I think how you look at fatness depends on how fat you are, how fat you have been. I don’t think it matters one bit whether you are fat or not. Who cares? What worries me is fat people who refuse to admit that in order to have a fit, strong body you need to put in some serious work. Hot bodies do not get the way they are by accident. And there are such things as bodies that are hot, and bodies that are not. Our society has made this fact big business. It is a problem for some people to accept that ‘hot’ exists. It is real. Men and women respond to it, alike. I think it is essential to give credit where credit is due and to me it is hats off to every single person who eats with care and conditions their body. Simple. That is discipline. If you should choose not to spend any hours exercising, then that is your lifestyle choice. You are entitled to live any way you wish, but you must be happy with the you that your type of living produces. Some people have no desire to be active, or to be thin. I salute these people – the ones who don’t give a shit about their size because they do not equate a ‘better’ self with a thinner self. Theirs’ is a confidence, a kind of freedom that is to be admired – particularly in our über air-brushed world. I salute, too, the people who are addicted to endorphins. An exercise addiction in this world is not the worst addiction to have.
It is really important to understand that obesity is bad for you. If you can, stay on the smaller side of obese. It is one step too far. Unless you have a death-wish, in which case your health will not matter to you and you will carry on until you die. If you are addicted to food and you want to stop eating, you need treatment for your addiction like any addict needs treatment for their addiction. Please see this. Addiction is treatable. Perhaps, too, you need some unconditional love to fill the hole in your soul that you are stuffing with food. That particular hole can eat. A lot of people eat to escape how they feel. Others eat because the pleasure makes them feel temporarily alive. People eat to pass the time, too. Eating and boredom are good friends. If you are one of the people who is in love with the delights of eating – and passionate about everything food and cooking – then you will not want to stay away from it and you should not. Celebrate your passion: drown yourself in sensation.
Please do not make children obese. That is child abuse. It has nothing to do with aesthetics – it is just not fair. Your issues should not be theirs’. Know that comfort-eating is a habit, learned. It can be unlearned. If you should believe that showing love means feeding your children until they burst, then take a long objective look at any over-large child’s achievements in a competitive playground. If you do not care whether your child achieves anything in life, then that is a problem. Realise that as the parent of an obese child, you are misguided. You have a dysfunctional relationship with food. Please give your children a chance in their world. Like it or not, their world is body-conscious. Give your child self-esteem, encourage fitness, wellness. Don’t relegate a child to a place where it is first in line to be ridiculed. Remember, kids are cruel.
C.J. Birch
C.J. Birch 