APPARENTLY … Not every man, woman, and child in New York City can be as thin as the Real Housewives. Notes supergay Barney’s creative director Simon Doonan, who at 5’4 is 135 pounds: “I’m appalled by people my age who can’t get through the airport without a wheelchair.” [NYT]
apparently
There Are Fat People In New York City
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hardmannyc
Um, he was actually talking about people OUTSIDE of NYC. Do you willfully misread these things?
Dabq
Wow, he sure is one tiny man, but, sadly he is right, obesity is out of control in this country and in his native UK it is as well. Three extremes of weight, too fat, too skinny or freaky muscular, and, for those of us of the right weight for height, a disappearing species!
This_Isn't_Me
The majority of fat people in wheelchairs are fat due to the disease or defect that put them in the wheelchair. Chances are if you need to use a wheelchair you are crippled in a way that makes exercise difficult or impossible (that’s why people in wheelchairs get fat).
Rick
What is the point of this article and who cares?
FLASH: RAIN IS WET !
Cam
A friend’s family took their grandmother along on a trip to disney world. They got there and tried to get one of those little scooters for her to ride on, she’s in her 80’s and walking around all day is tough for her. There were none ot be had, and he swears that every single one he saw was being ridden by one or two giganticly obese parents while all their kids ran around.
j
Hahah, obesity in the UK is truly awful, but conflating it to the standards of US obesity is almost a crime. Having spent time in both ( though being a native to neither ) I can truly say they are two seperate problems altogether.
Cam
@j:
i’ve heard that Australia is actually the country thats moved up to Second place behind the U.S. in obesity rates. Damn Aussies, always trying to steal our thunder!
hardmannyc
@This_Isn’t_Me: B.S. I know people who are so fat they need those “chairs.” In most cases, the fat – or the disease caused by fat (how do think those not-so-old people got sick enough enough to need those wheelchairs in the first place?) – came first, the chair after. I realize that some few people who aren’t old (old people are a whole different class here) need these, but when you see an obesely fat person in a wheelchair, the fat came first. period.
M Shane
Obesity seems to be ubiquitous in the U.S. I thought that it was mainly in the Midwest where people don’t care how they look or feel or how much room they take up.
More unfortunately, they have discovered that it is frequently a childhood disorder, something which parents encourage or allow to blossom so that 10 yr olds often weigh more than a normal full grown adult. Hard to change.
SM
Healthy food and health care is expensive.
strumpetwindsock
@SM:
You don’t have to buy organic health food.
Just buying simple less-processed food from the grocery store is much healthier and less expensive than junk food.
Or try drinking water, which is free, rather than slurpees and pop.
Do that, and turn off your TV and go for a walk now and then, and hopefully you will be less likely to develop health problems.
TANK
the other day I saw a young boy that couldn’t have been more than twelve, getting around the mall in a rascal scooter. Obese. I asked him what his thoughts were on cake, and he told me that he liked it. Then, I called his mother–also fat– a whore who will burn in hell. It’s child abuse. Yeah, rice krispy treats are good…and if you don’t like cake, you should be at gitmo as far as I’m concerned. But you don’t fatten up kids, destroying their lives. It’s infinitely harder to lose weight and get in shape if you were a fat kid.
TANK
@strumpetwindsock:
Actually, junk food is less expensive because it relies on corn syrup as a key cheap ingredient. I suggest you read the omnivore’s dilemma. We don’t eat food anymore…it’s all processed garbage.
strumpetwindsock
@TANK:
It’s not all processed garbage. I know there are some communities and demographics that don’t have as many options, but anyone who is aware does not have to eat poorly.
And junk food may be more convenient, but for most people if you shop wisely it is not the cheapest option, particularly if you have a kitchen.
I’m not sure and I don’t really care where they got the numbers for that book. But comparing the options where I live anyone who takes the time to think about where they get their food can can get it cheaper and better than chowing down at McDonalds.
TANK
@strumpetwindsock:
Right, it’s not ALL processed garbage. But to eat genuinely nutritional meals costs more money (whether that money is cashed out in terms of the opportunity cost of gardening or buying from whole foods). There are some communities–not, generally, north american.
TANK
@TANK:
There’s a reason why poorer people in this country are more likely to suffer from obesity than wealthy people.
TANK
Produce and food items that carried the nutritional value that they once did forty or so years ago before the advent of processed foods has become a luxury that you now find in specialty stores and grocery stores that carry higher end products (the “organic” foods market, for example, which ties into the misguided crusade against genetically modified crops).
