United Airlines to Charge Obese Passengers Double on Full FlightsCool. But I just want them to treat my light skinny little bike like everyone else's overstuffed 45 lbs bags...
United Airlines will require obese passengers bumped from full flights to purchase two seats on a subsequent flight, matching the policy of some other carriers. The change brings United in line with eight other airlines including Continental, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest. Under the new policy, obese passengers, defined as unable to lower the arm rest and buckle a seat belt with one extension belt, will still be re-accommodated, at no extra charge, to two empty seats if there is space available. If, however, the plane is full, they will be bumped from the flight and may have to purchase a second ticket, at the same price as the original fare. If the bumped passenger chooses to cancel the trip, the ticket will be refunded with no additional charge. The policy is effective immediately
Showing posts with label Fat People As A Movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fat People As A Movement. Show all posts
Fat People As A Movement: United Charges Passangers Traveling "In Bulk"
From an email I got at work from our travel agency:
Fat People As A Movement: Food Porn
Everything has a opposite. Up/Down, hot/fugly, Miami/Buffalo, socializing/triathlons, etc. Well as you all know Mel has a blog. This blog is the opposite:
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/
I have been absolutely hypnotized by this blog all day. I slowly realized that this is basically just food porn. Regular porn is for the most part nothing that you would ever actually do and would feel kinda dirty if you did - and yet you can't help but watch. Likewise for this blog and eating.
For example:
Two Pound McDonald’s Cheeseburger
Still, nothing beats Jen's Buffalo Chicken Dip from the BBQ at Claire's last night as the most amazing food I've ever had. Props to Colin (aka The Cougar-Slayer) for forwarding me this link.
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/
I have been absolutely hypnotized by this blog all day. I slowly realized that this is basically just food porn. Regular porn is for the most part nothing that you would ever actually do and would feel kinda dirty if you did - and yet you can't help but watch. Likewise for this blog and eating.
For example:
The Thunderdome: Three stacks of bacon, sausage, elk meat, onions and cheese between tortillas all topped with sour cream, two fried eggs and scallions.
Two Pound McDonald’s Cheeseburger
Bacon Wrapped French Toast Sticks Stonehenge
Ok, I would at least try all of the above.Still, nothing beats Jen's Buffalo Chicken Dip from the BBQ at Claire's last night as the most amazing food I've ever had. Props to Colin (aka The Cougar-Slayer) for forwarding me this link.
FPAAM: Friday Fun
I pulled this pic off my friend Elliot's Facebook profile. My weekend is off to a great start.
Fat People As A Movement: You Can't Fix What You Can't See
There are many disturbing aspects to this article from the BBC. I'll just highlight a few that really bother me:
Parents 'wrong' on child weight
- 6 in 10 underweight girls and 5 in 10 underweight boys did not assess their weight correctly.
- 43% of parents thought their over/underweight child was "normal".
- American Health professionals do not fare any better in determining a normal weight.
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Parents 'wrong' on child weight
Many parents overlook their child's unhealthy weight because they believe it is normal, research suggests.
Data on 2,100 Australian children found 40% of parents with an overweight or underweight child had not spotted this.
Among children, the underweight were more likely to think of themselves as average than the overweight.
The University of Melbourne researchers said parents would not act to help their children gain or lose weight if they did not see the problem.
| | We live in a society where being big is becoming far more common, and is seen as normal Tam Fry National Obesity Forum |
Child obesity is thought to be increasing fast in many countries, and experts are hunting for effective ways to intervene, both at school, and home.
The Australian research shows just how hard it could be to challenge parents' perceptions of their children.
The Melbourne researchers analysed the 2,100 children using both Body Mass Index and waist circumference, to try to establish which fell into the "underweight", "overweight" and "average" groups.
They then compared these results with the recorded perceptions of their parents.
In total 43% of parents of overweight or underweight children placed their child in the "average" bracket.
For overweight children alone, this rose to nearly half. Remarkably, a very small percentage of parents had even more extreme views, assessing an overweight child as underweight, or vice versa.
The parents of boys were less likely to make a correct assessment.
When the children themselves were asked, six out of 10 underweight girls and half of underweight boys did not assess their weight correctly.
Big society
Dr Pene Schmidt, who led the research, said: "Parents are more likely to take the necessary preventative actions if the perception of their child's weight - whether underweight or overweight - is correct."
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said that the results were "unsurprising".
