One of my missions today was to find "non-identifying images of obese people." The reason? Here at Hooked, we are going to run a piece about obesity and a bizarre article that tries to argue that being slightly obese is still healthy.
"Slightly obese." That doesn't mean a few pounds overweight, it means you are so fat you can't scale a flight of stairs without your heart rate rocketing. You are excluded from a majority of amusement park rides. I'm not going to sit here and bash fat people but I don't think any responsible study should imply that being obese is ever healthy. That's why it's called obese and not overweight. Do you take two seats on the airplane? You're obese--it's not good.
I live in a bit of a fitness bubble, being in Boulder. There are very few hefty people here, mostly because people stay fit by default thanks to thier passions; i.e. outdoors sports. I know not everyone likes (or has access) to fun exercise, but I do think we are responsible for our own bodies to a degree. If you want to ignore your physical shape, that's fine, but do not do so under the precept that you are as healthy as the guy who goes for a run once in a while. You're not.
This morning on the local news they had one of those generic fat stories where they show footage of fat butts and stomachs walking around town. They are always careful to edit out the fat head attached to the bloated body. You know, they don't really need to show stock footage of fat people in shorts. I don't think people need photographic evidence to prove fat people exist. Granted it gives some cameraman an easy day of work, but still...come on!
Today's news feature was similar to the article in our magazine,that being obese is ok. They decided to show the heads on the big bodies this time, however, since it's now ok to be fat. It's always been ok to be fat, provided you don't care about diabetes, joint problems, heart disease, and living past 50. Honestly, when our bodies are misshapen to a disgusting degree, thats a little clue that we need to work on being a bit more fit. We can choose to ignore the obvious if we like, that's our choice--just don't be surprised when an array of health problems make your quality of life go way down. Fat does not equal fit, it never will.
My whole point: I didn't make one Paul Lenhart joke this whole post.