The flipside is argument is that we’re now able to feed more people because of cheaper foods at the expense of their nutritional quality. But we don’t do that, really. NO one in the united states (we have and consume more food than any other country) should go hungry, yet that’s the case for a large percentage of this country (more than you can fathom). So it’s profits that have driven this decrease in food prices so that many can eat more nutrient poorer foods, not interest in feeding more people.
strumpetwindsock
@TANK:
Although I think it comes down less to actual cost than to access and convenience.
For everyone eating cheap (they think) at McDonalds there are more people who buy chips, chocolate bars and hot dogs at convenience stores for over twice the price they would be paying at larger grocery stores.
Often it is because cheaper groceries are only accessible by car, so someone dependent on public transit can’t afford to buy.
Even with what is available in regular grocery stores people generally make poor choices.
It’s not fancy, but you can live using staples like peanut butter (no additive), bread and fruit, and be a lot healthier than what most people choose.
So again, I think a lot of it comes down to choice and access for some, and for others (particularly for those who have their own cars) sheer laziness.
And of course, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of addiction to all this garbage.
TANK
@strumpetwindsock:
Education also is variable. People are not trained and habituated to eating healthy things (they don’t know healthy from unhealthy foods) because the cheaper substitute is what they are exposed to and trained on. Education on this matter costs money, too. As to it being laziness (prepared foods vs. unprepared), I think that you also have to account for time that people have to prepare meals. And, it’s reasonable, that many poorer people don’t have time (working poor).
TANK
And the grocery store caters to the lowest cost, too. It’s not laziness, so much as ignorance and budgetary concerns.
TANK
And yes, there are some people who could afford healthier diets who nonetheless eat unhealthy foods because they prefer them. I’m not dealing in statistical minorities, though.
TANK
@TANK:
LOL! I mean, I’d knife someone for sweets. I’ve got an peternatural sweet tooth that requires a great deal of effort to supress.
TANK
preternatural even
This_Isn't_Me
@hardmannyc: I would never say there aren’t people like that but they are a minority compared to all people in wheelchairs. People hate wheelchairs. How many people do you think there are that would rather sit in one of those damned chairs than walk. Generally speaking you don’t use one if you don’t absolutely have to. People who use them just because they are fat need to get over themselves and get the hell up and exercise, they make fat people, who are disabled, who need them look bad.
strumpetwindsock
@TANK:
Agreed.
And yeah, I reserved my accusation of laziness for people who have cars, kitchens, a roof over their heads, time and money to be able to do much better.
But it is astonishing how much some people spend in convenience stores when they could get food much cheaper in regular groceries.
On the other hand, I have seen community gardens, and organizations dedicated to better food in the poorest and most marginal neighbourhoods, so I think there is some hope.
KyleR
@Cam:
Actually, Australia just moved past the US as the fattest country per captia. But of course that nothing compared to the actual numbers. After all, the entire population of Australia hovers around 23 million.
M Shane
@Kyler(above) : But Australia has more land mass per person than the U.S. We might sink into the Ocean since there are so many rifts in the earths’ surface.
On the other hand, all of that fat might just prove to be an excellant source of fuel as oil supplies are depleated. This may just be a disguised survival mechanism, seeing that we only have 50 yrs or so untill all of the fossil fuel is gone. People will just have to go to stations and have some fat suctioned off and put into their gas tanks. We can have fat farms where people sit around and GAIN weight!
Then too we can invade vulnedrable countries like Australia ands harvest all of their extra fat for our cars. Better than bombing people for their oil. Since proffiteering from reconstruction etc. was the main goal of the Iraq, That would be a hard scam to pull off since they may want to keep your own fat , and no one would want to kill off the merchandise first with bombs.
It wouldnt be that bad since they could always replace lost fat with silicone or water packs, for those chubbies with resultant identity crises.
strumpetwindsock
@M Shane:
“That would be a hard scam to pull off”
Don’t you mean a lard scam?
hephaestion
No one has a clue what causes obesity.
Anyone who says they do is lying. If anyone actuallt knew, they would instantly become the richest person on earth.
There are millions of opinions, but no proof. Too many fat persons have tried everything; too many have done everything right, yet become fat anyway.
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
There was a survey of obesity in New York over a week ago, which had all the other boroughs (Bronx most, Staten Island second) as well over 50% overweight and Manhattan as the only borough at 42% of overweight inhabitants. Obviously, weight is somewhat attributable to education and income level as well as access to high quality healthy foods.