He said: "There was recent research in this country which showed that a similar proportion of health professionals were unable to make the distinction.
"We live in a society where being big is becoming far more common, and is seen as normal."
He said that it was hard for health visitors and doctors to intervene if they were likely to meet a hostile response from the parent.
Fat People As A Movement: Alabama Institutes Fat Tax on State Workers
In these times of strife and division there is only one thing 2/3rds of the American Population can agree on - getting fat.
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Oh man - I almost cried with excitement when I read this article from TIME. Whether or not this is an effective or fair measure is debatable but this is certainly a step in the right direction. The epidemic of obesity is a strain on our resources and takes a toll on our national health. It is the result of a lack of education and closely tied with low-income communities where it lowers the quality of life. Measures need to be taken to address this.__________
I would like to preemptively respond to some of the arguments against the measure.
People are sometimes "born big" to quote from one opponent. However, they are not born morbidly obese. They do not have BMI's of over 30. To put that in perspective at 5'8" and 150 lbs (soaking wet) I would have to gain over 50 lbs to be obese. 50 lbs. At 3,500 calories per pound of fat that's some serious eating. We're not talking about "chubby" people here.
Again, people are not born obese, if anything they are born with glandular disorders. But 1/3 of Alabama does not have a glandular disorder. A large portion of Alabama was never educated on how to take care of themselves and the consequences of failing to do so - the rest just don't care.
Thanks to Claire for the link.
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Friday, Aug. 22, 2008
Ala. to Charge Obese State Workers
(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.
The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they'll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free.
Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight state workers who don't work on slimming down, while a handful of other states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors.
Alabama already charges workers who smoke — and has seen some success in getting them to quit — but now has turned its attention to a problem that plagues many in the Deep South: obesity.
The State Employees' Insurance Board this week approved a plan to charge state workers starting in January 2010 if they don't have free health screenings.
If the screenings turn up serious problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program, or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won't be charged. But if they don't, they must pay starting in January 2011.
"We are trying to get individuals to become more aware of their health," said state worker Robert Wagstaff, who serves on the insurance board.
Not all state employees see it that way.
"It's terrible," said health department employee Chequla Motley. "Some people come into this world big."
Computer technician Tim Colley already pays $24 a month for being a smoker and doesn't like the idea of another charge.
"It's too Big Brotherish," he said.
The board will apply the obesity charge to anyone with a body mass index of 35 or higher who is not making progress. A person 5 feet 6 inches tall weighing 220 pounds, for example, would have a BMI of 35.5. A BMI of 30 is considered the threshold for obesity.
The board has not yet determined how much progress a person would have to show and is uncertain how many people might be affected because everyone could avoid the charge by working to lose weight.
But that's unlikely — government statistics show Alabamians have a big weight problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30.3 percent are now obese, ranking the state behind only Mississippi.
E-K. Daufin of Montgomery, a college professor and founder of Love Your Body, Love Yourself, which holds body acceptance workshops, said the new policy will be stressful for people like her.
"I'm big and beautiful and doing my best to keep my stress levels down so I can stay healthy," Daufin said. "That's big, not lazy, not a glutton and certainly not deserving of the pompous, poisonous disrespect served up daily to those of us with more bounce to the ounce."
A recent study suggested that about half of overweight people and nearly a third of obese people have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while about a quarter of people considered to be normal weight suffer from the ills associated with obesity.
Walter Lindstrom, founder of the Obesity Law and Advocacy Center in California, said he's concerned that all overweight Alabama employees will get is advice to walk more and broil their chicken.
"The state will feel good about itself for offering something and the person of size will end up paying $300 a year for the bad luck of having a chronic disease his/her state-sponsored insurance program failed to cover in an appropriate and meaningful fashion," he said.
William Ashmore, executive director of the State Employees' Insurance Board, said the state will spend an extra $1.6 million next year on screenings and wellness programs, but should see significant long-term savings.
Ashmore said research shows someone with a body mass index of 35 to 39 generates $1,748 more in annual medical expenses than someone with a BMI less than 25, considered normal.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a few states offer one-time financial incentives for pursuing healthy lifestyles. Ohio workers, for instance, get $50 for having health assessments and another $50 for following through with the advice.
Arkansas and Missouri go a step further, offering monthly discounts on premiums for employees who take health risk assessments and participate in wellness programs to reduce obesity, stress and other health problems.
