Political correctness has become a wave sweeping the United States. We try diligently in our speech and attitudes to not discriminate on basis of race or religion. I understand the need for change. As a child of the 1950's and 60's I heard moron jokes, Polish jokes, black jokes, etc. etc. It seemed that it was even acceptable to joke at the expense of the mentally challenged. My personal belief is that maligning others used to be an acceptable way of shifting our feelings of self doubt to others. If somebody else is less than, it makes me more than, right? (Completely and utterly wrong).
Prejudice is a divisive canker of the soul. Judging another human being on a visual basis only is morally reprehensible. This leads me to discuss one of the last largely socially acceptable prejudices. I flinch when I see a Facebook or Instagram post that shows an obese person in a small scooter at a store. The worst was a woman whose scooter had tipped over and nobody was coming to her aid. Indeed, many seemed to feel that her dilemma was deserved and should contain her from eating too much.
My husband was a very large man. At six foot four inches he was not lean. He once had a doctor tell him that he had the thickest muscle density of any human that he had treated in over twenty years of practice. He told him that his perfect weight was two hundred and sixty pounds.
Following multiple life threatening illnesses his weight ballooned upwards. He developed type two diabetes. He went to a doctor because his blood sugars were completely brittle. They would soar up to six hundred, and then drop to sixty. The doctor said, "Mr. Jones, I can't help you unless you lose weight. Please don't come back until you do."
So....easy for the doctor to blame the patient for the disease, right? My hubby was taking HUGE dosages of insulin daily to try and bring his uncontrollable blood sugars into control. It was almost twenty years later, and many complications later that a doctor finally said to him, "At the dosages of insulin that you're taking it would be virtually impossible to lose weight. Insulin acts as an appetite enhancer. You are probably hungry ALL THE TIME! In addition, another condition was finally diagnosed, insulin resistance. Remarkable, twenty years before there had been treatment for insulin resistance, but none of the doctors that he saw during that time span bothered to look beyond his weight for a cause.
Next case. One of my friends was a slightly below average sized child. When she became an adolescent, everything changed. She started gaining weight. This was not an inactive child. She actually danced an hour to two hours five days a week. During high school, in spite of her intense physical routine, she gained another twenty five pounds. She went to doctor after doctor who gave no answer to this challenge.
In her twenties she finally received the diagnosis of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. For some reason (cause still unknown) some women develop a condition that throws their hormones into frenzy. In my friend's case the syndrome was responsible for the uncontrolled weight gain. She took a required physical education class in college. When her weight didn't budge no matter what she ate, and how much she moved her teacher gave her a poor grade. WHAT? By this point she knew about her medical condition. She explained. The teacher didn't give one inch.
What is the point of this post? When a person can't lose weight, regardless of level of physical activities and diet, DO MORE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS! Don't assume that the weight IS THE PROBLEM. Instead, look more closely for a reason that is causing the weight gain! In some people the weight gain was precipitated by a tragic event. My children and I all gained weight after my husband's death at fifty four. (If that doctor had only given him insulin resistance medication twenty years earlier, he might not have died that young. At the least he would have had a healthier twenty years). Eating sweets is not a healthy way to cope with loss, but when you understand the physiological reasons for craving sweets it makes more sense. Sugared chocolate creates endorphins....the feel good chemicals that create feelings of euphoria or comfort. Of course the quick rise of the feel good chemicals also drops suddenly. This can lead to an endless cycle of sweet food bingeing. For most people this might not even cause a hiccup in their weight gain. It might also lead to a healthier method of coping, exercise. If you have an underlying mental or physical medical challenge you crave food more and gain more.
The good news is that you CAN get help. You may have to do lots of research on your own. This is a marvelous time for research. You can connect with sources on a global level. I understand that doctors in the U.S. are often harassed by the number crunching management. They want them to spend less time with patients to be able to create more billable hours. I actually had a doctor tell me, "I can only deal with one or two of your medical conditions at an appointment. I live with multiple medical conditions, each of them impacts the other conditions. I would spend my lifetime at her office trying to get the best medical treatment for all of my conditions. (NO, I'm NOT a hypochondriac, I have medical conditions that have all been diagnosed with empirical evidence). If I WAS a hypochondriac a good doctor would arrange for a consult by a different medical clinician, a therapist.
The bad new is that people can be very cruel. Posting pictures of obese individuals and then making rude comments is NOT helpful. Do you have enough empathy to imagine yourself in the place of that person? How would YOU feel if food was the only thing that made you feel alive? What if you live with such intense levels of pain that any movement guarantees you a consequence of severe pain? Would you feel inspired to move and eat less if you could move less and you hurt more?
Doctors need to be more proactive with their patients. Instead of automatically labeling a person of weight as lazy, or ignorant, they could check the medical conditions of a person to see if those were creating weight gain...insulin resistance, Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome are two such conditions. There are many, many others.
How can we call ourselves politically correct when we still laugh at the misfortune of others. Why is it OK to tell fat jokes? It isn't acceptable to tell other types of jokes that poke fun at anybody, why is it still acceptable to label people and make fun of them because of weight?
I used to be one of the offenders. I simply dismissed obese people. I would mentally think, eat less, exercise more, come on people! I danced my way through my life, never concerned about weight gain....and then. After my second child my weight stalled. My baby weighed almost nine pounds. I was horrified when I only lost five pounds? How is that even possible? My metabolism slowed further as I moved along through life. After developing degenerative disc disease throughout my back I eventually piled on ninety pounds? This forced me to understand that being overweight usually has a cause, a reason. It is NEVER OK to look at someone with weight and make a snap judgement.
I end with a plea. Doctors, look more diligently for a root reason that someone has weight, don't make a snap decision that all of their problems come from their weight. Weight is often caused from underlying health problems. Humans, develop some empathy. Understand that weight can happen to ANYBODY! You may be a slim trim human being, and THEN...remember that before you laugh at that picture of a woman tipped over in a small scooter.
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