Obesity 'to be linked to more female cancers' than smoking

[Gintoki]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45601052

Interesting, this is obviously because more females are fat than smoke, so statistically this is more likely, and we don't know much about cancer really, but it's still a worrying factor at the very least, even more so that we have started this "fat acceptance".

Will we start seeing images of cancer patients on big macs some 20 years in the future, like we did with smoking packets?

[W13]

As a medical doctor, I can tell you that obesity isn't something to be accepted, tolerated, or worse: celebrated. Obesity makes almost every disease worse and is one of the leading causes of scores of others.

I hear patients say stuff like, "yeah well, in my family it's normal. we're all a bit larger. it's genetic." - maybe genes play a minor role but mostly it's the habits and environment, and things like portion sizes, snacking habits, types of foods in the house, (lack of) exercise habits, etc.

smh.

[Wee Man]

As a medical doctor, I can tell you that obesity isn't something to be accepted, tolerated, or worse: celebrated. Obesity makes almost every disease worse and is one of the leading causes of scores of others.

I hear patients say stuff like, "yeah well, in my family it's normal. we're all a bit larger. it's genetic." - maybe genes play a minor role but mostly it's the habits and environment, and things like portion sizes, snacking habits, types of foods in the house, (lack of) exercise habits, etc.

smh.

haha bro what do you mean I think you need to stop the fat shaming. 

[Murdoc]

As a medical doctor, I can tell you that obesity isn't something to be accepted, tolerated, or worse: celebrated. Obesity makes almost every disease worse and is one of the leading causes of scores of others.

++^googol

It drives me absolutely mad to see all this 'plus size' acceptance crap, especially what's being peddled by the BBC day in day out. These people are actively killing themselves in the public eye and no one is doing anything about it. Are we genuinely just living out the Empereror's new clothes? 

Just insane. Especially when people (women) who take care of themselves by going to the gym regularly, and so on, are vilified for promoting 'unobtainable' and (wait for it) 'unhealthy' body images/standards. 

!!! 

Eat less and do more. It's not rocket science. Stop making so many excuses for yourselves. If you don't care about your size, that's fine, but don't kid yourself or try to kid others by going on an Orwellian PR crusade to pretend it's something they should all aspire to as well. 

Sheesh.

[The duck]

Processed foods contain more and more "additions" that all add up in the long run...

[Yoto32]

Interesting, this is obviously because more females are fat than smoke, 

This is true of males too. Seems to be more of a people thing, not a gendered thing.

Anyways, while I don't think people should be made fun of for their bodies, being overweight is definitely not something to be celebrated or condoned. I myself am a couple pounds overweight and I'm trying to lose it. Everybody has bad habits: it's much easier to hide alcoholism or gaming than unhealthy food consumption.

[Teddy]

The below's going to be a bit of a ramble because I've switched views back and forth over the years.

I see body acceptance frequently brought up as a response to the glorification of unhealthily underweight models. It is reasonable to say that the modeling industry has pushed standards to such extremes that anorexia and other eating disorders are now prevalent within the industry, as well as amongst those trying to enter. It is also extremely reasonable as a society for us to condemn this glorification if it leads to these issues. Showing models of a healthy weight should be the goal.

However, now the pendulum is swinging the other direction, and there is a cottage industry driven by an opposite exploitation of models. It can be quite lucrative to stand against fat shaming, while simultaneously engaging in skinny shaming. Several companies have found it extremely profitable to virtue signal in this manner, as well as several social media stars.

Ultimately, I believe people should live their lives how they wish. If somebody wants to have a given body type for whatever reason, they should be able to do so while understanding the risks. I guess what I'm not comfortable about is that health risks like what you've discussed in the OP can end up getting glossed over when the pendulum swings. But rarely does one's actions only affect oneself. If somebody does choose to be too skinny or too fat, they can be hurting themselves. As a side-effect, they can be hurting the people around them, and quite frankly having an obesity epidemic also puts a drain on society's resources by having tax dollars being allocated to treating these problems, rather than to other technological advances or social issues.

