News Roundup

I dunno...even when I was at my heaviest I never felt the need to have legislation enacted on my behalf.

Brian

They should extend that law to ugly and homely people.

Also, it should be extended to dating and marriage. Hot babes who refuse to date short, fat guys should be subject to lawsuits and hauled into court to justify themselves and prove that their choice of partners is not based on physical appearance, by a preponderance of the evidence.

Also, extend it to assholes. Nobody should be able to discriminate against unpleasant people. Obnoxiousness is genetic or based on environmental factors beyond the control of the person as a child.

I'll keep eating tomatoes, 'cause I love them. But, why do we ever think one micronutrient - in this case, lycopene - would be a magic bullet against prostate cancer? Again, the results indicate that there's uncontrolled (and unknown) variables...

BVI is unnecessary. That was the conclusion of the fitness expert consulted for this article.

I concur. Body fat percentage will tell you all you need to know, particularly the skin-fold measurements.

Charles poliquin says he can analyze a person's hormonal make-up based on their fat storage locations, measured with calipers. I believe this is true.

They should lower high shelves for me! The high shelves are discriminatory!

Or at least... you know... gimme a grabbing stick, or something... *reaches futilely*

Okay, I shouldn't talk, I eat a bit too much salt.

But I think it's amusing how they're framing the failure of people with high blood pressure to pay any attention to healthy eating guidelines: "a breakdown somewhere in the American health-care system."

I don't think it's the fault of the system (though it is pretty broken); I think it's a failure of the individuals at risk to take responsibilty for their own health care. The information is not hard to come by. Most people just aren't willing to make any personal sacrifices for the sake of their health.

On an unrelated an hopefully not too spammy note, I've got a poll on my site that I'd love some input on. One thing I like about it here at DietBlog is that they source their research--there's always a link to find out about more about studies that are mentioned. Some other big health sites out there don't bother. Do you care about research links? Even though you may not click on them? Sorry if this is too self-promotional; feel free to delete if it is. Just thought a few folks might be interested.

1. I have some mixed feelings... one is a little hesitant of legislation period. However, there is plenty showing discrimination against the overweight-- and someone does not deserve to be dehumanized or to have their work ethic questioned because of their weight. Though, from personal experience (and that of my friends) it does seem the discrimination might stem from the low self esteem often possessed by an overweight person-- the obese people I know who did not grow up overweight do not have the same problems as those I know who did-- which leads me to believe it might be something manifest in the personality less than blatant discrimination-- and how do you legislate that? Though I do know people (including overweight people oddly enough) in hiring positions or formerly in hiring positions-- who told me that they'd be less likely to hire an obese individual-- citing reasons from company appearance, the company paid health care benefit, and just suspicion of lower work ethic/capability.

3. Tomatoes still taste good anyways! :)

6. I'm surprised steroid use isn't more than that... I know more people who have used steroids than have used heroin.

Kailash said:

I concur. Body fat percentage will tell you all you need to know, particularly the skin-fold measurements.

Heather said:
1. I have some mixed feelings... one is a little hesitant of legislation period. However, there is plenty showing discrimination against the overweight-- and someone does not deserve to be dehumanized or to have their work ethic questioned because of their weight. Though, from personal experience (and that of my friends) it does seem the discrimina[...]

I didn't grow up overweight, in fact, the entire time I was ever overweight and obese was about 2 years out of the 32 years of my life, and I still faced strangers rolling their eyes at me if I ate anything in public or drank anything other than water (yes, even diet soda), making "tsk, tsk" noises, actually *telling* me I shouldn't be eating, looking at my grocery cart and commenting, and moo'ing at me if I was out walking. So I don't think my low self-esteem was making them do that.

While I do get your point that sometimes people with low self-esteem (due to obesity or any other cause) put themselves in situations where they can be victimized by "friends", family and coworkers, I don't think it comes into play when you're talking about strangers or landlords. I mean when the person will have a "friend" who will always "helpfully" put you down (remember in the "A Fat Rant" video, where Joy's pretend friend said "OMG she is soooo fat she should not be wearing that" and Joy thought to herself "She is thinner than me"? That is what I'm talking about here).

In keeping with Mark's line of thinking, I believe smelly people should be protected. They can't help it if they fart, have really bad b.o. or halatosis. No one should be able to roll their eyes or hold thier noses around smelly people. It might make them feel bad.

Also, people who bitch and complain or tell others what they think should be protected from facing the consequences of offending someone else. They can't help other peoples delicate sensibilites and everyone does have opinions to share. They can not actually control someone elses feelings after all.