Fat in the news

I usually don't comment on national and international news stories in this space, but there's been such a glut of bizarre fat people news in the last few days,that I feel compelled to, um, weigh in on the subject today.

Item 1: A gang in Peru is accused of killing dozens of people and rendering their fat to sell to European cosmetics companies as an ingredient in wrinkle cream. Apparently liquid human fat sells for thousands of dollars a pound. I promise you that this is absolutely true!

This is crazy, especially since Peruvians generally aren't all that big. Why don't those cosmetics companies just buy the leftover fat drained from liposuction patients here in the US? There should be more than enough to smooth out every wrinkle in France, Germany and Italy.

Item 2: A South Carolina man who weighed somewhere between 550 and 900 pounds (reports vary) died this week after not leaving his recliner for eight months. Rescue workers had to cut the man out of the chair and reported that he had a nasty odor. No surprise there. Again, this is a real story.

No one loves their La-Z-Boy more than I, but even I have a limit on how much time I spend in my recliner.

Item 3: Five counties in Alabama (the home state of this blog and its author) and Mississippi reported the highest rates of obesity in the nation. About 44 percent of the residents of these five counties are obese. Yikes!

If any of you notice an influx of Peruvian immigrants to Alabama or Mississippi, please notify Homeland Security.

Personally, I don't believe these numbers. Sure, we've got more than our share of fatties here in the Deep South (including yours truly), but have you ever been to Illinois or Indiana? I'm just saying.

Item 4: A nightclub in Long Beach, California called Club Bounce (really!) caters specifically to fat people and is doing very well.

I bet Club Bounce has a great buffet.


Item 5: Here are the first three paragraphs of recent New York Times article that I saw a few days ago. I still can't believe this is real.

Marilyn Wann (pictured here) is an author and weight diversity speaker in Northern California who has a message for anyone making judgments about her health based on her large physique. “The only thing anyone can accurately diagnose by looking at a fat person is their own level of stereotype and prejudice about fat,” said Ms. Wann, a 43-year-old San Franciscan whose motto in life is also the title of her book: “Fat! So?”

Hers has been an oft-repeated message this summer and fall by members of the “fat pride” community, given that the nation is in the midst of a debate about health care. That debate has, sometimes awkwardly, focused its attention on the growing population of overweight and obese Americans with unambiguous overtones: fat people should lose weight, for the good of us all.

Heavier Americans are pushing back now with newfound vigor in the policy debate, lobbying legislators and trying to move public opinion to recognize their point of view: that thin does not necessarily equal fit, and that people can be healthy at any size.

Good grief, people! Have we really come to the point where a "weight diversity speaker" can represent the "fat pride community"? We're doomed.

Speaking as a member of the "fat shame community", this week's news has been enough to renew my resolve to drop enough pounds to get under that evil 30 BMI mark once and for all. I lost quite a bit of weight during the first few months of the BYE, but the needle on my bathroom scale has been stuck lately. It's time for me to get back after it.

So let's all enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey next week and also the mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. Then, let's hit that treadmill with a vengeance or work off all those extra calories at Club Bounce.