National Action Against Obesity: Jordin Sparks Too Fat
Sure - angry debates are part of building television ratings - but this one had my stomach churning.
Meme Roth - president of National Action Against Obesity speaks on Fox News (prior to the final of American Idol).
It appears Roth has confused a singing show with America's Next Top Model.
"When I look at Jordin I see diabetes, I see heart disease, I see high cholesterol. [...] That's what's so sad about this - she is not the vision of health - she is the vision of 'unhealth'".
"The second Jordin wins, she's going to drop 40 pounds - her handlers will make sure of that"
Hey - I believe in positive education about healthy eating and enjoyable fitness - but this sort of vitriol causes more harm than good. I simply fail to see how publicly judging someone can have any positive impact on the nation's health.
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THIS WOMAN MAKES ME LAUGH! SHE HAS THE GAUL TO BASH JORDIN JUST BECAUSE SHE ISNT A SIZE 4!!! JORDIN ISNT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING OBESE AND THIS "OBESITY EXPERT" SAYS SHE NEEDS TO LOSE 40 POUNDS!!! WHAT MEME NEEDS TO DO IS PUT A FEW POUNDS ON SO HER BONES DONT STICK OUT OF THAT ANOREXIC BODY OF HERS!!!
IM GETTING SICK OF EVERYONE CRITICISING GIRLS WHO ARE FULL-FIGURED/PLUS SIZED AND CALLING THEM FAT WHEN THEY ARENT! JORDIN LOOKS PERFECT JUST THE WAY SHE IS! IF YOU GO TO qualityoflife.org, THEY HAVE A HEIGHT/IDEAL WEIGHT CHART YOU CAN LOOK AT AND A BMI CALCULATOR TO SEE IF YOU ARE HEALTHY, SLIGHTLY OVER, OBESE, SEVERLY OBESE OR MORBIDLY OBESE! THE HEIGHT/IDEAL WEIGHT CHARTS SHOW THAT IF YOU ARE SLIGHTLY OVERWEIGHT, THAT YOU ARE STILL IN THE IDEAL WEIGHT RANGE!!!! SO JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE SAY 7 POUNDS OVERWEIGHT, DOESNT MEAN THAT YOUR FAT!
SO MEME STOP DISSING JORDIN AND PUTTING DOWN BIG PEOPLE! I KNOW YOUR TRYING TO "CURE" THE NATION FROM OBESITY AND TRYING TO BECOME A HERO, BUT REALISTICALLY, ITS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!! YOUR FIGHTING A LOSING BATTLE! THIS IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN TODAY! ACCEPT IT AND DEAL WITH IT!
P.S. AND BTW, I AM A BIG PERSON! 5'9" 233 LBS. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THAT BITCH?!!
ReplyOkay, the kid can sing like a canary. However she is not the most enertaining of the bunch. She will never have any stage precence with that huge body, face it she's overweight, she might sing a song standing there moving her weight from left to right but that's it. If you like someone that just stands there and sings she's the one . I myself like to see someone actually move to the beat of the music and entertain me. With that large body it will never happen. LOOSE SOME WEIGHT YOUR FAT!!!!!!!
ReplyGet over it she's fat, I've seen couches with better throw covers, loose some weight, or just stand there and sing shifting your weight from left to right because that is all that kid could do with that body . get out and exercise. Hard to say maybe it's her breeding to different races.
ReplyIf Jordin Sparks weighed 120 lbs, would MeMe complain that Jordin (at 6 feet tall!) is too thin to be a good role model? If not, why not? Too fat OR too thin is dangerous.
Jordin Sparks has such grace and compusure for someone so young. I know a lot of people that would like their own daughters to have her as a role model.
I was always very thin, and now I have Osteopenia problems. Too thin isn't always the best thing to be...
ReplyShe's "obese" by definition. You can blab about what she "looks like" all day but it won't change the fact that when you compare her height and her weight her BMI is over 30. Does it make her a bad person? Does it make her ugly? No. But her weight will have negative effects on her health. It's that simple. If people like the Meme Roth don't say anything people will not know that they need to change. Personaly, I think the backlash is the result of the fact that Meme Roth is a thin blond girl and comes off sounding holier-than-thou. If the advice had come from Oprah no one would be complaining.
ReplyI'm not sure what you're basing that on? When I did a quick search on google, the most often stated height and weight for her was 6'tall, 200-pounds, size 11 shoe (confirmatory that she is probably 6' tall).
If we use those numbers, her BMI is 27.1 - overweight, not obese. Interestingly, this was previously considered "healthy weight" in the BMI charts before they were revised downward in 1998.
