Proposal to Ban Obese People From Restaurants

If you look at statistics, you will see that african-americans and latinos are more likely to be obese. Also, the lower the education level the more likely to be obese.
This bill is just old-fashioned racism and classism. Try to think of your real motives when you sneer or feel superior to obese people, because most of the time I think it's just snobbery.

Great Idea!! Especially at Buffets. Health care is way too expensive and overloaded due to people not taking care of themselves. If you are overweight it is your own fault and you need to take responsibility for it. Otherwise you'll just get more miserable and more obese blaming everyone else for it. I don't recall that McDonalds ties people up and shoves Big Macs down their throats.

i feel so sad about this. but i guess if it took until 1992 to have handicap accessible restaurants it doesn't surprise me. what about mentally disabled people, women, blacks, jewish people, protestants, little people etc. who says we're not a communist country

Instead of telling the restaurants who they can and can't server, why not ask them to make what they do serve a more normal portion. I can't eat out because it's such a waste of money. I end up leaving over 1/2 the food because it is such a large serving. Does anyone even remember what 3-6 ounces of beef or chicken looks like?

Well I don't like it one bit....it's worthless...and really who says who is fat!?!? Well anyway, it won't go far. I know that. gee there could be riots....well maybe not that bad....but, who knows!

BigK said:
Great Idea!! Especially at Buffets. Health care is way too expensive and overloaded due to people not taking care of themselves. If you are overweight it is your own fault and you need to take responsibility for it. Otherwise you'll just get more miserable and more obese blaming everyone else for it. I don't recall that McDonalds ties people up and[...]

I honestly don't see how this would benefit anyone involved. If the goal of the legislation is to help people slim down, it ain't gonna work. People will just eat more at home to make up for it. If the goal is to save restauranteurs money by not having to serve obese people huge portions, newsflash: skinny people often eat as much or more as obese people. Like Heather, I'm a very active woman and even though I weigh barely 100 lbs, I can eat a LOT. And there are a lot of obese people that don't actually eat all that much at restaurants. My aunt is a habitual restaurant eater and she eats probably half her entree most of the time, even though she's obese.

I like the idea of more restaurants preparing healthier dishes. Applebee's offers a Weight Watchers menu that lists how many calories are in the dishes and how many "points" they have. Other restaurants are now offering smaller portions instead of the monstrous platters they usually serve. Offering more choices would definitely do more to help overweight people to be able to eat out and still lose weight.

Banning obese people from restaurants will only cause hurt feelings, discrimination suits, etc. Of course, Mississippi did propose it and they're not exactly known for being #1 on the common sense/education scale. Considering that it took them until 1995 to ratify the 13th amendment banning slavery.

=P said:
Government has the power to change the world[...]

Maybe, but it's not their job, and I personally don't want the government to decide for us how things should be, especially since their opinions usually come in the form of higher taxes and red tape. Shouldn't we as a people be the ones fighting for what's right, in whatever way we can, whether that be in the form of community education programs or simply taking a stand against those establishments that don't provide nutritional information and/or healthy options? Before smoking in restaurants was banned where I live, I refused to eat at restaurants that allowed it. If more people had done that, we may never have had to pass a law against it.

Bright idea (note sarcasm) number 2:

"Don't Feed the Obese" Bill Salvageable, Says Expert -- But Narrow the Bill to Protect Children and Preserve Principle, He Urges

2008-02-02 21:04:58 - A bill which would prevent all restaurants from serving food to obese people - which is being roundly criticized or treated as a bad joke - can be made viable and worthy of serious consideration if it can be refocused on children eating at fast food chain restaurants without a parent or guardian, and only prevents them from ordering food items or meals which are extraordinarily and especially fattening, says the public interest law professor behind the modern anti-obesity movement.

The measure - which even its three sponsors agree has little chance of success in its present form - is being criticized for, among other things, interfering with the free choices of adults, for being so all encompassing that obese travelers could not eat out anywhere and obese employees of restaurants would have to go home to eat, for requiring scientific criteria by which food servers would try to single out the obese, and for many other reasons.

