Obesity – Contagious??
WHAT??? Scott was reading an article
about how obesity is “contagious” and if you’re family or close friends with an obese person – you are sure to catch it! Watch out – don’t stand too close to a fat person! OK – seriously – I agree to a point that being around, or growing up in a household, with overweight people you have a higher chance at becoming overweight yourself. It’s the whole monkey-see-monkey-do syndrome. We see it all the time with heavy parents and chubby children. Although, I have noticed lately parents in perfect physical condition with chubby little kids. What is going on there? You take care of yourselves, but drive the kids through McDonald’s? We have to first care about ourselves, but when we have children we need to put their needs right up there with (or above) our own. I also see heavyset parents with thin well-fed children. I think that the putting your children’s needs above you own here has gone a little too far. Mommy and Daddy need to be just as healthy as the little kiddies – equal.
I understand the word contagious was simply used as a metaphor, but what a bad choice of words! The use of the word contagious turns obesity into a disease that you feel you need to run from instead of aide. We need to see obesity as equivalent to AIDS, MS and cancer. Dictionary.com says that the word contagions means: capable of being transmitted by bodily contact with an infected person or object. What are we saying about an obese person? That they are infected? If that is the case, then shouldn’t we help them instead of making them feel blame for what is happening to Americans? This topic annoys me because I have watched society and the obsession with being thin sickens me! I have seen first hand how a person who is overweight can be outcasted simply because of their weight. The winner of the latest American Idol was scrutinized because of her size and how it’s a bad image for young girls to have a heavyset girl as a role model. This girl is the perfect size for herself – she’s really tall and large boned, if she was thinner she’d look sick. So, we cannot have a healthy girl as a role model, but we can have drug addicts and sluts as our role models and that’s OK as long as they’re thin? I might vomit! What is wrong with us that we must make others feel ashamed and ugly because of the size of their body? Why do we have to make them feel contagious? We don’t have enough mental problems in our western civilization?!
I agree that something needs to be done to help our society and the unhealthy weight issues plaguing us. Degrading and making overweight people feel less human is not the answer! That is exactly what is going on. We want to simply tell obese people to go out and fix themselves! What we need to understand is that it is not that easy. We need to fix our whole damn country and the food choices we are selling. We need to redo the way we live and how much importance we put onto a quick meal. We need to stop worrying about how much food we get for a buck and worry about getting too much food. We need to stop pointing fingers at “contagious” people and help them! If we help them, we help ourselves and no one has to feel at fault for any type of epidemic plaguing our nation. We live in a high-speed, work-obsessed, shovel-as-much-food-for-the-least-cost-into-your-mouth-as-fast-as-you-can society. Where is family? Where is personal time? When we are able to get together with others for a social event, it’s always based around food and that’s because that is the only time we have free. Our nation is what’s sick and wrong in our lives, and if we cannot see that as the truth, then we are all going to suffer.
I do not believe obesity is contagious in any way, shape or form. I do believe it is a learned lifestyle and a habit formed. I would rather try and help others then pin a blame and make other humans feel bad because of the disease they may have. The study showed that an overweight family was also capable of getting healthy together. If we can just figure out how to work it out together – I believe we would see more positive outcomes with unhealthy weight. We can save ourselves and each other, just not alone.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:22 pm
OK, I think you knew that I would say something. Growing up I was a chubby child and I only felt like someone liked me if they gave me something to eat. As a teen, I was about 20 pounds over wight – which in retrospect wasn’t so bad. I was on my own quite a bit and my dad tried (in his own way) but was out with friends or other family a lot. Can I blame my family for creating a chubby kid, but by the time I was 16 I knew that when a bunch of teens got together it was coke and hamburgers with fries – it was the social thing to do. That would not have been so bad, but the foods were floating in oil. You think I would have learned from my lesson, but I didn’t. It was too easy to eat when you felt bored or down about just wanting to fit in. The only problem I was having with that was where did I fit in? Some of the socially excepted people would say, “You fit in with all the rest of the losers.” Hurt? Dam right it did! So what did I do – I ate. The only thing I figured out growing older is that my family and friends were ashamed of the way I looked – my size. Both my sisters were thin and my brother was in really good shape! My sisters and other family members would not introduce me to their friends, and it just hurt a lot. My grandparents would all ways say, “It not what you look like on the out side, but what you are like on the inside that counts.” If the way I look makes me a looser then that is your problem not mine! I love people, not for what they look like but for who they are. If they are fat, so what?! Does that make their inner self fat? I don’t think so! I did not want my children to have to go through what I did. Did I try to change? YOU bet! The sad part is that I waited until I was 300 pounds over weight to do something about it. It was only because the Doctor told me if I was lucky I could live maybe another year. Well, I finally did some thing and I lost a lot of weight. All of a sudden I had people that would not give me the time of day wanting to be best buds!! If someone had taken the time and shown me how and what to eat, would that have made a difference in my over weight outcome? I don’t know? I do know that bad habits are hard to break! Are we contagious? NO! Most people think if you’re over weight that you have no feelings. Instead of judging people, simply ask them how they feel. Viola, you are so right! Maybe if people could look past the outside, you just might like what you find. Eating healthy is part of our life now, but we still suffer from unhealthy choices, and bad habits are hard to get rid of. Remember, a little junk is OK – it’s a lot of junk that hurts. Keep up the good writing Viola! I love reading what you have to say (no, that is not just because I am your mom) You do good!