Monday, December 18, 2006

Fatties' Days Are Numbered!

BBC News reports that fat people are bankrupting the NHS.

In a bid to reduce obesity in the uk, the government has suggested the following:

* Health checks, including waist and weight measurements, for all school leavers

* Stricter planning regulations to only allow new housing complexes if they have sports facilities and green parks nearby

* Funds for obesity surgery for people with a body mass index of over 40

* Tax on processed food high in sugar and salt

* Only allow new urban roads if they have cycle lanes

According to my doctor, my BMI indicates that I am obese. Looks like I won't be for long. Blood fricken Nanny State. Earlier this year, they were debating whether doctors should refuse obese people treatment for obesity related illness. Oh... and now they want to put a help line phone number on the labels of larger sized clothes so that people like me can phone and get help.

Blech. My size 22 days are going to be coming to an end. I suppose I better get back on the wagon or face the humiliation.

9 comments:

  1. Funny that none of the suggestions involve actually teaching people what to eat and how to choose healthy foods. Just because there's a gym where you live doesn't mean you're actually gonna use it, ne?

    It's the same strange approach* that the Swedish authorities have taken with drug dealing at a certain centrally placed square here in Stockholm. Yuppie-fieing the place might have caused the dealers to do their business somewhere else, away from the eyes of the affluent shoppers they want frequenting the area, but people are still buying drugs. Still od'ing, only in some shabby flat in a suburb instead of a public toilet in the city.

    *=called 'bygga bort problemen'

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  2. I'm all for the increased taxes on processed foods - doesn't it seem wrong that healthy fruits and veggies are more expensive than food which is bad for you? And I like the idea of more parks, cycle lanes and sports facilities. However not everyone who is fat is because they're lazy pigs. As Sparris said, perhaps they should focus on encouraging people to eat healthier and not stigmatize us "fatties". A "Help Line" phone number on plus size clothing? If they're going to do that they should also be putting one on those size 0, 1, 3's that directs them to Anorexic's anonymous. This really gets me steamed. And you're not alone, sweetie, according to my doctor's charts, I too would be considered technically obese. I think it's time they start rethinking those charts.

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  3. Sparris and Karen - thanks. I am all for getting fit and healthy and yes, I have totally fallen off the wagon with my efforts. BUT! I do agree that they should also put the numbers on the anorexic clothes and also should start printing warning labels - as they do with cigarettes - onto alcohol bottles and cans. What really incensed me is that obesity is not the only health problem stressing the NHS - sexually transmitted disease, drug and alcohol addiction and smoking are all part and parcel of the whole big picture.

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  4. ...which suggests to me the real problem is that people don't love themselves enough. :(

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  5. OMG. that is sooooo wrong. Human rights issues.....

    We are equal, but some are more equal than others??

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  6. I can understand wanting to help the country be healthier, but it sounds like they are going about it the wrong way.

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  7. Sparris - Yes, I guess there are lots of people out there who are unhappy about themselves.

    Xmichra - Has a slight Nazi flavour to it, if you ask me.

    Kat - I do agree. A more positive approach would be more encouraging. If other fatties are like me, then you already feel bad about not finding clothes to fit you - you don't need someone to print a helpline number on the damn stuff! I don't think this line of thought can work. Junk food is SO much cheaper to buy. Why not, in addition to their taxes on junk food, lower the cost of healthy stuff? But you know they won't. Many low income families rely on the junk because it's cheap.

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  8. Unfortunately junk food is cheaper because it's full of shit, which costs a fraction of the cost to produce that good foods do. But I think taxing producers of crap food would help. That taxation would then have to be passed on to the consumer, at least levelling the playing field in terms of price.

    The problem then becomes that the poorer elements of society can't afford to eat good stuff or shit stuff. So the government should pump the tax they make from junk producers back into subsidising organic producers. Good idea? I think so.

    Regarding phone numbers, help lines, health warnings etc: I don't know. I think where people have made a choice to smoke, to eat badly, not to exercise, to drink to excess, whatever, then that is their choice. Reprimanding them seems stupid. I do have some sympathy with the idea of smokers, drug users, obese people, alcoholics, etc having to pay a nominal amount towards NHS treatment, rather than getting it free, since many of these people are that way through lifestyle choices.

    It's a tricky and dangerous road to be on, though, and it brings us closer to the US model of health care. Not that that is a wholly bad thing, since having to pay for self-inflicted problems may lead more people to try to eat more healthily and exercise.

    But the government opens its mouth before putting its brain into action, leading to these outrageous "half ideas" rather than something fully thought through.

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  9. if the number to call in the big girl clothing is a number to bitch about why they can't just make cute regular sized clothes..bigger..
    I'm all for it !

    My daughter wore a 18-20 in high school and the toture we went through!..

    My daughter is overweight ..but she's really quite healthy ( not counting her california self image)

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