Obesity a disability?

holnrew

I think it should be approached as an addiction, because that's certainly the issue for me. Luckily I'm only "cuddly", and I can easily lose weight if I put my mind to it, but for me, it's much easier said than done. 

I don't doubt there are some who are just lazy, but it's better not to judge everyone by the same criteria.

CabbageCat

holnrew said:

I think it should be approached as an addiction, because that's certainly the issue for me. Luckily I'm only "cuddly", and I can easily lose weight if I put my mind to it, but for me, it's much easier said than done. 

I don't doubt there are some who are just lazy, but it's better not to judge everyone by the same criteria.

For everyone it's an addiction. For everyone it's easier said than done. Losing weight takes willpower and discipline. Most people try to lose weight and fail until they find a method they can get on with.

Too many people see their situation as a special case ("I'm genetically fat", "I like food too much", "I could never give up chocolate") and use that as an excuse to not really try.

holnrew

CabbageCat;449941" said:

holnrew said:

I think it should be approached as an addiction, because that's certainly the issue for me. Luckily I'm only "cuddly", and I can easily lose weight if I put my mind to it, but for me, it's much easier said than done. 

I don't doubt there are some who are just lazy, but it's better not to judge everyone by the same criteria.










For everyone it's an addiction. For everyone it's easier said than done. Losing weight takes willpower and discipline. Most people try to lose weight and fail until they find a method they can get on with.Too many people see their situation as a special case ("I'm genetically fat", "I like food too much", "I could never give up chocolate") and use that as an excuse to not really try.

I won't argue with that. I've said similar things myself. You hear the same thing with drinkers and smokers.

Doesn't help that I am actually lazy.

Snap

Phil_aka_Pip said:

While I accept there are some people who get fat through no fault of their own, even though they eat little other than lettuce (people with thyroid deficiency for example), it is my opinion that the majority are lard-arses because they eat fattening food and don't burn the calories off. That is not a disability, it is self-neglect.

  I agree, and part of the reason we are becoming a nation of fat gets, is because we are too afraid to say this. Think back to when you were at school (in my case 70s and 80s) - there were only a couple of fat kids in the school (and sadly for them they got picked on). Today, there are a lot lot more. Is it because all of a sudden, tons of kids are "big noed" or have "glandular disorders"?? Nope. its because they sit on their arses all the time, eating and drinking shite and playing on the Xbox.

AFter the war, whilst rationing was in place, there were hardly any fatties either.

The PC brigade can sit around on their (no insubstantial) arses and avoid the issue whilst the world eats itself to death.

Snap

and besides, fatties shouold be taxed for the space they take up. A volume or density tax, I'm not sure yet. But the test could be, if your waist is wider than your hips, you need to give the taxman a grand.

or something.

There;e this assumption that anyone fat, must have a pyschological problem. Bollocks. Some people do, but not the majority.

And its not an addiction, for most people, it's a habit, and often genuine ignorance.

TinLip

sinbaadi said:

hugbot said:

I would think obesity is a disability. A condition that causes you to not be able to do the same things as able bodied people = disability.

Now, whether you got in that situation by your own fault is another matter, but even by that logic there are still other conditions that are technically accepted as disabilities that you could have ended up with as a result of your own actions.

So is a general lack of fitness also a disability?  You don't have to be obese to be unfit, and not everyone can lift sacks of flour, or ride a push-bike all day.  

I think it's somewhat absurd.  Next smoking-addiction will be considered a disability, and smokers won't have to work so many hours because their lungs can't cope.

Interesting thread you have hit upon...why is there not a sugar tax to offset the disability allowance for the obese disabled? Just as the tax on tobacco props up the NHS and probably compensates for the lung cancer/ whateverelsediseasel, surely a sugar or HFCS or carb tax wouldn't go amiss?

Drew_TNBD

TinLip said:

sinbaadi said:

hugbot said:

I would think obesity is a disability. A condition that causes you to not be able to do the same things as able bodied people = disability.

Now, whether you got in that situation by your own fault is another matter, but even by that logic there are still other conditions that are technically accepted as disabilities that you could have ended up with as a result of your own actions.

So is a general lack of fitness also a disability?  You don't have to be obese to be unfit, and not everyone can lift sacks of flour, or ride a push-bike all day.  

I think it's somewhat absurd.  Next smoking-addiction will be considered a disability, and smokers won't have to work so many hours because their lungs can't cope.

Interesting thread you have hit upon...why is there not a sugar tax to offset the disability allowance for the obese disabled? Just as the tax on tobacco props up the NHS and probably compensates for the lung cancer/ whateverelsediseasel, surely a sugar or HFCS or carb tax wouldn't go amiss?

