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FAT-SHAMING

Obese Folks Should Be Shamed, Says Health Expert

It worked with cigarettes, he says, so why not?

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: Jezebel

The carrot approach to losing weight - as if there's any other kind - could use a bit of stick to go with it, says one controversial researcher.

Bioethicist Daniel Callahan is calling for more "fat-shaming," reports NBC. Stigmatizing the overweight, he claims, may be the only remaining way to curb the nation's obesity epidemic. After all, it worked with nicotine, Callahan says.

"The force of being shamed was as persuasive for me to stop smoking as the threats to my health," said the scholar, who's based in New York's Hastings Center. "The campaign to stigmatize smoking was a success, turning what had been considered simply a bad habit into reprehensible behavior."

That's an analogy not sitting well with other health experts.

"Deciding whether to smoke or not is a behavior," said Deb Burgard, a California psychologist who specializes in eating disorders. "The weight your body is is not a behavior."

But the effort to bring stigma into the broader anti-obesity campaign may have its uses yet, claims one expert in childhood obesity, who thinks "edgier" tactics have their place too:

"If we could make an impact with an edgier approach with young parents who for convenience sake, or out of ignorance, make very bad dietary and lifestyle choices for their unwitting toddler, that might be something worthwhile."

Via NBC.
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  • o
    woodtick57
    !
    exactly...although a national movement did educate people about the heatlh effects. it used to be considered non-harmful to smoke.

    maybe if they taxed fatty foods or high calorie/ low food value foods iot would also help. they are usually the most expensive anyway... Eating healthy can be much cheaper thatn packaged, prepared food!
  • View all 22 replies >
  • Knightkore
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    Oh sure screw with them psychologically and send more people to the failed mental health industry....

    Please....people some common sense....
  • hwyangel
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    I was emancipated at 15 years old after having been raised by the state. I couldn't get a work permit, enroll myself into school, rent an apartment, or qualify for welfare. But I could legally smoke, lol. Talking about hypocrites!
    And the highest rate of obesity is among the low income and poverty because they are limited in their food choices.
  • View all 11 replies >
  • Bornon40
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    me too. only beat the cost by rolling my own. pipe 'bacca is cheaper, if people wanna be fat let em. they seem to enjoy it.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    Early in the last century, France had an obesity problem and they had a national program to teach their kids about healthy eating and proper serving sizes. worked great for them...
  • PayThatCEO
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    France doesn't have as much of the fast food issue that America does. Two years ago I stopped eating McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell and other fast food and dropped 22 pounds in 9 months without doing anything else. Fact - fast food is killing us.
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
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    Gingrich isn't the kind of guy that keeps old cars around. Once they start getting old and expanding, he trades them in. I think he is on a Mazda 3 now....zoom zoom.
  • rkinsawjoe
    !
    On Book TV Calvin Trillin had a funny line about Callista Gingrich trying to make light of a nagging cough. The truly sad thing is that while Gingrich is actually an incredibly bright and insightful man, his moral character is of such a base nature that he is repellant as a human being.
  • MadAmerican
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    It's a judgemental accessment and he isn't God. Look how many kids are overweight and are publically humiliated by their parents. My brother eats like a horse and isn't fat. I am a little overweight and have to watch what I eat. Others have medical conditions and yes there are those who just don't care or who enjoy eating. Insurance companies make them pay higher rates and lets face facts-most doctors care more about if you have insurance than being 100 pounds overweight. Video games, parents working constantly, fast food, and a few other evils including steroids in our meats, have added massive weight to the American. Yes, some people will react positively to this, but the bottom line is I know and love alot of fat people. Why? Because they are my friends, and I want them to be happy. This doctor doesn't. Enough said.
  • Fishbone345
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    "Insurance companies make them pay higher rates"
    I don't see the problem here. They are more unhealthy and contributing to rising healthcare costs by forcing hospitals to constantly buy equipment to facilitate them. Whats the #1 cause of death in America? Heart disease. If you wreck your car, your premiums rise, that's the way it works.
    "doctors care more about if you have insurance than being 100 pounds overweight"
    I work with doctors, daily. And I can tell you, they would love to be able to tell their patients to lose weight, that its not healthy and contributing to their ailments, but they can't because they can't risk losing patients. I think that's absolute bullshit. Someone with a condition that is contributing to the reason they are at the doctor in the first place, getting offended if that doctor DARES tell them the reason.
    "Because they are my friends, and I want them to be happy."
    I think not wanting them to die, sorta goes with that concept. How happy would they be if they had a massive MI and now have to go through surgery and extensive hospital visits, costly ones at that? Just sayin.
  • MadAmerican
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    @Fishbone345 It's a fact that being obese insurance companies do charge higher rates, just like if you smoke. That's a fact. People know it's not healthy, they are not stupid. The first thing you get when you walk in a doctor's office is "can I see your insurance card'. Give me a break! They are not there for free, it's about the money. Yep-they do not want to lose patients and I have overheard staff talk about obese people in negative ways alot of times. I don't want my friends dying either, but if they are haqppy for who they are then I am happy. You can be 5-10, and 180 pounds and die in a car wreck at 23, yet can be 5-10 and 300 pounds and live to be old. Time to quit playing God and let people enjoy life. Those who want to change will change, and it doesn't matter why.
  • PayThatCEO
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    @Fishbone345

