I’m not so concerned that Meme Roth or Jamie Oliver or internet trolls think fat people deserve to be treated well; and I’m much more concerned that fat people know that they deserve to be treated well. It’s tough to lead a civil rights movement of people who aren’t sure that they deserve civil rights. And my goal is to let as many people as possible know that Size Acceptance and Health at Every Size are options so that they can make an informed choice.
There are people out there who hate their bodies solely because they don’t think that there’s another choice. They think that their shot at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness starts 50 pounds from now. Somewhere there’s an 8 year old girl about to start her first diet because Michelle Obama is waging a War on her.
You deserve to be treated well right now, whether or not you are trying to conform to the cultural stereotype of beauty. You deserve respect, and you have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Right now. In the body in which you currently reside. Even if you want to eat differently or move more or whatever, I’m asking that you consider the possibility that your body is amazing and deserving of love and respect right this minute. Remember that no matter what your body looks like, there’s an extremely decent chance that you are the standard of beauty in some culture somewhere. Consider that the cure for social stigma is not weight loss, it’s ending social stigma. ~Ragen Chastain,
Jenny Craig is having its "half off" weekend.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH.
95% of diets fail. The number of people who lose weight and keep it off for five years is statistically so small its hard to even measure.
Yet when diets fail it is not anybody's fault but the person who didn't have enough discipline, gumption, drive, desire to be thin enough.
right? right?
NO!!!
Remember that dieting may even make you heavier - the more you diet the more your body will raise your setpoint weight to protect against future diets (future famines) as your body interprets it.
Ever heard "I lost x amount of weight a while back but gained it all back and then some...
This is so very profitable to the weight loss industry.
You diet and depending on whose book, system, or pill you buy they make money.
It fails (not you)- like they knew it would and you try harder the next time.
That is you spend more money on the next system, pill, or even surgery.
They profit.
To further their profits they trump up claims and false studies trumpeting about the obesity epidemic and that health care costs soar because of obesity. PS - according to BMI George Clooney is obese.
Read this article that follows the money. In it says about the background of the company RTI which released studies say state spend tons of money because of obesity:
"Our activities both mirror and support national priorities and policies as well as diverse commercial, industrial, and academic endeavors," RTI International's website says. The nonprofit corporation's senior management includes individuals with prior careers at Monsanto Company (President & CEO Victoria F. Haynes), Glaxo, now known asGlaxoSmithKline (Executive VP of Operations Satinder K. Sethi &Executive VP RTI Health Solutions Allen W. Mangel), Salix Pharmaceuticals (Mangel), & DuPont Company (James Trainham, VP Strategic Energy Initiatives).
Per their 2010 Annual Report, the RTI International Board of Governors includes Robert A. Ingram, former CEO of Glaxo Wellcome. Their Private Sector Client list includes Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly & Company, GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, Medtronics, Merck & Co.,Novartis, Pfizer, PhRMA, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Takeda Pharmaceuticals UK, Tioga Pharmaceuticals, & U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News & World Report? Huh.
Their list of "Other Clients" includes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation& the World Health Organization.
The RWJ Foundation was founded by -- you guessed it -- Robert Wood Johnson, scion of the Johnson & Johnson family (of the above-mentioned Johnson & Johnson & Johnson Family Companies). Johnson & Johnson's products include Splenda(R) No Calorie Sweetener, Sun Crystals (R) All-Natural Sweetener, and "Realize(TM) Adjustable Gastric Band--Personalized Solution for Weight Reduction." J & J's Medical Devices & Diagnostics Businesses include Ethicon Endo-Surgery, which "develops less invasive surgical equipment used in laparoscopic banding and gastric bypass procedures that can help people conquer life-threatening obesity."
Which means:
The makers of the Lap band financially support the studies that say "obesity costs states millions of dollars"
so .... that they can talk states into having medicare pay for people's weight loss surgeries.
Surgeries that by the way are KILLING PEOPLE.
- Tamara Walter died Dec. 26, 2010. She was the fourth Lap-Band patient to die who was treated at a chain of clinics advertising in California under the “1-800 Get-Thin” banner
- Laura Lee Faitro died July 26, 2010, of “multi-organ failure and infarction due to shock, secondary to bleeding and sepsis in the abdominal cavity,” according to her autopsy. She was one of the 1-800 Get-Thin victims.
- Cheronna Marie Williams, died May 26, 2011, after Lap-Band surgery in Tijuana.
- Danielle Delango died March 2010 in New York.
- Rebecca Quatinetz, died August 2010, also in New York.
- Bridget Sandoval was injured by Lap-Band surgery after a 1-800 Get-Thin advertiser operated on her despite the fact his medical license had been revoked in 2007.
- Lynita Hetzel was hospitalized in Tennessee in 2006 after allegedly being operated on improperly.
Don't let another diet fail you, injure your happiness and self esteem. Try Health at every size. Eat well because it makes you FEEL well. Exercise because you ENJOY it.
How many people have given up on healthy endeavors because the number on the scale did not support their drive?
Remember its not about that number. AT. ALL.
Its time for another message - one like this, written in 1973 - way before its time, by members of the Fat Underground.
F
U
for short.
FAT LIBERATION MANIFESTO
by Judy Freespirit and Aldebaran
1. WE believe that fat people are fully entitled to human respect and recognition.
2. WE are angry at mistreatment by commercial and sexist interests. These have exploited our bodies as objects of ridicule, thereby creating an immensely profitable market selling the false promise of avoidance of, or relief from, that ridicule.
3. WE see our struggle as allied with the struggles of other oppressed groups against classism, racism, sexism, ageism, financial exploitation, imperialism and the like.
4. WE demand equal rights for fat people in all aspects of life, as promised in the Constitution of the United States. We demand equal access to goods and services in the public domain, and an end to discrimination against us in the areas of employment, education, public facilities and health services.
5. WE single out as our special enemies the so-called “reducing” industries. These include diet clubs, reducing salons, fat farms, diet doctors, diet books, diet foods and food supplements, surgical procedures, appetite suppressants, drugs and gadgetry such as wraps and “reducing machines”.
WE demand that they take responsibility for their false claims, acknowledge that their products are harmful to the public health, and publish long-term studies proving any statistical efficacy of their products. We make this demand knowing that over 99% of all weight loss programs, when evaluated over a five-year period, fail utterly, and also knowing the extreme proven harmfulness of frequent large changes in weight.
6. WE repudiate the mystified “science” which falsely claims that we are unfit. It has both caused and upheld discrimination against us, in collusion with the financial interests of insurance companies, the fashion and garment industries, reducing industries, the food and drug industries, and the medical and psychiatric establishment.
7. WE refuse to be subjugated to the interests of our enemies. We fully intend to reclaim power over our bodies and our lives. We commit ourselves to pursue these goals together.
FAT PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, UNITE! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE ….
By Judy Freespirit and Aldebaran
November, 1973
November, 1973
Originally Published by the Fat Underground,
Los Angeles, California USA
Los Angeles, California USA
2 comments:
I have seriously never thought of some of the things you mention, I guess I didn't realize that just like most medically funded studies, they are mostly crap. It's always refreshing to find someone who questions the accepted and points out the flaws. You can tell that you are really passionate about this! Good job doing your research!
I have never succeeded at dieting. IN fact, I hate to do it. Now I feel like I'm justified in never having done it! Thank you Janie!
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