But, prohibiting only the service of especially fattening food items and meals to children who eat at fast food chain restaurants without a parent or guardian would make the law more consistent with many other requirements already placed on children, would not interfere with decisions made by adults for themselves or by parents for children dining with them, and would impose only minor restrictions, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

Banzhaf, who filed the first of ten now-successful fat law suits, and counseled on others as well as inspiring and appearing in "Super Size Me," has been called "the Ralph Nader of junk food," "the man who is taking fat to court," "a major crusader against big tobacco and now among those targeting the food industry," and "the man big tobacco and now fast food love to hate." He has written to the bill's sponsors asking them to refocus the bill.

Banzhaf suggests that the bill be focused exclusively on children, arguing that "While most people have a very strong and almost visceral objection to any governmental restrictions imposed to protect their own health from their own bad judgments, we have a long tradition of protecting children from the own inability to make mature judgments."

"Thus, while we traditionally have not prevented adults from smoking tobacco, abusing alcohol, engaging in very dangerous sports and other activities, etc., we have not hesitated to legislate against children purchasing tobacco or alcohol or fire works, engaging in a variety of activities presenting even moderate dangers (e.g., getting tattoos or even vaccinations, etc.

"Focusing your bill on protecting children rather than adults would remove the major objection to it, and provide a strong argument for it - one likely to be echoed by many groups concerned about child health and welfare."

Banzhaf also suggests that the bill should be limited to fast food chain restaurants, arguing that "Limiting your bill to only fast food chain restaurants would defuse most of the objections from the overwhelming majority of restaurants in the state while at the same time focusing on the great majority of situations where children are able to eat out without parental accompaniment."

"However, since virtually every study points out that fast food restaurants play such a large role in the epidemic of pediatric obesity, such a revised bill would still have a major impact on childhood obesity, and also help establish an important principle."

Also, Banzhaf proposes that the bill limit only the serving of foods which are especially fattening: "It may be hard to argue that obese children should not be allowed to purchase low calorie food items of the type now available (due in part to my efforts) from many fast food chains. This is especially true since there may be many circumstances where it is impossible or at least very inconvenient for them to eat elsewhere."

"By prohibiting only the serving of especially fattening foods to obese children, you significantly reduce the objections to your bill. It is much easier to argue for - and to justify - preventing an obese child from ordering a Mucho Grande Nachos from Taco Bell (at over 1300 calories) than a salad with lo-cal dressing, or apple slices, from McDonald's."

He notes that obese children would still be permitted to order most of the items on a fast food menu. "For example, at McDonald's, even a Double Cheeseburger and Quarterpounder, or a Filet-O-Fish or McChicken, has fewer than 500 calories. Those food items the child should not be served include: the Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese (740 calories), Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich (660 calories), several deserts, etc.

BELOW IS A DRAFT OF THE MAIN PROVISIONS OF THE REVISED BILL BANZHAF PROPOSES:

No employee of a fast food chain outlet shall serve to any child who appears, to a reasonable person, to be under the age of 16 and to be obese, any single food item reported by the company to contain more than 500 calories, nor any meal where the calories in all of the food items in the meal (including any drinks, but not including sauces not provided at the counter) as reported by the company exceed 1000 calories.

However, all such food items may be served if the child is accompanied by a parent or guardian, or if the child presents a letter or note on the letterhead of a physician, hospital, or other health care entity certifying that he is not obese or that for medical reasons he should be served such food items, or if he or she provides such proof in a form or manner approved by the State Department of Health, including but not necessarily limited to, a wallet-sized card from any of the above sources or from the school which the child attends.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor
2000 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA

http://www.pr-inside.com/print418545.htm

Casey said:
Wow. So 50 years ago black people weren't allowed to eat in restaurants with white people. Now fat people aren't allowed to eat in restaurants with skinny people. Gotta love Mississippi for it's civil rights record.[...]

now, that was profound!

