Good Foods, Bad Foods
So, you may have heard about the ridiculous bill being proposed in Mississippi that would weigh people at the doors of restaurants and then refuse service to the obese. Because fat people should be prohibited from eating entirely, obviously. GREAT IDEA!
A suggestion has now been made to modify the bill and apply it only to children—and I guess, not allow children to order anything over 500 calories. Harriet Brown says:
What’s the cutoff here? 500 calories = OK, 600 calories = instant obesity?… Do we really want a double quarter pounder with cheese to become the Holy Grail of a generation of children?
Rachel’s post today about cupcakes also addresses the dangers of demonizing food.
And as eating disorder therapist Matthew Tiemeyer reports, when parents label foods as bad and off-limits, or ban certain foods outright, the practice is usually bound to backfire. Not only does restricting food increase the desire for the food, it also encourages binging and eating in secret…
A healthy relationship with food requires us to separate how we feel from what we eat. We are not “good” if we order the salad, nor are we “bad” if we order the pizza. What we eat defines who we are no more than the numbers on the scale determine our self-worth.
I agree completely that we shouldn’t assign moral values to foods, and I also am appalled that anyone would actually propose a bill BANNING FAT PEOPLE FROM EATING. For those people who think fat is in any way considered acceptable in the world, we’ll call this Exhibit A.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Eating Disorders, Fatism, Food, Kids
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I have seen several people saying it isn’t really about fat people – it’s about poor people. And I just boggle because, for reals, this is SO OBVIOUSLY about fat people! ARGH!
Why not weigh us at the grocery store too, then only let us purchase rice cakes and celery.
Why dont they just impose a mandatory wiring of your mouth for those who are obese? Then we could all drink ensure and waste away to nothing. When that happens, then they can take the braces off and let us start all over again?
I read about this yesterday and I still can’t believe it. My father was from Mississippi, and it boggles my mind that if this bill passed I would not be able to eat in a restaurant there. I am 5’7″ 205 pounds and “obese” according the BMI standard.
Of course if this story ever hit the MSM, they would be sure to illustrate it with the largest person they could find, probably someone over 400 pounds, even there are few such individuals.
Most people have no idea of what the BMI classifies as “overweight” or “obese” and think that it only applies to extremely heavy people.
I think it’s interesting, Micki, that mainstream media ISN’T covering this. I mean, it isn’t exactly a secret, you know?
I think the reason why the mainstream media isn’t covering it is because it has no chance whatsoever of passing, and the bill’s sponsor has said as much.
I wrote a letter to the bill’s presenters. It’s not the most brilliant thing ever, but anyone reading this can copy it and send it off to them. At the very least, their inboxes should be filled with reminders of the atrociousness of their actions.
Their email addresses are: ‘tmayhall@house.ms.gov’; ‘bshows@house.ms.gov’; ‘jread@house.ms.gov’.
Representatives Mayhall, Shows, and Read:
I am writing in opposition to House Bill 282.
As members of the Mississippi House of Representatives, you are duty bound to not only uphold the Mississippi Constitution, but to represent your constituency, many of whom, assuredly, are fat. You have failed on both counts by introducing the above bill. Instead, you have shown your support for hate-mongering, discrimination, and representing the interests of the pharmaceutical lobby above the needs of your own constituency.
If you are really concerned about the health of Mississippians, why not support subsidies for organic farmers, work to improve the quality of school lunches, increase after school programs, support governmental programs that might allow people to work less and spend more time preparing healthy meals, etc.?
Even though the list of bills that one could support to help people live healthier lives is nearly endless, you chose to support a bill of which your lobbyists would approve. Whether it passes or not, you have given free advertising to the pharmaceutical companies. You’ve helped herald the message that being fat is so dangerous and socially unacceptable that fat people must take pharmaceuticals or get surgery (since all fat people know that dieting, and even healthy eating and exercise, does not make most of us thin) if we want to be seen in public.
Remember that you are representatives of a state with a long history of supporting discrimination against its own citizens. This bill is no exception. I would urge you to retract that bill as a step toward continuing to free Mississippi from that history.
It’s kind of funny, really. It’s sort of like saying that fat people only eat junk food at restaurants, and once that avenue is cut off, they’ll magically become thin again.
I eat out maybe once or twice a week, if I’m lucky. When I do, it’s usually at a pizza place with a social club I’m a member of, and I got tired of eating the pizza there months ago. (One pizza, divided by four or five people, doesn’t hold as many calories per person as the entire frozen or home-made pizza I could make in my kitchen.) Now, I’m just as likely to eat a tuna sandwich or a Asian chicken salad for variety. If I eat out more than that, it’s usually at an ethnic or vegetarian restaurant.
I eat what tastes good, and for me, it usually isn’t greasy, calorie laden fast food, it’s usually spicy Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Ethiopian food. I would boggle the minds of Mississippi lawmakers, because I’m still fat. I’m also healthy, happy, loved, and intelligent enough to pick out my own foods. My family even trusts me to use my own knife and fork.
To borrow a phrase from Shapely Prose:
*headddesk!*
This blows my mind. Absolutely blows my mind. According to this bill, I would be legitimately turned away (ney, I would have to be turned away) from dining at an establishment because of my BMI, which is 130 according to the state.
Does it matter that I’m also a runner? Does it matter that I take my nutritional health seriously and exercise 10 – 15 hours a week? Does it matter that I’m an award winning Athena triathlete?
No. Because according to laws like this (and insurance statistics and longevity charts and my own healthcare practitioner) I am obese and in need of regulating (and higher insurance races and lectures about calorie consumption). I couldn’t possible make my own consumption decisions without their thoughtful guidance. Not only am I blessed with genes that make it hard to reach the top shelf and find a properly fitting jog bra, I also get the joy of handing over my dining choices to the state of Mississippi. For my own good, of course.