Alabama's new policy is drawing no objection from the lobbying group representing state workers.
Mac McArthur, executive director of Alabama State Employees Association, said the plan is not designed to punish employees.
"It's a positive," he said.
Fat People As A Movement: The Movement Is Growing (Literally)
So as much as I hate to pretend fox news is a source of anything even remotely credible I hesitantly give you the following stats from an article on their website (with the understanding that they are pulled directly from a Centers for Disease Control study). This is a ranking of the percentage of people in each state that are obese. Obesity is defined as a BMI of over 30. For a 5'9" person such as myself that translates to 203 lbs. Note there are only 40 places because some states tied - it took me a minute to figure this out :).
Since I blame our culture of obesity, with varying degrees of credibility and seriousness, for a wide range of maladies - this list is not good news for me.
1. Mississippi: 32%
2. Alabama: 30.3%
3. Tennessee: 30.1%
4. Louisiana: 29.8%
5. Arkansas: 28.7%
6. West Virginia: 29.5%
7. South Carolina: 28.4%
8. Georgia: 28.2%
9. Oklahoma and Texas: 28.1%
10. North Carolina: 28%
11. Michigan: 27.7%
12. Alaska, Missouri, and Ohio: 27.5%
13. Delaware and Kentucky: 27.4%
14. Pennsylvania: 27.1%
15. Iowa and Kansas: 26.9%
16. Indiana: 26.8%
17. North Dakota: 26.5%
18. South Dakota: 26.2%
19. Nebraska: 26%
20. Minnesota: 25.6%
21. Oregon: 25.5%
22. Arizona and Maryland: 25.4%
23. Washington: 25.3%
24. New York: 25%
25. Illinois: 24.9%
26. Maine: 24.8%
27. Wisconsin: 24.7%
28. Idaho: 24.5%
29. New Hampshire: 24.4%
30. Virginia: 24.3%
31. Nevada: 24.1%
32. New Mexico: 24%
33. Wyoming: 23.7%
34. New Jersey: 23.5%
35. California: 22.6%
36. Montana, Utah, and Washington, D.C.: 21.8%
37. Hawaii and Rhode Island: 21.4%
38. Massachusetts and Vermont: 21.3%
39. Connecticut: 21.2%
40. Colorado: 18.7%
Wooo-whee! America - you are FAT! Let's do some crunches people before we have to start reinforcing the sidewalks. Oh wait, no one else is walking anywhere apparently...
It's interesting that the largest jump by far in percentage comes from Colorado to ... well the rest of the country. Paradise? Hardly - more that 1/6 people are still obese.
I don't know what global averages are like but let me tell you the difference was noticeable when I came back from visiting Brazil last fall. It'll be interesting to see if this is the case next week when I'm in England.
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Fat People As A Movement: Obese Blamed for the World's Ills
In these times of division there is only one thing 2/3rds of the American population agrees on: getting fat.
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[Edit 06/12/08 10:30 AM EST: So normally I don't do this but I'm going to dedicate this post to someone.
Last night on the Oregon Ridge ride just after we had turned off of Falls Rd a rather large motorcyclist pulled up to Tank and I who happened to be at the front of the group at the moment. Chubbs asks us if we were 'leading this group'. I'm confused by this because there is clearly no one in front of us. Maybe he thinks there is a tour guide or something. It doesn't matter because Tons of Fun cuts to the chase and asks us what kind of 'arrogance [we] have to hold up traffic like that'. Now I'm kinda a pussy when it comes to stuff like this so I kinda just drift back but Tank and him go at it. Tank was more composed than usual in these situations and the motorcyclist was being pretty indignant and righteous.
A couple of things need to be said. First, this ride is notoriously sketchy overall and very bunchy in the early stages. We do what we can to spread out and let cars pass but with the 40 people we have at the beginning of the ride sometimes there is just no room to move. Now we ride on Falls Rd for about a 1/4M which is a fairly busy Rd. But the real problem is that about 1 in 10 drivers do not want to get within 10 ft of a cyclist. Once one of those people pulls up behind us no amount of waving from us or honking from behind will get them to pass us. The fact that the 1/4M we are on Falls is a twisty wooded section doesn't help.
But none of this matters because after the ride I was talking to Tank and he told me that our Chubby Amigo had not said what kind of 'arrogance do you have' as I had thought but rather 'what kinda of AMERICANS are you to hold up traffic like that'.
What kind of Americans?
