The U.S is one of the most overweight, if not, THE most overweight nation on the planet. So ,why are we still so ignorant about it? The majority of us give zero consideration to someone who has gained a significant amount of weight other than to assume they must be shoving cakes and cookies in their face...taking breaks, in between, only to breathe, chug down a milk shake, or pour some more maple syrup on their French fries!!!! (What? You don't assume "heavy" people pour tons of maple syrup over everything they eat? Sure you do.). On the other end of the spectrum, just because someone is skinnier than Kate Moss pre-rehab, doesn't mean they are eating nothing but peanut butter on celery sticks or they binge and barf their brains out! You can offend a skinny person just as easily by commenting on their weight as you can a woman who is overweight. Which, depending on how many magazines you look at or how much television you watch, "overweight" is debatable.
For instance, I once met a woman who was so skinny there had to be something wrong with her. It was scary. She drew attention to the obvious fact of being too thin...I froze. (My first instinct is to try to make the person I'm talking to feel good about themselves...Now, I am by no means saying everyone signs up for that philosophy but that's a blog for another day). The first words that flew out of my mouth without even thinking were "You ARE so thin...I bet you can eat anything you like and not gain a pound!". Why did I say that? Why could I not have simply said..."You look great!". I'll tell you why, because she didn't. Although, my nature, as I stated, is to make people feel comfortable, I'm not going to lie to them in order for that to happen. Her response..."Unfortunately", ("Unfortunately", of course, meaning to me "Uh-oh...here it comes")..."Unfortunately, you're right!" she said, "I have a disease which does not allow my body to absorb any protein and effects everything from my metabolism to my internal organs. Its a curse and I could die from it."...Ouch! I was not expecting that!!!! Regrouping, I respond with "That must be very difficult". She agreed, and the rest of our meeting went smoothly as we had been making "small talk" during a business transaction. (See how easily this happens?). When we parted ways, I wished her well and told her I hope her new round of medications are the answer to her prayers. She thanked me with assurance that she knew I was only trying to be nice and we said our goodbyes. Phew... So I ask...how many of you would have looked at a severely underweight woman and thought "Give that girl a burger!"? Come on...Don't lie. Most of you have thought that very phrase and even said it out loud to the person next to you once or twice (or five) times! On the flip side...How many times have you looked at an overweight person and thought "Step away from the burgers!" Or, let me rephrase the question. How many times has the thought crossed your mind this or that person may have a metabolic disorder, hypo or hyper thyroid issue, or a dozen other things going on internally from disorders to side effects of medication? I bet not as many times as my previous two occurring reactions.
How many of you have heard people say all type II diabetics need to do is lose weight and they will get better?...Really? Most of the people, (myself included), I know that either are diabetics or have A1C levels inevitably staring them in the proverbial face are actually skinny! (Ok...maybe I'm not skinny anymore lol...but, after having two babies, I can actually look at the scale and not want to throw myself off a bridge!). What am I getting at? We all need to clear our minds of pre-conceived notions as far as body type. Stop asking people "When are you due?" only to have that person say "I'm not pregnant" when really they want to scream at the top of their lungs "I have Cancer you A$%!!!" And stop accusing your friend of starving herself because she has "dropped weight too quickly" (and your a little jealous because you are starving yourself and going to the gym six days a week only to lose 10 lbs!!! You know who you are...lol...and that's ok...We all are guilty of it). But maybe it wouldn't be so hard to, forgive me, swallow, if you understood a few things. Like, that, in actuality, your friend's endocrinologist has finally found the correct blend of medications to get their thyroid, (which had been too busy fighting an autoimmune disorder) working properly and the weight just fell off!!!
How do I sum this up with a neat bow? With body image distortion afflicting many of us, genetics being a major factor on body type, and everyone and their mother giving their "personal opinions" to people without a medical degree...Let us all drop our preconceptions...Compliment people for who they are and leave their outer and inner business to the doctors!
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