New Bill Bans Obese From Restaurants in Mississippi

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

I have come up with the solution:

Make fatty foods more expensive than healthy foods. Make natural/organic foods and ingredients the cheapest of all.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

While some people are overweight because of physical health problems such as hypothyroidism the majority of people who are overweight are overweight simply because they eat too much - is it a choice that they eat too much? Not always, it can be a symptom of an underlying mental health problem, it can simply be that they were taught bad eating habits as kids, or taught to view food as a comfort or reward. We can all be as politically correct as we want but the simple fact is that obesity is a problem, obesity causes diabetes, heart problems, joint problems, etc and it's not being tackled. Teaching healthy eating should be part of parenting classes or pre natal advice and it should be fostered at school, kids who stay to school dinners shouldn't be given the choice of selecting chips or cake and other foods laden with fat or sugar. People who are obese should have more pressure put on them when they go to the doctors to lose weight and provided with support to do so - providing support for them would be expensive, the alternative of providing medical care when the problems caused by their weight kick in would be more expensive.

Re what SLB said, when I go shopping the buy one get one free offers are rarely on vegetables and fruit.

 

[2322]

Interesting you say that. There was a piece on the news a few days ago that pointed out that whole foods like unprocessed meats and produce, rose over 23% in price in the past year while junk foods actually went down in price by 11%. Healthy eating is becoming the domain of the upper middle classes. Good food is expensive. Just compare the prices of things in the healthy/organic section to those in the junk section. I costed out my usual meals and found I was spending about $4.00 for a healthy meal of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seafood or white meats (no filet mignon). That's eye-opening when you realize you can spend less and feel just as full from McDonald's or a 79 cent box of Macaroni and Cheese.

It's cheaper to eat poorly and, if you're poor to begin with, it's about the only food you can afford to feed your family. It's sad but not surprising. After all, our government counts ketchup as a vegetable in school lunch programs.

I have come up with the solution:

Make fatty foods more expensive than healthy foods. Make natural/organic foods and ingredients the cheapest of all.

 

[What to do?]

Obesity can be genetic. Obesity can be environmental. Obesity can be a mix of the 2. Ergo, the debate can continue with both parties being partially right.

However, Mississipi needs to first define obese. I am 5'7", wear a size 11/12 (some 8s...some 14s) and am not revealing my weight, but I am by government standards morbidly obese. Do I not get to eat out because I was a cheerleader for so many years that I have more muscle mass than the average woman? I also am carrying about 20lbs of breast (36HH) which increases my actual weight. If they are going to put scales in the restaurants then they are crazy. Weight is different for different people. I will admit to some needed weight loss, but no one would look at me and say I was morbidly obese.

I heard a similar story about Oklahoma City putting the city on a diet??? He has challenged the entire city to lose a million pounds (or something along that line) in 2008. A better solution to battling obesity, in my opinion.

 

[2322]

Actually the best thing to do would be for the government to give incentives to micro-farmers so that fresh produce can be grown locally year-round for local consumption. Instead we're importing grapes from Chile while the vineyards of California get covered with condos. The farming laws are firmly stacked in favor of Big Agro. To run a small farm is death in most of the country and it shouldn't be.

 

[Mem]

Healthy foods are unprocessed and go bad quickly. Junk food have so many preservatives that they can last months to a year. Therefore less spoilage and lower costs.

It will never change unless we tax the junk food and use the money to subsidize good food.

Even with all that it won't stop most people.

Some skinny people eat as badly and as much as some fat people. They just have a fast metabolism. Their bodies are less efficient at storing fat.

A fat person's body is more efficient in that manner because they can survive a famine better than an average person can.

 

[2322]

Ahhh, but too we have another issue. Most people make money behind a desk. Americans work more hours than nearly all other westernized countries. Even if you eat healthy, you've got to get some exercise or you'll balloon and it's tough to exercise when you're spending 8-10 hours a day sitting at a desk or in your car (which does count slightly as exercise) and you're so mentally fatigued by the time you get home that you feel exhausted!

Healthy foods are unprocessed and go bad quickly. Junk food have so many preservatives that they can last months to a year. Therefore less spoilage and lower costs.

It will never change unless we tax the junk food and use the money to subsidize good food.

Even with all that it won't stop most people.

Some skinny people eat as badly and as much as some fat people. They just have a fast metabolism. Their bodies are less efficient at storing fat.

A fat person's body is more efficient in that manner because they can survive a famine better than an average person can.