I'm not an expert nutritionist, but I have a cursory understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, and if you consume fewer calories than you expend, you will lose weight. Period. Granted, different bodies can digest food and operate with those calories different than others can. For example, some rare individuals apparently can't break down sugar effectively, so they almost don't have to worry about eating sugar from a weight gain perspective (disregarding other negative effects). Similarly, others might have metabolisms that are horrendously inefficient at breaking down chemicals. So individual chemistry does play a part here. But then the trick is just to eat even fewer calories than what an otherwise average person would do.

However, it's difficult to have these kinds of measured conversations, because there's so much at play here. The ideal situation is to convince somebody that they are most likely in control of their own body weight, without engendering a sense of shame within them. Ideally, they should feel empowered to be able to change for the better, rather than feel awful for having been there in the first place. Strong feelings of negativity can lead to individuals overeating or undereating as a response, and that just makes everything worse. Furthermore, in my experience with expressing unpopular moderate views, it's difficult to tell whether someone actually has a nuanced viewpoint on this whole matter, or if they're just someone on the other extreme from you who refuses to listen to you and hear you as a person.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here, but having grown up in the heartland of America (aka almost Ground Zero for this kind of stuff), it's really sad to see so many of my friends and family getting unhealthily overweight over the years. I hate to see it, but there's only so much I can say or do before being told to shut up.

-Teddy

[Ramu]

I agree with body acceptance when a person is already in an ideal weight and health. They should not feel that they have to go get a boob job or something cosmetic like that to be happy.

I do not agree that those who are unhealthy and do unhealthy things get brought into this mentality that it is all okay and they should just accept that they do those self-destructive things.

[Vio]

So if people get fat because they think it's ok, they're more likely to get cancer and die.

I'm not sure I understand the problem...?

[W13]

Just wanna throw in another two cents into this thread:

I work as a doctor in Indonesia... often in rural areas where education is muddled with religion, myths, and traditions. Most people here believe that fatness is correlated with health. So, they firmly believe that the fatter you are, the healthier you are. Now just imagine the look of horror on my face when the patient brings in their 2 year old who is so obese that he's gasping for breath, got fat stored in all sorts of places (my brain screaming: "his body decided to use the forehead to store fat because there's no other place left?!"), and the parents decide to ask me: "he's so healthy, why is he having breathing problems?"

Me: "What makes you think he's healthy?"
Parents: "Look how chubby he is. He's very healthy. He loves to eat spicy food and drink sweet tea without a problem."
Me: "Wait... you're feeding this 2 year old sweet tea? ... and did you say spicy food?"
Parents: "Yeah, and he loves to drink sugary syrup drinks."
Me: "... well that explains the rotted out teeth. does he not brush his teeth?"
Parents: "No, he's too young for a toothbrush. he's just a kid, doc."
Me: "... Okay, so... he's too young for a toothbrush, but you see no problem in him drinking tea? How many cups a day btw?"
Parents: (noticing my strained voice) "...err... how many cups eh? hmm... one or two..."
Me: "Truthfully please..."
Parents: "Four sometimes."
Me: "So, about five or more."
Parents: "Yes." ... "Can you give him an injection?"
Me: "What do you mean 'injection'? I'll order the nurse to explain to you on how to change his diet and educate you on how to keep him within healthy weight limits. And I'll prescribe some oral medications for the breathing problem."
Parents: "... Because injections work better and faster."
Me: "... no. Listen... injections are just a method of delivering medicine. It isn't necessarily better or faster."
Parents: "... The other doctors gives injections. Are you a fresh grad?"
Me: "..." (choosing to ignore the question) ... "Why isn't he wearing shoes btw?"
Parents: "He doesn't like to walk. He gets tired."
Me: "... so you carry him everywhere?"
Parents: "The mother loves him. It's our first child."
Me: "What activities does he have other than eating?"
Parents: "He is very smart. He turns on Youtube all by himself and watches all day. He can even charge the phone himself."
Me: "... I meant physical activities."
Parents: (trying to think of something to say to make me happy) "We regularly take him for oil massage since he was born"
Me: "... that explains the deformed skull."
Parents: *whispering to each other in local dialect* "next time, we'll take him for coin-rubbing instead. This doctor doesn't know anything."
Me: "..." *giving them the prescription* ... "NEXT!"