Guess the restaurants will be weighing and measuring people to determine their BMI so the restaurant can figure out whether or not they can serve them. Give me a break; it'd be a law that would never be implemented.

Education is the way to go. If it's a well known restaurant, I check out their nutritional information before I go. If I go out on the whim, I order healthy. Usually a salad with no or little dressing and I only eat about half.

karin said:
Instead of telling the restaurants who they can and can't server, why not ask them to make what they do serve a more normal portion. I can't eat out because it's such a waste of money. I end up leaving over 1/2 the food because it is such a large serving. Does anyone even remember what 3-6 ounces of beef or chicken looks like? [...]

I did just that the other night at Olive Garden. Literally one half of the food was thrown away because their portion size is HUGE.

Land of the free??? hmmmmm

BigK said:
Great Idea!! Especially at Buffets. Health care is way too expensive and overloaded due to people not taking care of themselves. If you are overweight it is your own fault and you need to take responsibility for it. Otherwise you'll just get more miserable and more obese blaming everyone else for it. I don't recall that McDonalds ties people up and[...]

Obesity is not the only reason health care is expensive. People in general, no matter if they are fat, thin, bald, or whatever don't take care of themselves. I'm an RN, and trust me there are alot of people who are unhealthy and not obese.

And what about all the research showing that overweight people actually have better health? I'm assuming that theyre doing this in some sort of warped attempt to 'help' the health of what they consider to be obese people. I've mentioned just some of it (and there's a lot more I haven't mentioned) at http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/obesity-research.html.
I mean honestly, even experts can't even agree on what the measures of obese really are - they're forever changing yet a state can propose such a law! Aish!

Cari

Mark said:
Totalitarian aspects apart, it wouldn't work. They'd just go to the grocery store and load up on crap packaged food. You'd also have to outlaw their buying anything at grocery stores other than fruits and veggies, fresh meats and fish, and basic condiments and cooking ingredients. Then you'd need specially trained SWAT teams to mount assaults on ho[...]I LOVE IT YOU ARE FREAKIN HILARIOUS! ALL RESTURANTS WOULD GO BUST.WE ALL HAVE OUR PART IN STUMULATING THE ECONOMY AND MINE IS FREQUENTING THE GOLDEN TOUGH!

hmmmm civil rights violation much?

When it comes to the government, the only kind of eaters they need worry about are cannibals. I'm sure that's illegal in Mississippi already. If not, they can work on that, instead.

Seriously, tho', with their logic, should anorexics be force-fed in restaurants and bulimics not allowed to use public bathrooms? I doubt this current law will get thru but if anything like this ever does, where does it end?! No one is safe.

It's pure discrimination. This sort of ban is only going to make people feel worse about themselves and the last thing overweight people need is another place where they'll be excluded!

The problem isn't ONLY the restaurant food. It's a multi-faceted problem. I think the core of it is looking at that 2/3rd population. Are they in the poverty-zone? Mississippi is known to be one of our poorer states. This can be problematic, because high-quality, whole foods are more expensive than cheaper alternatives. A pound of fresh salmon in NYC is over $12, while a box of store-brand Mac & Cheese is two boxes for a dollar, in the same store. On a limited income, what would you buy? If that is the problem facing people in Mississippi, then the gov't needs to tackle THAT issue - Making quality food affordable.

What kind of activities are available to people there? Are there enough parks and recreational areas available at no cost, that are safe? Do they have facilities that are size appropriate for larger people? The gov't could set up exercise gyms like the Y that are aimed at larger folk who are uncomfortable or embarrassed exercising in front of others. Special programs can be offered that help train people to become healthier and stronger, taking into consideration that their body size may require modification to exercises, would be a major help (This isn't normally taught, especially by brand-name gyms). At these sort of centers, they can offer nutritional guidance and emotional support. These can be aimed at people that fall into the wide spectrum of eating disorders, not just restaurant over-eaters. Why single out one type of weight problem???

