Photo: suez92

The Obesity Epidemic. I admit I don’t always know how exactly to respond to this…phrasing.

Sometimes, I think it gets thrown around with me more than other people. Those who know I went to nutrition school, or even those who spend more than five minutes with me, know that food – quality food – is an integral part of my life. Elbows are nudged when a fat person walks by, or someone who is overweight orders a large plate of meat (with a side of meat) at a restaurant where we eat. Some who don’t know me well, but have been around me a bit, expect that I’m vegetarian. There are people who’ve known me for years that forget I’m no longer a vegetarian.

There is often more than a moment of shocked silence when I finally express my feelings around the words “fat” and “obesity” (and not being vegetarian).

The politics of food, and more importantly, of being fat, are skewed at best. What was once ignored has now become public enemy number one, making any person of size the equivalent of being a person of color pre-1970.

Yes, I see this as a civil rights issue. As a society, emotional-lynching of fat people is the last safe haven of prejudice and hatred.

A View From the Outside

A friend, his son, and I walked around the North Carolina zoo on a sunny Saturday afternoon. My friend whispered to me, “It’s when I come to places like this that I really see the obesity that’s happening.”

Photo: Ed Yourdon

The night before, we had watched an episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. In Huntington, West Virginia where the show is filmed, we obviously noticed many people of larger size, but the thought crossed my mind that this focus might about making good TV. At the NC Zoo, there was no denying that we were surrounded by more large people than average-sized ones.

So I’m not denying there is an issue. I can also see that to a certain extent, I live in a bubble of health-conscious reality. Large cities and smaller, progressive towns tend to be more natural food focused and movement oriented, and for the last 10 years of my life, these are the only types of places I’ve lived. These cities are filled with people who like their organic apples and green smoothies. The rest of suburban and rural America is dotted with chain restaurants and the main outlet for exercise is walking from the parking lot into the front door of Target.

Still, as I look around the Whole Foods where I’m currently chomping on some green salad and a free-range burger, I see a diversity in people shopping for health food that didn’t exist ten years ago. I believe when given the choice, people want to do right by their health. Yet it has to fit into a lifestyle that is faster than the human race has previously known. Where I sit at this moment, there is a choice to easily purchase quality food. But the only thing available in most places is crap, nutrient-deficient food made by some of the largest, and most profitable, corporations out there.

The Blame Game

I wrote a bit about my view of fatism in an article at Brave New Traveler called Overweight Charged For Second Seat On Airplanes: Is “Fatism” To Blame?, comparing this form of discrimination to the accepted discrimination of yesteryear against women, people of color, and the handicapped. I should have guessed what the flavor of the comments would be before they came pouring in:

“Comparing fat people to one’s sexual orientation or race is not right. Except in very few cases, most people choose to become fat.”

“Only through discomfort will they actually try to get rid of the deadweight; widening doors and allowing them two seats in the name of PC or equality is just wrong.”

“I think the equivalent of trying to justify larger people paying the same price for first class or two seats is the equivalent of demanding that two gay people can naturally have a child together. It’s not a prejudice thing, its just is what it is.”

A PC issue? Hmm. More like a simplistic judgment that easily prompts the masses to jump on board, stones in hand.

Mixed messages anyone?
Photo: vlauria

But that’s all a part of the American Dream, isn’t it? Blame the individual. It’s your fault you’re not rich. It’s your fault you work at a job that doesn’t pay you well. It’s your fault you couldn’t afford to go to college. It’s your fault that for survival purposes, you joined a gang or started to sell drugs. It’s your fault you aren’t beautiful enough. It’s your fault that you’re not skinny. If you are not “successful” in the land of opportunity – don’t forget to shield your eyes from those systemic oppressive forces at play – it’s all just your fault.

There’s a lot of money to be made with the blame game. It doesn’t take much to realize who benefits from each of us blaming each other, or even more tragically, ourselves.

War and Peace

Yep, I have a lot of fire around how easily we blame fat people for the drain on our healthcare system, their “unsightliness”, their “disgusting” ways. It doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense – I’ve never been what most would consider overweight. Yet I spent plenty of years believing I was, in some ways, too fat. I also know that most women in the West spend their lives thinking the same thing.

My insides bind up in a tight knot whenever I hear people’s commentary about obesity, which is never, ever forgiving. I wonder, what defines obesity exactly? Sure we have BMI’s (body mass index) and weight goals, but really, being fat is in the eye of the beholder. One person’s overweight is another person’s just right, and until you get into the morbidly obese category, it actually is not a reliable indicator of health issues (in fact, studies like the one conducted by Katherine Flegal, PhD and published in JAMA show that the overweight group had fewer deaths per year than the normal weight group, and many less deaths than the underweight group).

Some of those judgments? Let’s see if these sound familiar:

• No will-power
• Lazy
• Pig
• Disgusting
• Pathetic
• Gross
• Sad
• Just stop eating junk food already

Imagine that what hasn’t worked for establishing peace between countries – war – is the same thing that doesn’t work when dealing with obesity. “Attacking” the issue doesn’t breed love, compassion, or peace, with that last one being the most important. Don’t we all want peace in this life?

Achieving peace is never an easy thing. But the path to peace is NOT through war on other people, lands, or belief systems. And it is definitely, definitely not through war on your own body or the body of another.

Begin With Acceptance

This is a human issue, discriminatory in its basis through not fitting into an ideal developed by the ruling class of beauty. People can argue until the cows come home that it is about the healthcare costs of being obese, but in truth, it is about how we perceive larger people.

The Undressed Project
Photo: basykes

I’m not saying that taking care of yourself isn’t one of the most important jobs you have in this lifetime. Without a doubt, it is. Eating quality and nutrient-dense food, moving your body, getting enough sleep, and fitting in some reflective time makes your mind work better – period, really – and helps to keep your emotions steady. Life feels more worth living when we feel good, and it’s hard to feel good without loving yourself in these ways.

But we have a chance here to look at the “problem” in a different way: what is at the root of this “epidemic”? Is it really laziness, or is it depression? Is it lack of will-power, or is it pain? Can we provide the tools to people to reconnect to their bodies and spirits, filling the void that is currently being stuffed with food? Can good food be easily found in more than just cities and liberal towns?

Can we look at the whole picture and reach for compassion instead of condemnation?

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