Is she too heavy? I don't know - and I don't care...it's a moot issue if you ask me and something that is her personal business with her doctor, not the public at large, and certainly not MeMe Roth's business.
Replyhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18594089/
I'm sure you've seen this article, but if not it's worth the read.
Health is more about fitness and eating right, than anything else. Some people are predisposed to higher body weights.
You can be heavier and be healthier than a "thin" person. The #1 problem in the American Diet, is that we are subjected to overprocessed foods with ingredients that will do no good to the body... like high fructose corn syrup. next time you go to the store, see how many labels you can find with that ingredient..i guarantee many! as a society. we are "on the go". we have strayed far from the unprocessed, whole food diet. It's just one of many factors at hand.
and for the person who wants to say that body weight has increased over time..yes, it has. and remember that women used to shove themselves into constricting corsets, altering their body dimensions... and our country also lived through the great depression, when food and basic needs were scarely met. But more importantly, height has also changed, as well as bone density and mass... so you have to factor all of these things in. As hard as it may be to believe.. we are still "evolving". We didn't just stop at homo sapien. Our body structure continues to change and grow over time..Adapting to many environmental conditions. so there are so many things to consider.
eating right. exercise. those are the 2 key beginnings. and i think you DO have to love yourself. and accept change, and be wiling to work towards a better you, no matter what.
I don't watch american idol, but I know that she's just fine as she is. Pictures do not lie. Part of beauty is being able to hold your head up at the end of the day and say "i still am me, i accept myself, i love myself regardless of others perceptions"
ReplyMichael: When you post in all capital letters like that, it looks like you're shouting.
"AND BTW, I AM A BIG PERSON! 5'9" 233 LBS. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THAT BITCH?!!" - Michael
Well, I put that into the very same BMI calculator you linked to, and it says you are indeed obese. In fact, if you gained 5 more pounds, it says you'd be "Severely Obese." What was your point?
To the person who cited Marilyn Monroe as an example of a "full-figured" woman who is healthy: Marilyn Monroe died when she was 36. Are you sure you want to hold her up as an example of how "big" people can live long, healthy lives?
The bottom line is, it's a delicate balancing act to teach kids to not be consumed with self-consciousness, but at the same time encourage them to take care of their bodies. It's simply not healthy to be carrying extra weight. It's very well known that even being 20 pounds overweight puts an individual at risk of a variety of illnesses and complications. I certainly don't think being overweight should "disqualify" someone from being a singer, but we shouldn't gloss over it either when holding these folks up as "Idols" for our children. A little tact goes a long way.
ReplyCome on, everyone - let's just be honest about it. Jordin really is overweight. And while she may be "beautiful", I bet she'd look better if she dropped a few.
Is she the picture of health right now? Definitely not. I'm not saying Nicole Richie looks healthy either. She's at the other side of the spectrum. But Kelly Clarkson does. So does Kate Winslet.
If Jordin is okay with herself, it's one thing. But I agree that she shouldn't be idolized as an ideal body size. This is really sending the wrong image to a lot of people. But then again, that's why weight is such a problem in this ocuntry - we attack people who criticize it instead of individually attacking the problem.
ReplyWho, exactly, is idolizing Jordin's size as the ideal? I was under the impression that American Idol was a singing/performance competition, not a beauty pageant. Correct me if I'm wrong. Or is "zomg people are idolizing the fatty for her size" just MeMe-speak for "zomg people are failing to shame the fatty for her size"?
And: was Ruben Studdard also a bad role model? If not, why not? Are emaciated models bad role models? If not, why not? If just being in public automatically makes someone a "role model", then you should be objecting to all of the "unhealthy" ones, not just the one who happens to be a "fat chick" ("fat" here operationally defined as "not size zero").
I'm also really curious to know which pictures you people are looking at when you say that Jordin is "really overweight" or "obese" or that she's too monstrously huge to walk around a stage (come on, now...). Or, failing that, what you people have been smoking.
ReplyNope - I'm not saying she's too fat to walk across the stage. It has nothing to do with singing or stage presense. Some of the best performers in history have been overweight. And I don't think anyone would have called Ruben a healthy weight either. All I'm saying is to be honest - yes, she's a good singer; yes, she's pretty; yes, she can certainly be a role model in many ways...but she is also overweight and may well be headed for many health issues down the road.
Also, why does everyone seem to think it's a matter of being overweight or a size zero. I don't mean that anybody not size zero is automatically fat. But what about a size 4 or 6 or 8? People have no problem calling a size zero unhealthy and "anorexic", but they have a problem calling a size 12 unhealthy. I don't get it.