I'm just more confused than offended to be honest. I have no idea how to answer that question for myself BUT I think the article below is a pretty good summary of what kind of American HE is. So, I dedicate this article to that angry fat man on his bike...
...who also took the time to do a u-turn up the road so he could drive by us again - middle finger righteously high in the air. I guess that's what he was in such a hurry to do.]
He can go fuck himself*****
Obese blamed for the world's ills
Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average.
They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil.
The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported.
It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m.
| | Transport and food policy and the importance of sustainable transport must not be overlooked Dr Phil Edwards, report co-author |
In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults are classed obese, twice as many as there were in the 1980s.
The team found that obese people require 1,680 daily calories to sustain normal energy and another 1,280 to maintain daily activities - a fifth more than normal.
The higher consumption of food has a two-fold effect, researchers said.
First of all the increasing demand for food, drives up production.
This means that agricultural processes are using more oil to meet demand, which contributes to the rising cost of fuel.
The cost of fuel is then passed on in the cost of food, making it more difficult for poorer areas to afford it.
Prices
What is more, the researchers said obese people are likely to rely on transport more and put more strain on that transport because of their mass, which again drives up prices and usage.
But the researchers said there was a solution.
Phil Edwards, who co-authored the article, said: "Urban transport policies that promote walking and cycling would reduce food prices by reducing the global demand for oil and promotion of a normal weight.
And they added: "Decreased car use would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Transport and food policy and the importance of sustainable transport must not be overlooked."
But Dr David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was "stretching it a bit" to blame the obese in the way that the study appeared to do.
"Really, it is discriminatory towards obese people. They are an easy target at the moment, but I think the causes of climate change and rising food prices is much more complex."
Fat People As A Movement: Gaining Weight Like Crazy?
In these times of division and uncertainty there is only one thing 2/3rds of the American population agrees on: getting fat.
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From the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Press Release:
May 7, 2008
Obesity Linked to Increased Risk for Dementia
Obesity may increase adults’ risk for having dementia, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their analysis of published obesity and dementia prospective follow-up studies over the past two decades shows a consistent relationship between the two diseases. The results are published by The International Association for the Study of Obesity in the May, 2008 issue of Obesity Reviews.
“Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between obesity and an increased risk for dementia and several clinical subtypes of the disease,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “Subjects with a healthy body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference saw a decreased risk for dementia than their counterparts with an elevated BMI or waist circumference.” Wang adds, “Preventing or treating obesity at a younger age could play a major role in reducing the number of dementia patients and those with other commonly associated illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease by up to 20 percent in the United States.”
Lead researcher May A. Beydoun, along with Wang and H.A. Beydoun attribute these findings to a systematic review of 10 previously published studies that examined the relationships between dementia or its subtypes and various measures of body fat. Based on a pooled analysis of their findings from 7 of the studies, baseline obesity compared to normal weight increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 80 percent on average. The team further concluded that being underweight also increases the risk of dementia and its subtypes. The studies cited in the meta-analysis were conducted in a number of countries, including the United States, Finland, Sweden and France, and contained middle-aged and older adults.
Previously published research defines dementia as not a single disorder, but a number of syndromes characterized by diverse behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impairments. The most common form is Alzheimer’s disease, with an estimated 5 million adults living with the disease in the United States alone.
“Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is the eighth leading cause of death among the elderly population in the United States. While more studies are needed to determine optimal weight and biological mechanisms associated with obesity and dementia, these findings could potentially decrease the number of people diagnosed with dementia and lead to an overall better quality of life,” said May A. Beydoun, a former postdoctoral research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"Obesity and central obesity as risk factors for incident dementia and its subtypes: a systematic review and meta-analysis" was written by M. A. Beydoun, H. A. Beydoun and Y. Wang.
The research was funded by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Public Affairs media contact: Natalie Wood-Wright at 410-614-6029 or paffairs@jhsph.edu.
Fat People As a Movement: The Effect of the Horomore Ghrelin
In these times of division and uncertainty there is only one thing 2/3rds of the American population agrees on: getting fat.
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Editors note:
This is the first in a new series of posts on my blog called "Fat People As A Movement" - a new phrase I've coined which I typically use like this; "I don't hate fat people, I hate fat people as a movement".
The growing obesity epidemic in our country is morbidly fascinating to me. I am aware that my training goes way beyond "staying in shape" and I hardly expect everyone to follow suit. Further weight is not the only measure of a person's health but it is linked to many emotional and physical maladies .
