Reply #106: I'm with you on this one... [View All]

[El Pinko]

My grandmother - my mother's mom - died at age 47 from a massive heart attack. In her youth she was a stunning beauty by all accounts, but after having two daughters, she fell into a depression and ate constantly, and nothing my mom or her father could do would stop her. She became morbidly obese and diabetic (this was in the 50s) and it eventually killed her.

Because of what happened to my grandmother, my grandfather (who was an opthalmologist) became rather obsessive about his and his daughters' diets. Even when I was a kid and we went to visit him, she would have my mom step on the scale to make sure she was eating right. Unfortunately, his strictness backfired with my mom, and she rebelled by eating butter pats off restaurants tables and cookie dough from the tube. Once he died, her eating habits got worse, going back and forth from binging on junk to crash diets. But eventually, she was able to become more moderate in her eating habits. She's still a bit overweight, but not bad for an American approaching 70.

But I think my family's case shows both sides of this argument. Morbid obesity is a killer. It is not something people can live with and be healthy.

But at the same time, having other people cajole or chastise them all the time about their eating is not always the best thing for an overweigh person.

I know I didn't get my weight down until *I* was ready to do it. No amount of nagging from my wife would make me do it, and in fact, I often ate more to spite her.


Overeating is not all that different from alcoholism. There is definitely a "high" you get after a big meal, and you just don't get that dazed, post-thanksgiving high from healthy portions. Those of us who were raised with "clean your plate" and lots of processed junk have been conditioned to want that HIGH. I don't like NAAFA because they don't want obesity cured. But I don't like people that judge fat people or put them down, either.