ReplyTaking individual responsibility for one's own problems is hard. It's much easier to criticize from the sidelines than to do the hard work of being in the game.
"It is not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the strong man
Replystumbled...the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose
face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and
comes short again and again...who at best knows achievement, and who at the
worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."--Theodore Roosevelt
Yes, but then why are people attacking MeMe Roth? I don't think she was being mean, or even overly critical. She was just pointing out a truth.
ReplyI think MeMe, if given another chance, would not do that Fox interview. Regardless of her message or intentions, if she doesn't put it in a way that most people can hear without feeling attacked or needlessly criticized, it will not effect the change she claims to desire. I tend to filter out her extremism and just hear her reaching out to other women to make a difference in their sphere of influence. Weight is a very sensitive issue and MeMe pushes people's buttons. Whether her style will make a positive difference for people, we don't know yet. It's obvious to me that we as a society are heading in the wrong direction, but it would be nice if we could change our course with kinder methods.
ReplyYou didn't, but some jackass at the top of the page did. And unfortunately, this kind of sentiment isn't hard to come by. Let it slip that you wear a plus size and suddenly, "OMG U FATASS I BET U NEED A SCOOTER 2 GET AROUND PUT DOWN THE FORK HONEY!" In the court of public opinion, it's not about being fat, it's about being not thin.
But who, exactly, are you to say she's not healthy? I would venture a guess that most overweight people (that's overweight, not obese) are not suffering any major health consequences because of it. I know the media and the fatty-haters desperately want you to believe otherwise, but you don't automatically get diabetes and heart disease just from crossing the BMI 25 threshold. Especially if you have a healthy lifestyle, which by her own admission (in the People article) it would appear that Jordin does. Factor in that BMI tends to be inaccurate for non-white people and muscular people (Jordin's dad is a former football player and she's certainly inherited some of his genes for body type) and the fact that you are not her doctor, and the fact of the matter becomes: You and anyone else who is not her doctor has no business, at all, none, making any pronouncements or predictions about her health. Period.
Why does it matter what size she is? Why are we having this discussion? It's not about Jordin being unhealthy, because you have no basis for assuming that. Why wasn't there a big to-do about Ruben being a "bad role model" when he won? Ruben actually is obese. Why was no one concerned that he was going to make people fat? Why do people keep poo-pooing the idea that saturating the media with underweight starlets and models makes girls anorexic, and yet in the same breath saying OH HORRORS, Jordin Sparks (one person) will make people think it's OKAY to be FAT!! Could it be that Ruben is fat, but not a chick? And that the models may be chicks, but at least they're not fat?
People who wear size 12 are not necessarily unhealthy, for one thing. Most women in the US who wear an 8 are convinced that they're fat and need to be a 6. Most 6s think they're cows unless they can wear a 4. And 4s are obviously horribly obese because they can't wear a 2. There's no such thing as a normal, healthy, acceptable weight for women anymore. The media has made sure of that.
ReplyWhy are you so nasty Roth? Low on blood sugar from lack of food? Or is your body suffering from hormone imbalance because you don't eat?
This will be the first place I'll look if I need tips on how to look like a holocaust victim.
ReplyRoth is right! Three cheers for the truth!
The real problem is that Jordin Sparks is just another average overweight American girl. Obesity will kill you and it is simple math as to what is Obese and what is not.
I feel terrible shame being from the USA and having all the other countries make fun of us because we are 'all fat'. Girls like Jordin and most probably everyone on this blog who disagrees with Roth are to blame for this and I thank you so much. Every time I go abroad I have to endure jokes that go like this; 'you can't be an American you are not fat!'... Thanks a lot my fellow Americans.
My sadness is only furthered by the fact that America would vote such a girl as an 'Idol'. Can we have some cheese and fries with that? Oh, and supersize it!
btw, Roth is also gorgeous and has a near-perfect BMI. Stop making yourselves look foolish by trying to find fault with her.
Love,
-Sad American
ReplyWhy are people angry at Meme Roth, she's just stating the obvious. No one is saying that Jordin needs to be a size 0 anorexic. She is obese, plain and simple. She is still pretty. But she is definitely fat.
ReplyHooray for Roth! She is absolutely correct, Sparks is obese. She is aksi attractive and talented, one thing has nothing to do with the other. The problem with this country is that so many people think it is OKAY to be obese. It is UNHEALTHY.
ReplyShe's huge, gigantic, enormous. In 20 years she'll be one of those women riding around on a motorized scooter because of her bad knees.
ReplyJordin Sparks = Fat Fat Fat!!!!
She should not have won. She only won because of her voice.
