There’s a prejudice against fat people in our society.
While it may not be strong as racial or religious prejudices, it’s arguably more widespread then any of those. Just take a look at any magazine, movie or TV show. The ideal of the waifish woman is supreme; the fat chick has something to aspire to because she’s not desirable unless she’s built like a twig.
Underlying this prejudice is the assumption that fat people have a choice in whether or not they are fat; that anyone following a strict diet and who exercises enough can be skinny.
Well, an article in today’s New York Times tells us says that assumption is wrong. Here’s an excerpt:
“The findings also provided evidence for a phenomenon that scientists like Dr. Hirsch and Dr. Leibel were certain was true — each person has a comfortable weight range to which the body gravitates. The range might span 10 or 20 pounds: someone might be able to weigh 120 to 140 pounds without too much effort. Going much above or much below the natural weight range is difficult, however; the body resists by increasing or decreasing the appetite and changing the metabolism to push the weight back to the range it seeks.
The message is so at odds with the popular conception of weight loss — the mantra that all a person has to do is eat less and exercise more — that Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at the Rockefeller University, tried to come up with an analogy that would convey what science has found about the powerful biological controls over body weight.
He published it in the journal Science in 2000 and still cites it:
‘Those who doubt the power of basic drives, however, might note that although one can hold one’s breath, this conscious act is soon overcome by the compulsion to breathe,’ Dr. Friedman wrote. ‘The feeling of hunger is intense and, if not as potent as the drive to breathe, is probably no less powerful than the drive to drink when one is thirsty. This is the feeling the obese must resist after they have lost a significant amount of weight.’”
So what does this all mean? I’m not sure. Maybe, we all need to start being nicer and less judgmental to the fat people around us. They can hardly be blamed for what they have little control over.
Technorati Tags: fat, skinny, new york times, obesity
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May 8th, 2007 
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or just have it be less “cool” to judge ppl based on their appearance?