I appreciate the plight of people who are fat and get hostile reactions from the public in general. The problem with telling Fat people to accept themselves for who they are and be happy, is that a great number of Fat people are over weight and unhealthy because they eat to fill an emotional void. Their problem can't be solved through dieting, they need help beyond the physical. But, hearing everything is okay, relax, accept yourself, is like an enabler offering drinks to an alcoholic, it's dangerous.
As someone who turned to food when his personal life became miserable, gained 65 pounds and became more miserable every day, I know the lure of the easy way out. I made big life decisions, started to run, lost 67 pounds, and feel better now than I felt at 20 years of age. I'm 46, and have been back to my healthy weight for 6 years now. When my emotional health became better, the desire to over eat disappeared. The people who called me Fat were a blessing in disguise and correct in their assumption I wasn't happy.
The current view of Fat people may be harsh, but doing what is right is never the easy thing to do.

Thanks, Q people, for having Kate Harding on your show. I've followed the "fat-o-sphere" for the last several years and in fact have already read her book (co-written, it should be reiterated, with Marianne Kirby, who writes her own blog called The Rotund).

The book is an excellent primer for folks who are new to the idea of fat/body acceptance, whether you are fat or thin. That said, I'm not some kind of uncritical flunky -- there are issues with Kate Harding being labeled, as Jian noted, "Queen of the Fatosphere," as she is very white, middle class, and not actually that fat.

The fact remains, though, that issues of fatness and body are extremely complicated.

The worst part about the media's constant onslaught of "obesity epidemic" stories is that it gives ammunition to those who want their fat-hate legitimized. For many people, saying "You should not be fat because I find fat unattractive" is not as socially acceptable as "You should not be fat because it's bad for your health." So much hatred is wrapped in the guise of caring about fat people's health.

I'm hesitant to even respond to Rob's comment because I'm suspicious he might be a troll or at the least he's so poisoned by the mainstream perspectives on body and health that any meaningful communication between him and me is impossible. But I can't let this slide:

"The people who called me Fat were a blessing in disguise and correct in their assumption I wasn't happy. "

I don't consider "fat" a derisive term, but I'm going to assume Rob does and respond as follows: fat haters out there, you are NOT a blessing in disguise. You are perpetrators of hate, plain and simple. You are NOT correct in your assumption that people who are fat are necessarily unhappy, emotionally unbalanced, depressed, etc. When you look at a fat person, all you can tell from their appearance is that they have an abundance of adipose tissue. That is ALL. You cannot diagnose diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure or any other pathological condition based on their appearance alone.

Having an eating disorder /= being fat.

Some people with binge eating disorder will, indeed, lose weight as a side effect of normalizing their eating. But these do not represent all, or even necessarily most, fat people. Even then, the weight loss is a side-effect of the treatment, not its ultimate goal.

The goal is to be healthy, both in mind and body. Healthy people come in all shapes and sizes.

The world is so twisted - as on one hand it tells you that you are not good enough (just to sell a product or prop up our fragile ego's by stepping on others), and on the other, it promotes consumption of portions that are excessively large and laden with fat and sugar.

I can't help feel the focus on the diet-of-the-day and extreme workouts is just equally unhealthy over reaction to this constant onslaught of being told we are not good enough. (People of all sizes really)

That being said, I think the challenge here is promoting that larger people are not necessarily more unhealthy, while also acknowledging that for many people their increase in weight as of late is a reasonable indicator that their consumption and activity patterns are no in balance.

Perhaps if we are more accepting of different body sizes and types, we can also accept when we are not living consciously and in alignment with our own bodies.

OH Please!!!! she says there is no obesity crisis! PFFFFFFFFFF! this woman has exactly the entitled attitude that has always turned me off about unhappy, bitter, jealous fat people. For the record, I dislike unhappy, bitter, and jealous people who aren't fat just as emphatically.

Being overweight is unhealthy. There is no other way to cut it. If you are not losing weight, and you are exercising, then you are eating too many calories (stress: even if you are exercising).

It is this simple: if you consume fewer calories than you use, then you lose weight. You can eat whatever you want to do this, but the healthier the better.

Fat people will be judged for being fat. It's human nature. I am sick of hearing that it is out of their control. It isn't. It takes time.

Thank you Kate for being so brave and thank you Jian for bringing this topic to the mainstream.
Kate what you said about Oprah is so true. Some of us are born with bodies that want to survive the famine ... the more we diet, the more our body fights us ... if in fact what Rob says is true, we eat to fill a void because we are unhappy, then Fat hate only serves to escalate that ... and who is happy in this society??? All that dieting does is give us a sense that we have acheived some control over our lives ... and as Kate said, if Oprah with all her money, her personal trainer, her personal chef can't keep the weight off ... how can the average person whose struggling to raise children, go to work and pay the bills have a chance.
And YES ... Fat hatred is the last form of legitimate discrimination ...