ReplyI wrote this directly to the National Action Against Obesity website, perhaps Meme will get a clue:
Please learn the meaning of the word obese before you have Meme Roth go on national TV and criticize a young lady for being unhealthy. There are enough problems with young women driven to eating disorders by such ridiculous statements as those made by Ms. Roth that we do not need her contribution to it.
Perhaps she should stick to targeting people who truly are obese instead of targeting a teenager who is clearly not. A person who may need or may not need to lose a few pounds does not qualify as obese and one does not need to be a size 0 or a stick figure such as Ms. Roth in order to be healthy.
Now, thanks to Ms. Roth, hundreds of impressionable young women are getting the signal that someone of Jordin Sparks size is considered obese, in a society where what is defined as healthy and beautiful has increasingly grown smaller in the waistline. It was refreshing for our society to see real people of different sizes on a national TV show, instead of a bevvy of size 0 unreal looking models that have created the distortion with weight prevelant among teens, and Ms. Roth ruined a positive possible trend.
If you define Jordin Sparks size as obese, then i sincerely have to question Ms. Roth's diagnostic skills and what this organization is about.
ReplyHey Dave, have you ever been to another country?
ReplyMeMe Roth is a DIETICIAN and knows what she is talking about people. ENOUGH with all this anorexia bullshit, just because America is overweight AND Jordin is as well, people don't have to get all sensitive when a FACT is stated. She's not insulting her, she is stating fact. So quit with this "bitch" and "c***" crap, MeMe is RIGHT. She has a BMI of 20, is 5'6" and weighs 120 lbs; I also have a BMI of 20, am 5'10" and weigh 135 lbs, and am DEFINITELY NOT ANOREXIC. Don't lash out at people just because you are bitter.
ReplyJordin IS HEALTY if you ask the real experts. It comes down to her excellent waist-hip ratio.
This is apparently what matters - not BMI. It's surprising so few people have heard about this stuff!
REFERENCES:
Diabetes risk - waist size better predictor than BMI
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=21444
Big bottoms may come out tops for women's health
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010606/ai_n13908522
Also, do a Google search on " Waist-hip ratio best measure of heart attack risk"
Spread the word. But stop threatening the poor skinny chick - she's just badly informed.
ReplyAccording to the BMI index, Shaquille O'Neal is obese, too. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I was 225 on a 5'11 frame, also technically obese. I am a little bigger now, but have lower blood pressure than most other folks I know, and actively play sports several times per week.The weight nazis are destroying the self esteems of an entire generation of young women to boost themselves and create self worth by judging others. If you have people that love you and you love yourself,the specifics of weight be damned.The BMI chart is almost unreasonably small, and takes no account in for genetics and frame size. If I was the 170 I was supposed to be, I would look like I was on deaths door! We are all gonna die, folks, I dont care who looks best in thier coffin. Enjoy life!
ReplyMs. Roth, whom I will not recognize as a doctor, is being an extremist as far as weight goes. Ironically, all of Hollywood is putting out this propaganda to get the diet industry, and thus people like her, rich and powerful. Maybe if doctors spent their time and energy curing the ailments caused by obesity (and of any other more fatal ailments) instead of trying to recircuit the guts of the obese via gastric bypass, which they say is the best solution (but is still very ineffective), then they would not need to worry about the obese and overweight people of the world that they (sarcastic) care for so much. These people are human beings. Giving them that your-gonna-die crap is gonna kill them because of the self-fulfilled prophecy that a doctor gives to stress them out.
Reply**Note there is an actual condition involving patients having more anxiety when they are in contact with a health professional. It is called white coat hypertension.
Ms. Roth is a health-terrorist and is relentlessly targeting our little girls particularly through her unorderly "diagnosis" of Ms. Sparks, which was based only on assumpmtion (which goes against the scientific method and medicine).
OMG, I didn't read everything that's been said before me but I have to share this. I was watching a Dateline show with Diane Sawyer. She was asking these little girls what they would rather be fat or dumb. Would you believe most of these little 5-8 year olds answered dumb. So basically we're teaching our youngsters it's better to be stupid and look good than to be chubby and smart. Well at least there are things you can do about chubby. I haven't heard of many programs that can cure stupidity. And I think Jordin is beautiful. And vivacious. And very, very talented. I've seen alot of "healthy" looking skinny girls that aren't half as beautiful as this young woman. Inside or out. Besides, since when did bulimia, anorexia and poor self-esteem become "healthy"?