What a public health and legislative embarassment. Mayhall should be ashamed.
Based on where this bill originated and who wrote it, I think this is really about anti-smoking legislation – a protest bill that is equating the “choice” to eat in public while fat to the “choice” to smoke in public while addicted.
I understand anti-smoking legislation; as an asthmatic and an ex-smoker it’s very difficult for me to be around cigarettes, and I can understand the effects of second-hand smoke.
But to see that same logic applied to this is absolutely abominable.
I’d support a flat-out ban on high-fructose corn syrup before I’d support the right to forbid people from eating just because of their looks.
That’s appalling.
Bellesouth, just to be crystal-clear: I don’t agree with the equation, but I think that’s the intention – to present a ridiculous contravention of the right to free assembly for people based on appearance, and then to slyly claim that restricting smoking in public is “the same thing.” We’ll see. I’m just guessing.
If this passed, wouldn’t it ruin the restaurant industry in the state of Mississippi? Wouldn’t they have to turn 1/2 of their prospective customers away?
Boy, I’ll bet take out would become really popular. Would pizza delivery people be required to go door to door with a scale?
The absurdity is just overwhelming!
This is, plain and simple, what I like to term Nanny Statism. Since adults won’t take too kindly to having themselves re-parented, the state takes the well-worn route of “Well, you’re not doing a good enough job parenting, because if you did your kids wouldn’t be fat fatties. Hence, we will regulate their eating for you.”
Don’t people get it? Can’t you all see that, from the growing food restrictions/weight-oriented regulations and programs in public schools, to the state refusing adoptions based on weight, to now the state regulating what your obese child can or cannot eat from Mickey Dee’s, they’re driving themselves as a wedge between yourself and your child, if you and/or your child happens to be fat?
This is an outrage. We don’t need to rail against Fattism, we need to rail against the tools of the Fattists — Nanny Statism.
EDIT for above — We don’t need to rail *just* against Fattism. Sorry!
Yeah, you know.. I think a better bill would be one trying to get a law passed to require restaurants to have their nutrition information readily available where you don’t have to ASK for it or go to their freaking website.
Let people make the choice! They think they’d be doing this HUGE favor not letting people eat out “for their own good” but really a much better favor would be providing me with enough information to KNOW if what I’m eating is something I wanna eat or not.
Ginger – I re-read the story and it does seem that your assessment is correct.
It looks that he doesn’t want it passed – just to toss around a ridiculous idea.
I sent an email to Susan Speed, the executive director of the Mississippi Tourist Association.
Dear Ms. Speed:
I am writing to you about the bill currently in the Mississippi legislature that would ban “obese” people from restaurants in Mississippi. If your organization is truly interested in promoting tourism in Mississippi, you and your colleagues need to oppose this law.
My father was born and raised in Gunnison, Mississippi. Yet if this bill passed I could not visit his hometown and eat in a restaurant there because I am 5’7″, 205 pounds and am considered “obese” by the BMI standard. In fact, over two thirds of Americans would be classified as “overweight” or “obese.”
This story has made Mississippi an object of ridicule and is detrimental to your state’s image. Why would anyone want to visit Mississippi if they can’t eat a meal without harassment?
Again I urge you to oppose this ill-advised law. Thank you.
Sincerely
Micki Chevalier
We’ve got a round table discussion of this very bill on today’s Daily Special:
http://www.elasticwaist.com/elastic_waist/2008/02/the-daily-spe-1.html
I can’t even believe that someone suggested redirecting this bill to children… Hey, let’s just raise an entirely new generation of diet conscious, body-loathing fat phobes! YEAH! Not to mention that restricting a child’s diet is dangerous. They NEED fat, and they NEED carbs. They need this stuff to grow and develop! What is WRONG with people??
Can you imagine if that actually passed? 18 years old in the US wouldn’t just mean, “I get to join the army, call 1-800 numbers, buy cigarettes, and vote now!” “Eating out” would be added to the list. “I’m 18! I can order a hamburger!”
Absolute BULLSHIT…
What if everyone with a BMI of 30 or higher in Mississippi held a 3 day boycott of restaurants in honor of house bill no. 282?
I’m pretty sure the restaurant industry would scream and beg for mercy.
Why 3 days, you ask? Because who could stand to go longer than that without eating out?
This is such a ridiculous waste of time and money. I’m amazed at how many people don’t see a problem with this. I was accused last night of “taking it personally”. Discrimination is personal. It’s just another attempt to segregate fat people from society. And now to attack children? They get enough ridicule as it is. Now they can’t go out and eat with their friends… sheesh.
If you can stand to watch MeMe Roth again, she was on Fox with Justin from CCF taking stating how ridiculous this bill is.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3551
Is MeMe a paid Fox employee?
i live in mississippi, and trust me, if they refuse to serve the obese, ALL the restaurants would be empty. i weigh 285, and there have been times i was the skinnest person in the dining room- besides my skinny husband, who brought this fact to my attention.
the issue with obesity and smokers being on the same level is absurd. no one will ever get fat if i eat an entire cheesecake in front of them, but i might get cancer from 2nd hand smoke. just ask my dead grandmother who got lung cancer from her husband’s 4 pack a day habit.
Well, well, well, well, well!!!!!!!!!! It appears that Merc (company that bozo used to work for) was involved in a scandal involving overbilling of medicaid that came to light. So, lets scapegoat obesity so no one will even notice how they ripped off the government. The best con men create distractions. They blind people with their own vulnerability so they never even look in their direction.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6985#comment
America, you can pull the wool from over your eyes now!