I have always been at least somewhat healthy and understand how my weight affects my mood, my body and my spirit. Thus, I can not fathom or understand the willful neglect of ones body.
My feelings on the subject run the gambit from disgust at overweight SUV drivers who without fail nearly run me over when I'm out for a ride or a run; to concern and pity for those without the information and means to take care of their bodies. Not to imply that all people given the information and means would make the same choices as me (hence the disgust) but many people do not even have the opportunity to make healthy decisions.
A Petty preemptive retort from the Editor:
Scott, I am aware that you and I had pretty much the same argument about 2 years ago where I was of the opinion (and you disagreed) that the overwhelming majority of people (regardless of income and education level) are obese out of willful ignorance and sloth. This may have something to do with why you now work for the Department of Public Health and I write a blog that rants about exercise. But more importantly though I have since changed my opinion I want to be clear - this in NO way makes you right.
Lastly:
I don't know how to use a semicolon.
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###
A gut hormone that causes people to eat more does so by making food appear more desirable, suggests a new report in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press. In a brain imaging study of individuals, the researchers found that reward centers respond more strongly to pictures of food in subjects who had received an infusion of the hormone known as ghrelin.
The findings suggest that the two drives for feeding�metabolic signals and pleasure signals�are actually intertwined.
�When you go to the supermarket hungry, every food looks better,� said Alain Dagher of the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University. �Your brain assigns a cost versus benefit to every food item. Now, we�ve found that it is ghrelin that acts on the brain to make food more appealing.�
Such a hedonic feeding behavior, which can occur in the absence of nutritional or caloric deficiency, may have once provided an adaptive advantage to humans, Dagher added. In our plentiful environment, however, it is likely a significant cause of obesity and its associated diseases.
Ghrelin levels are known to rise before a meal and fall afterwards, suggesting that it causes hunger and encourages eating. Indeed, Dagher noted, both lean and obese people administered ghrelin eat significantly more calories from a free-choice buffet relative to people administered a placebo. Overall, he said, acute and chronic nutritional states seem to influence naturally circulating levels of the hormone.
It has also been well established that ghrelin activates feeding through its effects on the hypothalamus, where ghrelin receptors are densely concentrated. However, ghrelin also has specific effects on many brain regions implicated in reward and motivation.
In the new study, the researchers investigated further using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain�s response to food and nonfood images following single-blinded ghrelin infusions. Twelve people viewed pictures before and after ghrelin administration, and eight others viewed the same pictures in two identical blocks without receiving ghrelin. (All participants were told they might receive ghrelin.)
Ghrelin increased the response to food pictures in several brain regions involved in the salience and hedonic incentive value of visual cues, including the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, visual areas, and striatum, the researchers found.
�Ghrelin has widespread effects,� Dagher said. �It�s not one or two brain regions, but the whole network. [After ghrelin infusion], food pictures become even more salient�people actually see them better. It influences not only visual processing, but also memory. People remembered the food pictures better when ghrelin was high.�
Treatments that disrupt these effects of ghrelin might hold promise for fighting obesity. But because they would influence the brain�s pleasure centers, Dagher suspects that they might come with side effects on mood.
Either way, the findings could have public health implications, he added.
The reward centers linked to ghrelin in the new study are also those involved in drug addiction. �That shows it�s reasonable to think of high-calorie food as having addictive potential,� Dagher said. If so, he suggests that the results could provide the basis for new policies aimed at treating fast food more like cigarettes �for instance, banning its sale in school cafeterias.
The researchers include Saima Malik of Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University in Montreal, QC; Francis McGlone of Unilever R&D, Wirral, Cheshire; and Diane Bedrossian and Alain Dagher of Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University in Montreal, QC.
This work was supported by an unrestricted research grant from Unilever PLC, Port Sunlight, UK; the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Fonds de la Recherche en Sant� du Qu�bec.
Malik et al.: �Ghrelin Modulates Brain Activity in Areas that Control Appetitive Behavior.� Publishing in Cell Metabolism 7, 400�409, May 2008. DOI 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.03.007 www.cellmetabolism.org
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A Last thought from the Editor:
NEVER go to the grocery store when you have to go to the bathroom. You will do Riverdance through the produce section and then sprint through the remaining rows in 10 min. You will buy $100 worth of the most random and useless groceries.
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