QuakerInfo.com Forum

[bradleyp]

Obviously there is likely no Friends faith based mandate about what some in certain circles, the medical field, the media etc., call the problem of modern people being overweight. But I feel it is an important thing to discuss because, there are so many big people.

To begin, what is your opinion of the origin of the problem?

I know this isn’t really a faith thing, but I feel it does need to be discussed.

At 230lbs and 5'11 I have a slight “spare tire”. I admit it.
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Bradley P.
“The great thing about the next day is that it mostly gives us a chance to wake up and live better and be better people than we may have been the day before based on the lessons of previous days.” - me in my own head.

[Pulpculture]

I think of weight gain as a type of illness. People usually overeat through being lazy or have have psychological issues (usually fairly minor ranging from lacking in confidence to something more sinister.) It's incredible to look at the USA with its vast swathes of overweight people and then contrast it with huge chunks of the world that are dying through lack of food. I think religion does come into this because we should be doing more to prevent starvation.
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http://www.dontforgetburma.org/

[Shay]

[Pulpculture]

[james]

[kevin roberts]

Round is foxy. My lovely wife just told me so.

But you'll live longer if you're not.

[bradleyp]

I will post more, I’m distracted (fireworks going off on the first truly nice “Victoria Day” weekend we’ve had in my neighbourhood in a while). But right now, I am sorry if I may have come off as trying to shame anyone about their weight. I didn’t mean to....
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Bradley P.
“The great thing about the next day is that it mostly gives us a chance to wake up and live better and be better people than we may have been the day before based on the lessons of previous days.” - me in my own head.

[Anthony]

If one is not obese but suggesting that someone else is obese then what is actually being thought is "look at you and look at me - who's the fairest of us all? Who is the healthiest, the most sensible, desirable and attractive? Why, me, of course!" Ah, but thin is not the most cuddly!
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"There is not an animal on Earth, nor a bird that flies on it's wings, but they are communities like you" The Koran 6:38

[punkrainbow]

[bradleyp]

Self perception can also go the other way. A person can actually see themselves as overweight when actually they may be underweight for who they are (natural shape for them). Would you say that loving patience, encouragement and tact may be a good response to a person going this route?
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Bradley P.
“The great thing about the next day is that it mostly gives us a chance to wake up and live better and be better people than we may have been the day before based on the lessons of previous days.” - me in my own head.

[Anthony]

[kevin roberts]

The other day in Pennsylvania there was an accident on the shoulder. One truck driver was standing on the fog line looking into his side box. He was so fat I had to change lanes to get around him.

As he was a danger to himself and others I announced his presence on the radio to let other trucks change lanes in advance. There were several minutes of discussion as other drivers worked their way around him, too.

I didn't ask his permission to publicly announce him as a road obstacle, but I wouldn't have had anything to say if he had been someplace else..

[bradleyp]

I’m going to borrow Friend Kevin’s “Round and Foxy” wife for a figurative moment, if I may.

Suppose, Anthony, that Kevin’s wife decides that she weighs too much. She came to this decision by listening to a friend of hers who is as “round” as her friend is tall, a person who happily reminds Mrs Roberts that, like her, she is fat, and that she has to deal with it.
Suppose Mrs Roberts decides that the best thing to do is sustain herself entirely on a diet of boiled eggs, tomato sandwiches, assorted potato chips, breakfast muffins and coffee, along with generic aspirins, and thus loses weight, doesn’t exercise regularly, but still perceives herself as “too fat” even though she has lost quite a bit of weight, what is the course Kevin and his family ought to take? Do they yell and scream at her, through their hands in the air in frustration (telling her she is a raving idiot) as Mrs Roberts continues to try and continue with this regime, or give encouragement in “restoring her health” and even maybe get help?

That is what I mean by a person’s self perception, and giving loving patience, encouragement and tact.

Sorry I gave that extreme example and used a fictionalized version of Mrs Roberts - it sounds like Mrs Roberts has a good self perception in real life. Sorry if I caused any offence, I don't mean to.
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Bradley P.
“The great thing about the next day is that it mostly gives us a chance to wake up and live better and be better people than we may have been the day before based on the lessons of previous days.” - me in my own head.

[james]

Unless it's something really obviously and seriously self-destructive--say, full-blown clinical anorexia--I don't offer unsolicited advice on something as personal as body weight. Not for a friend, not for my wife.
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James Riemermann
www.nontheistfriends.org

[Anthony]