Well the nature of smoking and the nature of food are very very different. Most foods have carbs. Most foods have sugars. Most foods have salts. And people NEED food. People don't need cigarettes to survive, and they're not omnipresent like food is. It's kinda dumb to equate the two to be honest.

VimFuego

TinLip said:

sinbaadi said:

hugbot said:

I would think obesity is a disability. A condition that causes you to not be able to do the same things as able bodied people = disability.

Now, whether you got in that situation by your own fault is another matter, but even by that logic there are still other conditions that are technically accepted as disabilities that you could have ended up with as a result of your own actions.

So is a general lack of fitness also a disability?  You don't have to be obese to be unfit, and not everyone can lift sacks of flour, or ride a push-bike all day.  

I think it's somewhat absurd.  Next smoking-addiction will be considered a disability, and smokers won't have to work so many hours because their lungs can't cope.

Interesting thread you have hit upon...why is there not a sugar tax to offset the disability allowance for the obese disabled? Just as the tax on tobacco props up the NHS and probably compensates for the lung cancer/ whateverelsediseasel, surely a sugar or HFCS or carb tax wouldn't go amiss?

I'm guessing the somewhat powerful sugar lobby may have something to do with that.

TinLip

There has been a lot of fattie hating in this thread. Let us all not forget that fat bird we shagged because we were drunk and thought our mates wouldn't find out. The fat ones are always grateful because they never know when they are going to get it next.

Drew_TNBD

TinLip said:

There has been a lot of fattie hating in this thread. Let us all not forget that fat bird we shagged because we were drunk and thought our mates wouldn't find out. The fat ones are always grateful because they never know when they are going to get it next.

Oh mannn... I banged this fat bird once, and she had the temerity to tell me to finish myself off!

To be fair, I was drunk and totally floppy.

Grunfeld

Drew_fx said:

...fat bird [event x]....To be fair, I was drunk and totally floppy [event y]

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc?

A logical phallusy?


coat please

Drew_TNBD

Grunfeld said:

Drew_fx said:

...fat bird [event x]....To be fair, I was drunk and totally floppy [event y]

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc?

A logical phallusy?


coat please

hey hey hey ... I stuffed it in crooked! That counts!!!

jonnyburgo

Yer can't put a tack where a nails been @Drew_fx

Philly_Q

TinLip said:

Interesting thread you have hit upon...why is there not a sugar tax to offset the disability allowance for the obese disabled? Just as the tax on tobacco props up the NHS and probably compensates for the lung cancer/ whateverelsediseasel, surely a sugar or HFCS or carb tax wouldn't go amiss?

I get very uncomfortable when I hear people talking about a "sugar tax", or a "fat tax", or minimum pricing on alcohol.

I don't believe it would significantly change people's eating habits and it would just make food and drink more expensive for everyone, whether they eat sensibly or not.  The only beneficiaries would be the retailers and the government.

Sambostar

Yeah but I thought the point was it was a tax on the fat, so in theory automated digital scales at the self serve checkout or cashier will adjust your shopping bill surcharge accordingly, depending on how fat inducing your purchases are and how much you weigh in at.

If you fail to stand on the weighbridge properly or are fat and have long arms you take a bolt gun, no questions asked and you are made into burgers,.

holnrew

TinLip said:

There has been a lot of fattie hating in this thread. Let us all not forget that fat bird we shagged because we were drunk and thought our mates wouldn't find out. The fat ones are always grateful because they never know when they are going to get it next.

I was with her for four years...

Sambostar

Fat really doesn't matter when it comes to attraction, at least for me.  I just can't take criticism from a fat woman about my own state of health when I'm burning 3000 calories a day and they just......aren't..

chillidoggy

Had anyone actually seen Sambostar? No? Then he's probably a fat bastard.

Forge

The government hits smokers in the wallet big time as apparently we're a burden on the NHS....isn't it time to slap a five quid tax on each burger then? It is too cheap to eat badly.

Evilmags

Too cheap to eat? Hmmm. Left wing, interventionist types who claim their hearts are so weighed down by the plight of the poor (and obesity is clearly an issue of social class in every nation where it is a problem) that they want to make their food more expensive. How the hell can you justify legal intervention in what people are allowed to eat while at the same time letting them vote?

If people want to be fat and unattractive then let them. Given that the same social class would have been frequently starving 200 years ago it is a sign of progress. Eventually the shorter life spans, less attractive partners and less mobility might sink in.

As for disability. Seems pretty insulting to the genuinely disabled.