We probably need a "Politics of health" thrad

[The Man]

5 Details They Cut from My Season of 'The Biggest Loser' | Cracked.com

In addition to reality TV being even more fake than you probably already think it is, this article reveals just how flat-out damaging the practices displayed on shows like this truly are, both to their contestants and the people who watch them. As far as I'm concerned they should be held legally responsible for this.

[Ari]

Which doesn't even get into the controversy surrounding the most recent season.
Turns out measuring only weight-loss in a competition with a prize for the lowest score eventually means being 0 pounds of aerogel is the ultimate top-score goal. The most recent winner lost 'too much' weight. Which is a doublestandard slap in the face when TV tells everyone that being skinny is good but careful not to be too skinny or we will pick on you as well.


It was inevitable as for pure weight loss anorexia is the most efficient way. Calorie intake reduction is way more effective at reducing total calories than trying to burn them off. The entire point of exercise (contrary to the majority of weight-loss books which thrive on their routine failing) is not to significantly reduce calories but to strength your body and metabolism which leads to a healthier body. When it comes down to pure numbers muscle is heavier than fat and becoming Rocky ripped doesn't do much to significantly lose pounds.

To end out my mini rant, I hope everyone realizes that BMI is complete and total bullshit and I wish the medical community would stop using it. It's nothing more than a slightly more medical sounding version of weight and there's no evidence its 'normal' range is healthy or even 'normal.' Multiple studies have suggested that people on the higher end of normal and into 'overweight' actually live longer on average than those on the opposite side of the scale, and yet the medical world still tells people in this longerlife range to lose weight to become healthy.

[The Man]

Fatphobia isn't about health | Skepchick

This can't possibly be repeated enough. Not only do most of the methods promoted for weight loss are actually terrible for health, but it frequently just leads to the weight being gained back and then some. The comments are worth reading too. As one of the commenters points out, several academic studies have pointed out that harassing fat people about their weight just leads the problem to get worse, and the article itself points out that shaming fat people is actually bad for their health.

[Janet]

I mentioned working out and later, one of the other jurors asked me about it. As I told her that I do one hour a day, five days a week and have for years, I watched in her face the slowly dawning realization that you can work out regularly and still weigh 300 lbs. I almost felt badly for her, but at the same time knew she and many others needed to learn it.