The bottom line tho', is not only making proper services available to people of all weights/incomes - It's a personal matter to take care of one's self and to ignore the onslaught of advertisers, politicians, family members, etc... that are attacking our self esteem and self worth.

In NYC, people can no longer smoke in public buildings, offices or bars. That hasn't stopped people from smoking. They still do it, just somewhere else. Like the sidewalk. So, what makes them think that this will stop people from overeating? This is madness.

My name is Steven (insert last name here), I am a 17 years old 6' 5" 215 pounds, I play sports and hardly ever play video games (anymore). The new law is not only ridiculous but it is a complete violation on every human right in the book. Granted, Some people are overweight because of food and poor diet, but what about the people with illnesses? what happens when a (wo)man with Thyroid problems ( for un-educated people a thyroid is the gland that distributes hormones in the human body) walks into a restaurant and gets rejected because of something they can't control? I have heard of stupid and ridiculous laws in the United States but I feel that this one takes the cake ( no pun intended). This laws restricts hungry people from food, how moral! I got a great idea, lets go to a hospital and stop people from using Ventilators. I agree that we should pay more attention to the 31% of obese Americans that are overweight, but this is NOT the way to do it. Public ridicule is, in no way, the answer to the American problem. Oh, and to the other "Steve" who wrote:"this bill is needed. it's time that obese people got the message. with all the statewide bans lately, I'm the most happiest with this one." go read a book, learn proper grammar, punctuation, spelling... in fact just go back to grade 3 and give this whole life thing another shot. Until then leave the big boy conversations to the grown-ups, or at least the people that can back up there statements with facts. For everyone who is for this in-human torture, please feel free to respond and I will be delighted to rip on what you have to say.

yeah, thats totally going to work. good god. lets give fat people even more of a complex by ACTUALLY making them second class. Aren't there anti-descrimination laws?

What we really need to know is who are the fools that proposed this bill! If they can't be recalled, at least they can be voted out next election. We don't need to be paying government salaries to idiots.

wow now that is dumb i have never seen anything so ridiculous what happend to our freedom if you want to be big than be big. what next are they going to ban having to many kids or maybe ban gas stations from selling gas to bad econimy cars. our goverment is going to far.

i think it should be passed because like in super size me "when is it going to be un-called for to call someone obese i mean we can do that with people who smoke but not to obese people, well anyway i just think it should be passes

i think this is absolute gold!! how do you americans come up with this stuff??

I hold the belief that obese people are to blame for their 'fatness' and that they should stop complaining about their 'issues' and do something about it..
it's like when you are doing yr 12 -there are those students who shut up and do their work and are successful and then there are those annoying students who dont do their work and then complain about how stressed they are and that they need a break so that they can relax when they reali should be doing their work to solve the problem..

I'm a checkout chic and i absolutely hate it when obese customers (particularly those with obese children as well) come through my checkout buying heaps of junkfood.. i stand there thinking: i hope you dont wonder why your obese..

so yea, i think that the bill should be enforced as well as one that stops grocery stores and department stores from selling junkfood to obese people-because it's obviously not helping them...

oh, wow, that's alot of people that's obese, and if no one obese could be served, are waiters and waitresses going to come around with scales weighing every customer?! that's just crazy! how could people allow this idea to even be a bill? i mean, yeah it sheds light on the obesity problem, but the problem is that you can't control what people are eating, if they don't eat in the resterant, they will eat it at home or somewhere else. i mean you can't control what people eat, its just not right, plus a violation of our rights. since so many people are obese, who's going to come to the resterant anymore, i mean most of the customers are obese

hello there are skinny people who are unhealthy and all big people dont like to eat some have theroid problems or other problems and if they make they they will lose buisnes thats stupid if they pay for my gym cost or sugery i could see that take that back the world is free next skinnies and bigs will be segragated so STOP THE MADDNESS .