ReplyOMG, I didn't read everything that's been said before me but I have to share this. I was watching a Dateline show with Diane Sawyer. She was asking these little girls what they would rather be fat or dumb. Would you believe most of these little 5-8 year olds answered dumb. So basically we're teaching our youngsters it's better to be stupid and look good than to be chubby and smart. Well at least there are things you can do about chubby. I haven't heard of many programs that can cure stupidity. And I think Jordin is beautiful. And vivacious. And very, very talented. I've seen alot of "healthy" looking skinny girls that aren't half as beautiful as this young woman. Inside or out. Besides, since when did bulimia, anorexia and poor self-esteem become "healthy"?
ReplyI'm 5ft2, measurements 35-27-38. I'm 120lb with 25% body fat, which is considered healthy as far as I know. I found it offensive to hear this was considered 'fat' lol.
ReplySo she is 6ft and a size 12 and this is considered obese? A size 12 is a 30.5-31 inch waist which is well within what is considered healthy for a female, let alone for a 6ft female!
A size 12 at 6ft is like a 5ft6 woman wearing a size 9/10 or a 5ft woman wearing a size 7/8. This is just getting ridiculous!
ReplyFor Pete's sake, I wasn't trying to be the grand arbiter of what is or isn't fat!!!
I was just trying to make the point that a short person and a tall person with the same measurements will usually look very different. I'm 5' and fat at that size, that's why I used that example. Okay?
ReplyChicken Girl, I highly doubt you're facing any sort of health issue with a 28 inch waist. Apparently waist size is one of the best easy-to-obtain measurements of weight-related health risk and for women, the reccomendation is to stay below 35 inches. Yes, you're short and not knowing what you look like, it's possible you WANT to have a smaller waist, but I highly doubt you have a weight problem.
(I mean, ideally at five two with a 27-27.5 inch waist, I'd like it to be smaller, but I recently realized that I'd just as much like it to be lower on my torso and there's no amount of ANYTHING that is going to change that. There comes a time to accept myself.)
Just wanted to point that out, since pretty much everything else you've said has been right on. :)
ReplyHmmm. I see you're one of those biased sob's, who loves making fun of big people! i guess your real proud of yourself for putting everyone like that down huh!? your probably 1 of those fat guys (hypocrite), who's single and never been married bc girls know what a jerk you are! or you're currently married but your wife put on alot of weight over the years, and your unhappily married bc you dont find her attractive anymore, and this is how you take out your frustrations-just like my father!! what a disgrace for a human being!! oh im sorry, INHUMANBEING!! i know first hand what guys like you are like! and i know i hit it right on the nose!!!! so i give myself a pat on the back!!! go eat a twinkie loser!!!!
ReplyHmmm. I see you're one of those biased sob's, who loves making fun of big people! i guess your real proud of yourself for putting everyone like that down huh!? your probably 1 of those fat guys (hypocrite), who's single and never been married bc girls know what a jerk you are! or you're currently married but your wife put on alot of weight over the years, and your unhappily married bc you dont find her attractive anymore, and this is how you take out your frustrations-just like my father!! what a disgrace for a human being!! oh im sorry, INHUMANBEING!! i know first hand what guys like you are like! and i know i hit it right on the nose!!!! so i give myself a pat on the back!!! go eat a twinkie loser!!!!
Replyjordin is 6'0" and 200lbs. the maximum weight she can be before hitting the obese range is 221!!! the max ideal weight for someone her height is 176. so technically if you want her to lose weight, it should only be 25 pounds, not 40, like that wench meme roth says!!!!!! she's an expert of pure B.S. if you ask me!
where was meme back a few years ago when Ruben Studdard won IDOL? HMM? ANYONE HAVE A GOOD ANSWER FOR ME?..... IM WAITING...... EXACTLY!!! maybe we should consider ms. Roth to be a sexist too!! if she cares about young teenage girls being obese then she should care about the boys as well!!!
ReplyI do have a weight problem, my BMI is 31 right now. My waist is anywhere between 30 and 34 inches depending on what I've eaten, time of day, the alignment of the planets... (stupid tape measure). That's natural waist, though. The measurement that's supposed to be below 35 is the largest part of your abdomen, and the last time I measured that I think it was around 42. I was trying to use (or approximate) the numbers for a size 12, which is a size smaller than me, but I have more than one size to lose, ergo size 12 me would still be fat.
But anyway, the point I was trying to make was: me fat, Jordin not, similar clothing sizes, foot of height between us.
ReplyAnd where has she been all this time that Randy Jackson has been a judge? He's smaller now, but when Idol started, he was a big guy. Why is Jordin suddenly such a big influence when Randy and Ruben aren't? If Paula were fat, I bet people would be complaining about her being a "bad role model".
Reply