I find this particular bird well suited to this post...fitting so to speakStories like this one trouble me. I have no problem with rewarding people for exercising. No doubt it is good for them. However, punishing those who choose not to live at the gym for the lifestyle they choose, even when it doesn't include being skinny as a pencil, treads dangerously on personal freedom, personal responsibility and their rights. Even their right to not be hungry 24/7 to fit some government guru's idea of the ideal body form.
People become overweight for many reasons. One that I often think about, is that, not so long ago in our evolution as folks, being what farmers call an "easy keeper" was advantageous. The kind of people who can eat a whole ham and fixins and still look like a pretzel would have starved to death quick back in the cave man days. Women like me, who have but to look at a cookie to feel their waist line expanding were selected FOR by that old devil, natural selection. Punishing people for traits that have been selected for in the genetic lottery seems just a tad unfair.
Not to mention that it has been proven that many people who do manage to lose weight beyond what their body naturally feels is right for it live with constant hunger pains.
However, my main concern in this huge push to demonize body condition scores of over five (cow folks will know what I mean) is the potential for a slender world causing polar bears to become extinct. I mean, think about it. If every person who weighs more than they should runs off to the gym and sheds every pound that the government considers extra, think of the effect all those burning calories and all that exhaled carbon dioxide would have on global warming. It would be nice for us as our farm would suddenly become ocean front property, but all I can say is be careful what you wish for.
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I noticed that many men in the prison where I work are happier with the larger Jessica Simpson than the old, looking like all the other skinny blond wenches. Still when we get universal health care we will be looking at universal exercise programs and physicals and counseling for our failures to be perfect. I did work for a government agency that had rules about that, they know what the standards should be.
My brother had the opposite problem. He has always been naturally thin, and some years ago his insurance company told him that they were raising his premium because he was too thin. That ticked him off. We worked hard to put on some weight, just to spite them.
He's still thin, though, even after putting on weight.
He sucks.
:)
Don't worry, after we get out of the reeducation camps, we'll lose weight and everything will be sunshine and lollipops.
/sarcasm
Very dangerous.... Big Brother has no business in our refrigerators, cupboards, bathrooms or bedrooms...
Look my whole family is of normal xyz genes, except me some jackass threw in the w (wide)gene in my pool. Due to 4 day's with a temp of 104.7 about 18 years ago, I was lucky to escape without brain damage (some people would debate that) but it did do a number on my thyroid which makes it that much harder to keep my weight down, to be punished for a freak of nature thing would cause me to well, get really pissed, nobody on the hill thinks about anything all the way...
I am definitely over weight and the extra pounds were put on when I had pain that kept me from exercising. Even if I get back to what I consider my ideal weight, I will still be 15-20 lbs heavier than what the chart says I should be. The last time I was in the chart range was when I was 12.
How much money did they waste studying and talking about this penalty?
Well, now that the stimulus package has passed and allows for a National Health Czar who will have access to all our health records and will determine if any treatment we are receiving is appropriate, we can look forward to this kind of insanity on a national scale.
Great post. Cookies that I look at do the very same thing to me. I'm what a rancher might call an easy keeper.
Earl, Seems we have to be sensitive to almost everything...but only almost...
nfmgirl, my son is the same way, thin as a rake. I love him dearly, but wish I had gotten those genes too. lol
Jeffro, only some of us won't be allowed to have any lollipops...lol
WW, and yet...you are obviously a delightful person, who should not be judged by any standard except that you are a delightful person.
Apple, I used to be a skinny little thing...cows pushed me around. Now, not so much
Flo, and there is a move afoot to repeal the 25th amendment!
LInda, I would have made a fine cow!
Thanks for the discussion. I wrote such a long comment that I decided to put it in my blog.
I just want to mention that evolution favors the person of slow metabolism. You need to eat less and you'll survive lack of food longer. So be of good cheer!
Joanne, I will come over and take a look at it!
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