> Some people, including my friends, are fat because of genetics and health disorders. Things that they cannot control. I've seen them eat very less compared to anybody else, practically starve and still remain fat. Eating too much is not the only reason.
Sorry, but ultimately, I don't believe this. I do believe that people can be genetically predisposed to obesity, but the fact is, you cannot actually grow larger if you consume less calories than your body needs for maintenance. The laws of thermodynamics don't allow it.
What is actually probably happening is an unfortunate and frankly sad cycle of starving themselves and then binge eating when nobody else is around; it's an eating disorder, which is something treatments are evolving for, and something that can be prevented by heading off the problem before it starts. This begins with good food in proper quantities as a child, and it begins with learning self-control.
> By your argument, an unhealthy child should not exist/can never be happy.
You've run really far and wild with your interpretation of my response here. I really can't fathom how you got there from what I posted. All I am saying is that parents have a responsibility to instill a sense of personal responsibility for consumption in their children; and that this follows from understanding what life situations over-consumption leads to. I specifically said I educate my children to not treat fat people badly - but that doesn't mean I'm going to paper over it and pretend it's not a problem. I've also told them to treat smokers with respect and not jump on them and attack them for their habit; I see fatness much the same way. A regrettable thing that can be prevented with early intervention.
If a bit of fear is required for this to work, so be it; it's a great motivator for a childish mind, and works for many other things, like "don't jump in the pool or you might drown", "don't run off in the woods or you might get eaten by a bear", etc.
> I don't care if this gets me blocked from here
It shouldn't. We're just having a discussion. Disagreement is healthy. Chill out, I have plenty of EQ.
Part of that is understanding that healthy people have advantages in terms of their own psychological state by virtue of knowing that they are in a sound body and that they've done what they can to ensure their own fitness and liveliness. We can't just fix the psychological, physiological, short-and-long term health issues, and emotional downsides of being fat by having everyone pretend that "fat is beautiful". It isn't; it never will be; tens of thousands of years of evolution have pre-trained the neural networks in our brains to recognize reproductive fitness, and that is linked 1:1 with physical fitness in any reasonably evolved civilization.
Sorry, but ultimately, I don't believe this. I do believe that people can be genetically predisposed to obesity, but the fact is, you cannot actually grow larger if you consume less calories than your body needs for maintenance. The laws of thermodynamics don't allow it.
What is actually probably happening is an unfortunate and frankly sad cycle of starving themselves and then binge eating when nobody else is around; it's an eating disorder, which is something treatments are evolving for, and something that can be prevented by heading off the problem before it starts. This begins with good food in proper quantities as a child, and it begins with learning self-control.
> By your argument, an unhealthy child should not exist/can never be happy.
You've run really far and wild with your interpretation of my response here. I really can't fathom how you got there from what I posted. All I am saying is that parents have a responsibility to instill a sense of personal responsibility for consumption in their children; and that this follows from understanding what life situations over-consumption leads to. I specifically said I educate my children to not treat fat people badly - but that doesn't mean I'm going to paper over it and pretend it's not a problem. I've also told them to treat smokers with respect and not jump on them and attack them for their habit; I see fatness much the same way. A regrettable thing that can be prevented with early intervention.
If a bit of fear is required for this to work, so be it; it's a great motivator for a childish mind, and works for many other things, like "don't jump in the pool or you might drown", "don't run off in the woods or you might get eaten by a bear", etc.
> I don't care if this gets me blocked from here
It shouldn't. We're just having a discussion. Disagreement is healthy. Chill out, I have plenty of EQ.
Part of that is understanding that healthy people have advantages in terms of their own psychological state by virtue of knowing that they are in a sound body and that they've done what they can to ensure their own fitness and liveliness. We can't just fix the psychological, physiological, short-and-long term health issues, and emotional downsides of being fat by having everyone pretend that "fat is beautiful". It isn't; it never will be; tens of thousands of years of evolution have pre-trained the neural networks in our brains to recognize reproductive fitness, and that is linked 1:1 with physical fitness in any reasonably evolved civilization.