all u haters that hate because you dont eat or throw it up and aint got no behind and wear a -100 should shut up we that like saying skinnies cant go to the gym and how would make u feel i hope u weight 900000000000 pounds just to see how that feels i aint a joke and u will i repeat will respect the p.h.a.t preety hot and absouloutley thick take advice i can be worst than monique on big girl got something to say to that u ugly distugstin unfair unsensative jerks that are going straight to the DEVIL

Nope. Sorry Chicken Girl, but you're wrong. Fatty crap that makes people obese is not cheaper than good healthy foods. It's laziness that makes people obese. They would rather get a double whopper with cheese than cook themselves a healthy dinner.

And furthermore.... Obese people shouldn't be banned from restaurants or not be allowed to buy twinkies. What should be proposed is naked fridays. That's right, everyone has to go out into public on friday naked. Try and hide in your moo moo now lol!!!!

Wow. This blog started out relatively intelligent, but really went downhill toward the end. I am completely opposed to the 'Big Brother' mentality that our country's government has been taking for a while now. A government should have no right to dictate its citizens' freedom of choice, least of all because of the extreme conflict of interest between big government and big business. When the politicians of our country receive 70-75% of their campaign contributions from major corporations, essentially we have Big Business making our laws for us. Do they have our health and well-being as their top priority, or are they primary concerned with their profits. I hate to be a pessimist, but this bill just shows you that politicians don't really care, they just pretend to (sometimes).

Lovely, so the next time I am traveling 2000 miles and through Mississippi along the way, and I need to eat, where the heck am I supposed to go? How long will it take til a lawsuit comes and the State gets sued because me, pregnant and "overweight" will not get the protein I need, my blood sugar will shoot up and I lose baby and me? Give me a break. Why don't we just offer up all our rights and hand them over to the government? After all, they know best in all areas, right? Of course, look at China.

Not fat people in the back of the bus like Will said, but on seperate buses, maybe in seperate towns or 'camps' to protect all the beautiful people from having to witness me pushing the table over a little in the cramped booth at the restaurant.

This bill never will go anywhere.

The State Representative who penned the proposed bill knew that it wouldn't ever be made into a law but hoped that it would raise awareness of the obesity problem.

As for playing the race card, and saying Mississippi is "backwards/racist/redneck etc." If you haven't visited you are in no place to pass judgement. Basing one's views of a state on movies like Mississippi Burning and Ghosts of Mississippi (read Hollywood stereotypes) are basically calling the kettle black when they pipe up about racism.

http://www.mississippibelieveit.com is a much better source for getting information about the state than a negatively biased and highly fictionalized retelling of events that happened almost 50 years ago (when the entire country was doing the exact same thing as Mississippi)

And as for fat people, I've seen less fat people in a year in Mississippi than I do in 1 week when I go to visit my parents in Houston, TX.

all food are going to add because when u digest your body breaks down your food into glucose which means the rest will go some where ethier as storage or out as wastse the thing is u have to have control its not there fault its ours

We dare you Burger for two (Served on a Stretcher) - A Whole Loaf of Crunchy French Bread running end to end with Broiled Hamburger topped with melted Yellow American Cheese, Lettuce, and Tomato. Accompanied by a mound of French Fried Potatoes, Red Pepper Relish, Ketchup, and Pickle Wedges. Delivered to your Table by Two Waitresses on a stretcher." -- On a menu of a restaurant in Danvers, Massachusetts.

FEBRUARY 1--Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282, a copy of which you'll find below, is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would face if its grub was served to someone with an excessive body mass index.

While the clinical definition of obesity is clear, I'd love to know how these legislators expect a restaurant owner or manager to make a determination on specific patrons.

I totally agree with this! They should bring the bill to delaware! It would make the obese people want to loose weight. Statistics show that by 2030 most people in the US will be obese. I definetly support this bill!

LOL

This is pushing things a bit too far.