Well, actually, Kate has some science to learn, yet, but she's not far off. The process of storing fat is a secondary evolutionary aspect to surviving a famine. We do not simply store fat and therfore, live. Instead,the endocrine system learns to evaluate food chemistry and registers it in form of insuline distribution. As the result of refined carbohydrate and sugar-laden diets ( Fats are not relevant to any of the issues involving fat or insulin production of the body) insulin production does at the same time 1. cause the cells to store fat and 2. create sugar intolerance due to insuline instability which results from the taking in of refined carbs and sugars.

This is not famine tolerance. It is the opposite. Famine tolerance, in in fact, the healthy 20 lbs over the established norm which comes from a balanced diet, adequate rest, escercise, love, laughter and friends. These are statistics from a 30+ yr. study in Sweden, establishing that people in this lifestyle and weight range out-live thin people and normal weighted people,even when excercise is taken.

However, much over that 20 lb. limit seems to bring the life expectancy down.

Also, Jian and Kate, the medical model did not give in to the "beauty myth", rather, Fashion developed its' ideal on the medicine of the 20th C and from the study of cadavors. Can I prove this? Yes, but I don't have the time or space to write the book and so, you may have to wait until some rich kid gets assigned it as a thesis.

J

Unhappy/bitter/jealous fat people? What about the self-righteous/psyhotherapy- hating/judgemntal/ultra-competative/ and dying-to-be-thinner and fitter than thou people?

Personally, I prefer the wide open plains of non-judgmental inward analysis on an open street of general acceptance as an avenue to greater self awareness and allowed expression in the open community garden of univeral acceptance of our varieties of equality.

I'm a personal trainer/fitness instructor and my father is a general practitioner, and we both agree that fat in many cases is genetically determined.
It's cruel and ignorant to pressure people to lose weight when they absolutely, unconditionally cannot.
Thank you Jian and Kate Harding for highlighting this fact.

Michelle C

I was quite disappointed with the Kate Harding interview. I found it both patronizing (verging on "Oprah-esque") and lacking in sufficient journalistic "due diligence". More research should have been done to provide Jian with appropriate questions and information to challenge Ms. Harding's highly suspect "medical" and "scientific" claims, assertions, and denials.

Yes, the issue of weight is incredibly complicated and laden with a generous helping of cultural attitudes and values. But by the same token, there ARE legitimate public policy and other issues associated with weight and "obesity". There is absolute unanimity among epidemiologists that excessive weight DOES have quantifiable health ramifications and consequent attendant costs--AT THE MACROSCOPIC OR COLLECTIVE LEVEL. Therefore, it is a legitimate arena for public policy discussion. The difficulty resides in having that policy discussion as dispassionately as possible and without "blaming and shaming" people who carry more weight.

I even understand why airlines may want to charge large people more for a ticket--the problem lies in the crudeness and bluntness of the instrument. Airlines are--for better or worse--in the business of carrying mass and volume over distance. Like it or not, we humans are just another form of cargo. In those terms, it is entirely reasonable for an airline to charge more for a large and heavy package and less for a small and light one. They just need to find a more refined and equitable formula for taking mass and volume into consideration when deciding how much to charge for their tickets. Again, this is a MACROSCOPIC or COLLECTIVE discussion which must take place as dispassionately and
equitably as possible.

At the MICROSCOPIC or INDIVIDUAL level, large people ARE subject to mean, malicious, and ignorant attitudes and remarks. That is reprehensible and unaccetpable. But it should not be allowed to cloud the issue or preclude legitimate policy discussion.

I DO agree with Ms. Harding that people of all sizes and shapes should try to eat healthy food and get appropriate amounts of physical activity--to be as healthy as they can be within whatever parameters they are comfortable with. I also agree with her that "diets" generally simply don't work. But it is also a simple and undeniable truth that the relationship between caloric input and caloric output is the absolute bottom line. If you consume fewer calories than you expend, you will lose weight. If the two are in balance, you will maintain weight. And if you consume more calories than you expend, you will gain weight.

How we respond, individually and collectively, to each person's balance of caloric input and output is one thing. How we respond to the aggregation of millions of people is another--and we must be mature and responsible enough to recognize the differences and to have appropriate and legitimate policy discussions without conflating the two but also without fear of "offending" any given individual.

I agree entirely with Kate Harding's views and goal, primarily because self-hatred is very detrimental to one's well being.

Having agreed with Kate, I also want to emphasize that mammals of all species have a propensity to eat whenever food is available (whether hares, squirrels, bears or other "seasonal weight-gainers, -losers"). Fifteen minutes of caloric intake can carry us for several days. Repeated, hour-long chow-downs can carry us as well as stow calories away for a rainy day. Except in our society, “rainy day” access to food never occurs.

Historically, disease, pestilence, war, and famine have kept human populations in check and access to calories was "seasonal" until societies established widespread food preservation & storage.

Now however, these past few thousand years, particularly in abundant societies and affecting affluent individuals alike, humankind has had "too much access" to food: bazaars, marketplaces, super-sized stores, restaurants, highly processed foodstuffs, and even mobility, pantries and refrigerators increased caloric access.

