell you that I am guilty of “fat hating”. I’ve always viewed overweight or fat people as lazy, dirty, non-intelligent, smelly, unworthy, the list goes on. When I was in management, much to my embarrassment, I wouldn’t have dreamed of hiring someone overweight—my God, what would that say of us. I try to make sure I don’t weight the value of a person (or their ideas) based on any aspect of appearance. But it’s still hard. I blame years of conditioning through mass media still to be at fault.

It’s a pathetic fact that society views overweight/fat people negatively. A national epidemic is obviously now more than “just having some willpower”. High school is over, college is behind us and as we age unfortunately so does our body. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 2007. Since then I’ve been on heavy medication which has caused an overall 72lb. weight gain. So, I know the looks, I’ve have the displeasure of experiencing them personally. And until now, only being in the same shoes can I empathize with overweight people. The media obviously still pushes “thin” as the norm, yet as I look to my high school classmates, there are only a handful that have maintained their weight. So, what really is the norm?

The contrast between how people have related to me when I was muscular and how they relate to me now is shocking. I can say the same things now in just the same manner and I can clearly see that people paid more attention and valued my opinions more as a thin person. Is that right?