 

[rob_just_rob]

Funny how so many generalizations are made when it comes to obesity and weight. BMI is a decent guideline, but if you are unusually muscular you'll come out as overweight even if you have <10&#37; body fat. And as has been noted, there are plenty of people who are overweight for reasons other than simply eating too much.

The other interesting thing about obesity is that it is its own punishment. Other than being discriminated against, there's no real negatives to being black, or gay, or a woman, or jewish. But being obese gives you a slew of other health problems. Why pile on a negative stigma on top of that?

I don't mock obese people or overtly discriminate against them, so far as I am aware. But I don't date women who are very overweight. I've dated women who were somewhat overweight, say 20-30 lbs, but nonetheless attractive. And as I think about this, I've dated crazy women, women with serious medical conditions, amputees, women of various ethnic groups, religious women, women with kids, divorced women, and none of these things were deal breakers from the start like obesity is. If there are others with similar experiences, this may mean that in a way, obesity is the worst stigma out there.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

...and it's tough to exercise when you're spending 8-10 hours a day sitting at a desk or in your car (which does count slightly as exercise) and you're so mentally fatigued by the time you get home that you feel exhausted!

This is a good point and often gets overlooked in the debate about genetics/choices/environment contributing to obesity. Its a good example of what I mean about underlying issues contributing to the problem.

 

[dong20]

This is a good point and often gets overlooked in the debate about genetics/choices/environment contributing to obesity. Its a good example of what I mean about underlying issues contributing to the problem.

Yes, and it's all the more galling for being at least in part, self perpetuating; I'm too tired to exercise, but I'm tired because I don't exercise.

I know I've been caught in that loop before.

 

[Mem]

. I've dated crazy women, women with serious medical conditions, amputees, women of various ethnic groups, religious women, women with kids, divorced women, and none of these things were deal breakers from the start like obesity is..

You're not getting off that easy, I want details.

 

[Mem]

, and none of these things were deal breakers from the start like obesity is. If there are others with similar experiences, this may mean that in a way, obesity is the worst stigma out there.

That's why God (or nature) made Chubby Chasers. I'm not attracted to heavy people either, most people aren't.

 

[DC_DEEP]

I do think that banning obese people from restaurants is beyond wrong and completely discriminative...however, they don't deserve to use handicapped parking spaces. God forbid an elderly person needs the spot, or someone truly disabled -- but no. I work at a store (a major one) and I see it all the time. Hugely fat or obese people parking in the handicapped zones and, of course, they hop on the electric carts as soon as they wobble into the store and expect everyone to drop everything and cater to them. Because you're extremely overweight, everyone has to accommodate for you? How 'bout this: you park a decent amount of space away from the store -- not using the handicapped parking spots you don't need or deserve since you are not handicapped -- and grab a real cart and, I dunno...this may be a vastly foreign idea, but....put in some fucking exercise into your life. Maybe you won't be so damn fat. Ugh.

Or maybe I'm just iggnorant, who knows.

I'm not obese, by any stretch of the imagination, but I could stand to lose a few pounds. That would be a lot easier if exercise were easier.

guys, im not talking about overweight people here. im talkin about obese people,the ones that eat a bucket of fried chicken everyday and are 100s of pounds overweight...how is eating 15,000 calories everyday not disgusting? i cant have sympathy for people that dig their own holes by giving into temptation

Can you tell by looking at someone if their extra weight is due to hypothyroidism or Colonel Sanders Syndrome?

pedantic - Definitions from Dictionary.com

The majority of obese people are just lazy fucking slobs who don't deserve any support unless trying to become healthier in their lifestyle. The minute ones that are medically challeneged don't even come into the factor.

You just cannot resist an opportunity to be an ignorant little turd, can you? Again, I will ask: can you tell just by looking at an individual whether their extra 100 pounds is because of a pituitary tumor or because of a bucket of chicken, or because of crippling rheumatoid arthritis, or because of an extremely unstable pancreatic function?

Some of those lazy slobs may eventually lose the weight. You will always be an ingnorant, arrogant turd.

 

[Gonzo3]

You are what you eat.

 

[Mem]

At some point the morbidly obese do need to take some responsibility. If you have grown so fat that you can not reach your ass to wipe it, it is time to do something about it.

Same thing goes if you have gotten so fat that you need a wheelchair or scooter to get around.

By the way the Obesity Clinic show is fascinating and the Director of the center is HOT.

 

[playainda336]

I little pudge isn't bad. Being overweight isn't bad.