Although obesity is a complex mechanism that isn't resolved simply by diet & exercise, "unrelenting access to calories" is the fiercest barrage faced by species that have innate propensity to hoard & gather.

If you examine the strong correlation between opulence, affluence (the ability to hoard economic resources) and obesity (the propensity to hoard caloric resources) there is a lesson in it.

The bottom line is that being fat is as much about relenting to one's own hoarding compulsions, as it is about whatever Kate says about acceptance.

Sure, accept our human condition; however, in every endeavour of science and psychology, understanding its contributing factors and effects can yield to greater self awareness and philanthropic response.

For instance, Fasting for one month (whether twenty eight or forty days) every calendar year has a lot of merit from the perspective of drawing down that needless bodily caloric reserve.
Too bad, few do so.

I applaud Kate Harding for standing up and saying: not everyone is meant to be skinny. That was my take on her position.

Every person needs to be in tune with their natural shape and chemistry and inherited genes. Be healthy, eat well, exercise...and ultimately, you might be thin or fat by society's standards. Those standards are ridiculous, and we shouldn't let them give us approval or disapproval. Just know yourself, and be healthy.

Well, when I was younger, I was thin and fairly active. As got older, and am now in my 60s, I find that the arthritis and the asthma have caused me to become less physically active. No longer living in a house, with a backyard and garden, but in a one bedroom apartment (finances) has reduced the amount of physical demands of house and garden and snow removal.

The weight creeps up. Bonus is that additional weight on a woman appears to create some estrogen in the systme. Negative is that blood pressure goes up. More weight, feel less active, causing more weight.

However, recognize that I am still in charge of my life and these additional 30 pounds could be kept in line, if I joined the fitness club or headed up to the university and got a personal trainer and fitness program going.

Now, all I have to do is put that on my calendar and follow through. Alternative? Heart attack. Diet? Hey, I like my mango, guava, banana, mixed with yougurt and sprinkled with muesli at breakfast. But I also loooove my old cheddar cheese - however, enjoy it on my super grained brown bread. However, eating a salad for a meal, leaves me feeling peckish. I love salda, but as an addition, not instead of.

Glad I have an alternative to living like a rabbit. Get thee to the gymn!

Several of the comments above show that fat is the last acceptable prejudice.

Learning to accept that I'm not designed to be skinny was a long hard road for me. I spent years starving myself until I almost fainted, forcing myself to throw up after eating and that just screwed up my body-chemistry more.

I have a thyroid diagnosis, but the drugs gave me heart palpitations, interrupted sleep, tremors and other side-effects.

Since I finally learned to accept my (medically) big-boned, muscular body as it is, and my metabolism for what it is, I've been healthier and happier.

Since I've let my body determine it's natural weight (which is much more than Vogue magazine would approve), I don't fit into size 10 anymore.

As someone who has been thin, fat and has settled on in-between, let me tell you self-righteous jerks that fat people know that they are fat. Furthermore, you know nothing about their state of health until you've seen the results of their medical tests. So take your judgemental crap and stuff it.

Your cruel confrontations and rude stares, which you try to candy coat as some sore of concern about "health" do nothing more than drive fat people to avoid being in public, avoid being seen eating in public, and defiantly binge on "forbidden" foods in private. But hey, at least you're getting to indulge your petty cruelty and pat yourselves on the back while doing so.

I am overweight, but I wouldn't say my problem is anything greater than that I simply eat too much food. I am more active than most people, and I also eat far more than anyone should...all healthy foods, but far too much of them.

It really is a simple solution. The less I eat, the less weight I gain, and at a certain point I lose weight.

So boo to fat acceptance. Its just another means of justifying being lazy.

The problem is that our society encourages self hatred and destruction. I've had friends with eating disorders and it's NOT nice to witness that (unless you have NO empathy). YES, people need to take care of their health but it's really none of your business to judge a "fat" person and say their unhealthy just from looking at them. It could be the stick thin girl who has the worse health problems.. A healthy weight really is different for every person. It's ridiculous to assume that everyone is meant to be a size 2. I have friends who would be considered "overweight" but I wouldn't dream of criticizing them for it. It's really none of my business. If they want to lose weight or not it's really just their decision.
Anyway people especially women need to STOP focusing so much on what's on the outside and more on what's inside..inside their heads. Read a good book, learn to paint or play music, write a novel! I'd love to see more women developing other types of skills and forget about the diets that will never work anyway.
By the way, I used to be rail thin (people would ask if I was anorexic. NO but again it's none of your business!) since then I've gained weight and I'm happy with my new found curves.
: ) And watch the show "How to Look Good Naked" on W..great TV show!

Yeah, concern for fat people's health? what a joke! It's none of their business. As far as fat people taking up all the hospital beds and health dollar, what about all those people who have sporting accidents? Skiing, football etc etc...they fill the emergency departments every day without anyone commenting. Leave it alone and concentrate on loving other people no matter what they may look like.