    According to the BMI that doctors are using the only people not overweight are anorexics. It's not feasible, nor is it even reasonable. I've been thin all my life, but in my late 40's I began gaining weight. I've shed nearly 30 pounds, but my doctor is still harping on me. I eat healthy, but I'm not going to live a life of carrots and lettuce. I will never weigh what I did in my 20's and don't expect to. I feel good, I look fine for my age, and there must be moderation in all things.
  • MadAmerican
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    @PayThatCEO I just heard last week that people that are overweight but not obese tend to live longer and their bodies are better at fighting off illnesses and diseases. I have tried to find that link but have been unsuccessful inbetween the pizza deliveries and my trips to the beer garden. lol Just kidding but i did hear that somewhere.
  • View all 7 replies >
  • Knightkore
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    One point....will person who is coming up with disconnect from....media....because seriously if anything we need be calling people out on watching too much tv or readying junk like this....
  • Knightkore
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    Just thinking....was he the bully in school calling overweight kids...."fatty fatty bo batty"? How did a person like this get to write and get paid for it? Did he "shame" his way to the position?
  • Knightkore
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    On the other hand....there is Honey Boo Boo....wait....isn't that the media....
    You've got one set of "experts" saying to shame people....but other media....glorifying the lifestyle....

    America is bi-polar....
  • Canoochee
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    "Oh it's genetic..." I can hear the excuses now.

    And who is going to say shame on you for being fat to Oprah? Does Michelle Obama's butt count? Who is going to say 'shame on you' to her?

    Actually this could be fun. Are there going to be rules like you can't shame someone less than 25% over their 'ideal' weight? What if they are muscular? They may be over their ideal weight, but no body fat whatsoever.
  • Thegrif
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    How about some food free of God knows what. I have almost come to believe that someone out there wants us fat and lazy.
    I know working over in Italy receantly, we ate like big dogs, I mean full every meal, huge portions of food. Funny thing was in a hour you were hungry again. Lost 7 lbs in 3 wks, i couldn't believe it. All I could figure is it was all fresh and made by hand.
    Hell we could do that!
  • Tralee
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    You hit the nail on the head here Grif. That's exactly the way to eat healthy, all fresh, no preservatives, no manipulation and made fresh for each meal. Think of all the sodium and God only knows what you didn't get compared with prepared foods, and the dirty little secret is that it's actually cheaper to make it fresh yourself than to buy a box of something and throw a pound of ground meat into it.
  • Elialia
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    obesity is NOT caused just by overeating. some obese folks eat very little. some as in less than the average second grade might eat.
    there is many reasons why someone might be obese. it can be one or a combo of factors:
    An Inactive Lifestyle
    Environment
    Genes and Family History
    Health Conditions
    Medicines
    Emotional Factors
    Smoking
    Age
    Pregnancy
    Lack of Sleep
    to punish those who are obese from one or more reasons. is like to punish a gender for being born that gender.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    I'm going to upset my liberal friends here. but the AMA says 95% of obesity is directly due to overeating, lack of exercise and junk food. I agree. I am sick to death of people saying "it's my glands" then watching them eat an entire cheesecake as I have actually done. None of us are fit compared to what we might have once been. I weigh the same as I did coming out of college but it sure doesn't look the same. But there is a difference in "settling" and the grossly obese of this nation. I stand in line in the grocery store while two 350 lbers unload a full basket of ice cream, chocolates, chips, TV dinners, boloney, white bread, 10 lb rolls of 38% fat hamburger meat, hot dogs, swiss swirls, sodas and not a stinking vegetable or fruit in sight. Then their little 200lb porker kids throw a fit wanting candy and they get it. It's time to call a dog a dog and fat fat. There is no excuse for the obesity of this nation. It's a national disgrace.
  • Keyjo
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    While I am 110% in favor of educating people, especially young people, about nutrition, exercise, healthy eating, I don't agree with this approach at all.
    While the majority of people may be overweight through their own doing, there are many other factors beyond a person's control. People have thyroid conditions, handicaps, diabetes. Even excess stress contributes. And unfortunately, our capitalistic run amok society has led us to 12+ hour work days, added stress, eating meals on the go.
    Many overweight people are already ashamed, embarrassed. And I think that depression has become a byproduct of our American capitalism run amok, as well. I can tell you first hand, chronic depression leaves you in a position of no energy, no motivation.
    We need to educate, we need to get back to a higher quality of life.
  • Canoochee
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    Most of all we need to lighten the tax burden on American families. Primary reason most couples cannot make it unless both are working.

    Can't work full time and teach your kids the things they need to learn. Like how to be moderate in your consumption. How to exercise. Most families cannot do that anymore because both parents have to work.
  • Keyjo
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    @Canoochee
    Most of all, the greedy capitalists need to pay a fair wage, benefits. They need to stop shipping jobs overseas. Greedy oil companies, insurance corporations, banks, utilities need to stop overcharging. The cost of living should be in line with the median income.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    @Canoochee

    My wife and i both worked and we made time for such. After she died and i was raising the girls myself we still made time for cooking and exercise. of course, we didn';t watch much TV...we had fun instead...
  • u
    mtkopf
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    @Keyjo that's not the american way. You're supposed to grab as much as you can for yourself, legally or illegally, and not care about who you hurt in the process. Now THAT is what america is all about.
  • Ttenneb
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    @Keyjo you gotta have a president who cares, you're man has been in office 4 years, to hear him tell it , the only problem we have is a "healthcare" problem ! Oh, sorry, it's Bush's fault ! And you have to have people willing to work, but why work when you can get "free Obama money", no incentive to work when you're getting a hand out, and if that's not enough , have some more kids !
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