ZooOlogy

[Ganzo]

A 29-stone New York woman says she was humiliated when she was told to go to a zoo for an x-ray.

Jennifer Walters is bed-ridden and cannot fit into a magnetic resonance imaging machine.

She told the New York Post that a doctor said she should go instead to the Bronx Zoo for an x-ray.

"It's humiliating. I was told if elephants and hippos need MRIs, they have the equipment at the Bronx Zoo. It was like I was an animal," she said.

New York politicians recently called for an end to what they termed medical discrimination against obese people.

The Bronx Zoo told the Post it gets about a dozen such calls a year but it doesn't have such facilities for its animals.

[Martrae]

Here's a thought...don't get as fat as an elephant and it's a non-issue.

[Jimmy Durante]

Good to see the big and beautiful not giving up the good fight.

http://www.naafa.org/

[brinstar]

in fact, if i get so fat that i can't get up in the morning and look straight down and see my penis, I'M TOO FUCKIN SCARED TO EAT ANYTHING

[kaharthemad]

ok lets see here...how exactly were they supposed to get her fatass into the scanner?
I got a hint for ya honey...LAY OFF THE FUCKING TWINKEES

[Gidan]

How is it that people can let themselves get that large and then blame everyone else for their problems.

Oh yeah, maybe is commercials like the ones that say "Diets not working? well its not your fault"

Maybe they should be saying, "Get your ass on a tredmill and stop eating shit".

[Narrock]

So now the fatso is gonna sue for millions of dollars because her feelings are hurt. Pathetic.

[Gidan]

The sad thing is that she will win.

[Darcler]

I was watching 'Untold Stories of the E.R.' the other night and there was a 600lb man who came in, they had to request a doublewide ambulance, they have to bring him in on his King sized matress, it took 8 grown men to move him, but they needed a back brace to transport him to ICU. They couldnt fit him on a gurney, the matress was too big to fit through the doors, so they had to order a brace from the zoo that they use on elephants and rhinos and such. I felt sorry for him, but then I didnt.

[Ginzburgh]

Well, it doesn't excuse the fact that they said she looked like an elephant.

I don't know if that's actually how it went down but that is what SHE said.

But you're right, if she had some self control it'd be a non-issue.

I watched some show the other day about a fat girl. Her parents had to put a gate around their home or else she would wander through the streets eating food out of people's garbage. When the ice-cream truck passed, she stood in her front yard and shook the gate and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her parents had to put locks on every cabinet in their house.

She did however have a hot sister.

[Ginzburgh]

Oh and...

DIETING AND THE DIET INDUSTRY

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HISTORY/EXISTING CONDITION:

The term "diet" within this policy refers exclusively to weight reduction diets. "Dieting" is defined as any attempt to achieve or maintain lower body weight by intentionally limiting or manipulating the amount or type of food intake. Weight reduction diets include medically supervised diets; self-administered diets; commercial diet organizations and centers; weight-loss support groups or behavior modification programs; "fad" diets; "sensible, well-balanced" diets; in-hospital fasts; very-low-calorie diets (VLCDs); prepackaged food plans; and diets supplemented by drugs or artificial food products or supplements.

"Dieting" does not refer to attempts to lower fat sugar, salt, or cholesterol intake, increase fiber intake, exercise or pursue a medically mandated nutritional regimen prescribed for specific medical conditions. Weight-loss diets have long been promoted as a permanent cure for "obesity," although they rarely produce long-lasting or permanent results. According to existing medical research, fewer than five percent of all dieters succeed in losing a significant amount of weight and maintaining that weight loss over a five-year period. Ninety percent of all dieters regain some or all of the weight originally lost and at least one-third gain more. In recent years, an increasing body of research has substantiated this diet failure rate and acknowledged genetic and physiological factors in the determination of body size.

Although these statistics apply to all types of diets, even those considered "sensible," physicians continue to prescribe weight-loss diets as a viable treatment for fat patients; and researchers, the media, and the diet industry continue to urge fat people to resist their body's natural predisposition and struggle harder to lose weight. As diet failure rates become widely publicized, some "experts" pretend to abandon "dieting" and encourage their clients to "just eat less and exercise more."

Promoting diets and diet products is a major industry in the United States. According to Marketdata Enterprises, the annual revenue for the diet industry was over $30 billion dollars in 1990. This figure includes money spent on diet centers and programs, group and individual weight-loss, diet camps, prepackaged foods; over-the-counter and prescription diet drugs; weight-loss books and magazines; and physicians, nurses, nutritionists, and other health professionals specializing in weight-loss (total 1990 revenue - $8 billion); commercial and residential exercise clubs with weight-loss programs (total 1990 revenue - $8 billion); and sugar-free, fat-free, and reduced calorie ("lite") food products, imitation fats and sugar substitutes (total 1990 revenue - $14 billion).

The diet industry's advertising and marketing strategy is based on the creation and perpetuation of fear, biases, and stereotypes. Fat people are portrayed as unhealthy, unattractive, asexual, weak-willed, lazy, and gluttonous. Weight loss or a thin figure are equated with virtue, health, and success. Failure to participate in dieting or lack of success in losing weight are blamed on a lack of willpower or determination and a lack or moral values. Fat people are taught to feel guilty and blame themselves for
the failures of weight-loss programs, and to expect and accept rejection, mistreatment, and discrimination regarding their weight. This negative media campaign has a devastating impact on millions of fat people. These messages lower fat people's self-esteem and foster discontent, self-doubt, and self-hatred, especially during the weight regain state of the dieting "yo-yo" cycle.

Diet promoters also emphasize dieting's supposed health benefits and minimize risks related to dieting. People of all sizes are misled about the extent and severity of the health risks associated with being fat and are told that being thin is the only way to good health, and that dieting makes people thin. Many health problems traditionally attributed to "obesity," such as high blood pressure, heart problems, high cholesterol, and gallbladder problems, are often caused by the dieting process itself. Recent studies indicate that repeated "yo-yo" dieting may actually reduce one's life span rather than increase longevity.

Currently there are very few controls or regulations to inform and protect the dieting consumer. Weight loss "success" is only vaguely defined using short-term results, and weight loss "failure is always blamed on the consumer, and health risks are not disclosed. The few regulations that do exist are rarely, or at most, loosely enforced.


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NAAFA'S OFFICIAL POSITION:

Since reducing diets rarely achieve permanent weight loss and can result in negative health consequences, since laws and regulations protecting the consumer are nonexistent or remain unenforced, and since people undertaking diets are rarely given sufficient information to allow them to give true informed consent, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance strongly discourages participation in
weight-reduction dieting. Further, NAAFA strongly condemns any diet marketing strategy based on guilt and fear. Such approaches cause untold suffering to fat people by ruining their self-esteem and by perpetuating negative stereotypes. NAAFA demands that local, state, and federal governments regulate the diet industry to protect the consumer from misleading claims regarding safety and long-term effectiveness.

[labbats]

I think people are getting wiser to the "poor me" people of the world. At least I hope so.

[Ginzburgh]

Yeah, at least the DJ's on our local radio show who never really hate on anyone were expressing their disgust for this situation this morning.