But if you're obese, or morbidly obese, and just don't care, I do have a problem with that. Being obese is a risk to your own health and if you're not at LEAST concerned about it, then, yes, there is a problem.

Yes, there are genetic factors involved in obesity, but there is one factor that everyone refuses to be mindly of: What ARE you putting into your body?

Don't go to an all you can eat buffet, put away 5 plates of food, and 2-3 servings of dessert and tell me that you're fat because you have an imbalance of hormones/enzynes/etc. in your body. No, you're fat because you just put away 5 plates of food. Likewise, don't eat three salads a day and tell me that it's the same thing. You're STARVING your body and STARVING your body makes you gain weight EVEN faster.

Virtues and vices. It's a vice to eat too much and a vice to eat too little, but if you eat the right amount, you WILL lose weight. It's about portion control and slowly cutting back on the AMOUNTS of food that you eat. Eating 5 to 6 times a day to TRAIN your body to metabolize foods faster. JUST eating healthy foods is not going to make you lose weight.

Managing weight is not an easy deal, but that being said. I don't think that people should be denied going to restaurants because not eating at a restaurant and pigging out at home is not going to help anybody lose weight. It's a nice gesture, but very discriminatory.

Now fat people in Mississippi will have an idea how it is to be Black. LOL

(I kid, I kid...or maybe not. :wink: )

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

Just a few weeks ago I was much more tolerant of overweight people than I am now, then I watched Half Ton Mum, the woman in it insisted she only ate a normal amount, her daughter told us a different story, that there wasn't any food her mum didn't like, that she'd often seen her eat eight burgers at a sitting, the woman had her stomach stapled but unfortunately died a few days later. She didn't have the right to leave her kids without a mother, she didn't have the right to have kids then have to leave the burden of their upbringing when they were little to her mother, she didn't have the right to be the kind of mother whose kids wistfully said 'mum never watched fireworks with us, we had to tape them for her to watch.' Everyone who weighs 50 stones or whatever starts off at some point gaining a few pounds, it's no good stepping in when someone's 200lbs overweight and saying 'hey you could stand to lose a few pounds'. I've seen several programs of this type, all the people in them say they don't eat much, all their doctors say they're lying, there are medical reasons why some people are overweight most people are overweight because they eat too much and it's time there was more done about it, saying it's ok is wrong, it isn't ok.

I'm against people being at the other end of the extreme too, anorexia is an illness and deserves to be treated not condoned.

 

[playainda336]

Exactly! I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[BIGBULL29]

This thread has pissed me off big time, and I'm far from obese.

It's not MY business to tell an obese person to lose weight, unless that person is extremely close to me (lover, son or daughter, mother, etc).

I think thin men and women are unattractive. Do I have a right to go and tell them I think they are. No. Should they be forced to gain weight so I will enjoy looking at them more?

For god's sake, do you want to be told me what religion to be? what clothes to wear? what kind of sex you can have? what languages you can speak?

I think most everyone on this thread has been shockingly vicious towards the obese, even those claiming to "to feel sorry" for them. I am ashamed of the those I deemed more tolerable and compassionate.:redface:

 

[B_sugarandspice]

Well dont get mad at the government for caring about someones health. Its not their fault that the majority of people are to idiotic to take care of themselves and let their weight get out of control. Yes, there are always exceptions..people that really cant help it...but not THAT many people. It would allow alot more beds, and alot less wait time on rooms in hospitals if the obesity percentage were lower, and there were less sick because of it. They didnt say your normal run of the mill overweight, or fat person..they said obese. Its easy to get overweight, but you almost have to be TRYING to not take care of yourself to get obese.

Fact of the matter, it IS an epidemic in America already and if EVERYONE just lets it go and calls it discrimination, the healthcare will be in over its head in a few years (even more understaffed for the demand than they already are) as well as many other things. It comes about as a little discriminatory...but its more like a "hey...take a good long look at yourself, and straighten your life out"

Yes, thank you. Is is illegal to use drugs and this is an extremely serious disease. OBESITY is a disease NOT a lifestyle choice.
It is truly sad that this has to be done. I'm not sure how it will help and it certainly seems awful( the bill) ,even tragic,but these people are killing themselves with no regard for there families or anyone else.

It is discrimination and common sense to be against unhealthy habits.
They are banning smoking and I feel like my right NOT to breathe smoke is more important than another's right to puff away.

I guess it is to save the children of these people who spread this unhealthy and deadly behavior to their children.