The title of the article I refer to was “Fat and Unaware: Most Obese Americans Don’t Think They Are.” This was based on a new poll by Harris Interactive, a market research firm. News flash people, we know we are fat and as a fat expert myself I would say the resistance would be not wanting to call oneself morbidly obese but maybe overweight instead or just simply fat as I resolve to do because even though “fat” is not the greatest word either, it sure sounds better than morbidly obese!
Why haven’t they come up with words for short people like “drastically underheight” or for the too thin of the world “radically emaciated” to be used when defining them?? I am pretty sure a short person regardless of liking that particular character trait or not would prefer to be called short and the same for a person who is too thin.
Over the years in my business with medical transcription I have typed “morbidly obese” a zillion times and still get a little irked each time I type it. When a person is of “normal weight” (and I use that term loosely) the usual phrase is “well‑nourished, well-developed…” But then one day a doctor referred to the fat patient as “overly nourished.” Ha!! That made my day.
According to the poll, about half of the respondents thought that surgery was very or fairly effective in keeping off the weight. “It’s not as simple as portion size and activity.” said Steven R. Smith, an obesity researcher at the Burnham Institute in Lake Nona. Surprise, surprise Steve, I have known that since I was in grade school. “Smith agrees that the surgery, though it can start at $12,000, can reduce diabetes, heart diseases, and mortality, and even save money in the long run.”
This is where I get a little riled up….how is it better to physically alter the body you were given during the miracle of birth by medically removing or banding a piece of your stomach so the end result will be basically the ability to ingest SMALLER AMOUNTS OF FOOD more often to lose weight. Gee, give me a minute, but I think I have read somewhere that that is one of the recommended ways to lose weight without surgery….Again, call me crazy and I am no medical expert but surgery sure sounds like an asinine approach to take. In my field of medical transcription, I have typed countless reports in which years later the digestive system is out of whack and the previous gastric bypass patients have lifelong medical issues directly related to the surgery.
According to the poll, most of the respondents really thought that they were fat because they did not get enough exercise. Yes, exercise definitely is advantageous to a person overall but certainly not the determining factor as to why a person is fat. Genetics plays more of a part than anything else out there. Didn’t you get my memo??
Until next time, keep laughing!!
Making Light of Being Heavy 