I'm sitting in a booth at a restaurant and I just heard the following "Fat people just need to to eat less and exercise." "Yup, they need to cut their carbs, cut out the soda," "and they've just got to find some will power"… Ok back it up. I/we/fat people don't "just got to do" anything. Paternalism is running rampant right now, crushing fat people in it's stampede to judge somebody else and tell them how to live their lives (and do it fast before someone looks at you!)
First of all, the trouble with looking at me and telling me what I "need to do" is that you don't know the first thing about me. I am nothing if not living proof that you can't look at me and make determinations about my health or abilities. The fact that I'm a healthy fat serves me well in these types of arguments and I choose a healthy lifestyle. But here's the kicker:
If I washed down a macaroni and cheese casserole with 2 liters of coke and a couple gallons of ice cream and that was just breakfast, and I hadn't exercised since 1985, it STILL wouldn't be any of your business, and it still wouldn't be your place to tell me what I "need" to do. Because I'm allowed to live that way if I want. Just like you're allowed to get pass-out drunk every single day, or ride a motorcycle 70MPH in the pouring rain, or smoke 12 packs a day, or jump out of a helicopter onto a super steep mountain wearing skis. It's certainly a risky lifestyle but I'm allowed to choose a risky lifestyle.
If you're thinking about making an "as long as my tax dollars have to pay" argument, then head over to this post.
If you want to tell me how much money I cost the workplace, then this post is for you.
If you're still here I'll break it way down for you:
If you're looking for your beeswax, you won't find it on my ass.
My body size, my level of health, my diet, are none of your business. Just like yours are none of mine. We live in such a "judge-or-be-judged" culture that people always seem to be looking for some way (any way!) that they are better than you. They have more money, they have more style, they have more friends of Facebook. So I think that when they see a fat person they heave a sigh of relief because they are obviously better. I see this with fat people when they walk into a room and immediately check to see if they are the fattest person in the room, heaving that same sigh of relief if they're not.
This is not helpful. This is not useful. This is not getting us anywhere. If you are feeling the need to help strangers be healthier then go work on getting the government out of the back pocket of the diet industry. Work on trying to create a situation where people can get true information about health instead of whatever the $60,000,000,000 a year diet industry wants to sell us. Or worry about your own health. But seriously, mine is none of your business and I don't "need" to do anything for you.