Hardy har har.
Sorry, dude, but you sound like a freakin’ moron. Just like your thin compatriots, Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Fowlhell.
Bad assumption, dude. Can’t stand either of them.
I guess we can then conclude that you are a complete anal-retentive asshole by your own fault?
Pretty sad, but not uncommon.
You’ve identified the problem, which is a great first step.
The second step is to develop a desire to change. It’s a difficult one, and maybe one that you’re unwilling to take. That’s understandable, if not healthy. But if you want to get over that, then do so. It’s hard, but rewarding.
The third step is to understand that you can empower yourself to enact changes. People do it every day. No, it’s not easy at all, despite what the “simple” folk tell you. But it’s possible, and probably easier than you think. You just have to be willing to take baby steps.
The fourth step is to avail yourself of the many resources out there. It’s like digging through a pile of shit to find a diamond, but the diamonds are in there. You just have to recognize shit for the shit that it is. Consider psychological help (in whichthere is no shame), your local hospital (which likely has affordable weightloss programs), and me. My e-mail address should be in my profile, and I’m free. 
Many more steps follow, but here is the final one: Ignore the voices of unreason. Crafter_Man is one. He may think he’s a voice of wisdom, but he’s really a voice of destruction. Ignore him. He’s a moron. Ignore the voices of morons. They only do harm.
I honestly hope to hear from you personally, though I suspect I won’t. But I’d love to try to help. It’ll do me as much good as I hope it’ll do you.
Funny, you sound like both of them.
[QUOTE=Little Plastic Ninja
Add to that the fact that most people never actually learned to cook. Boys tend to think it’s sissy and girl’s work, and a girl will often only learn to cook if her mother is capable and feels like teaching her. You can live very well on beans and rice and corn and green peppers and tomatoes, major staples for poor people down here, but only if you know what to do with them. And unless you’re a good cook – and you can’t be a good cook without practice – the stuff you get from McDonalds and everywhere else just tastes so much better.
[/QUOTE]
Also, poor people are often steep into the tradition of “quantity over quality”. Poorer people tend to excentuate how much they have. If you go over their house for dinner, they will pile your plate high…and you bet your bottom dollar that little of the offerings will be mistaken for “rabbit food”. The food will all be heavy and rich, covered in cheese and dripping with grease. You will be offered beer or soda. The hosts will encourage you to take seconds and insist you take food home. If you eat dinner at a rich friend’s house, though, you will see that the effort has been diverted into appearance and quality. The salad will be colorful, the entree will be delicately arranged, perhaps served with exotic sauce or seasoning, and the dessert will be more refreshing than filling (gelatin instead of pudding…Italian cookies instead of a big slab of chocolate cake.) There won’t be a lot of left-overs. You will be offered tea or wine.
The way you were raised has a big impact on what you eat as an adult. Both of my parents grew up in poor/working-class, and the result is that as adults, they served only canned vegetables with dinner To this day, I’m wary of vegetables, and I blame years of canned spinach, canned asparagus (ugh!), canned peas, and canned green beans. I’m trying to change this aversion by eating fresh or frozen, but it’s been hard.
Also, poor people are often steeped in the tradition of “quantity over quality”. Poorer people tend to excentuate how much they have. If you go over their house for dinner, they will pile your plate high…and you bet your bottom dollar that little of the offerings will be mistaken for “rabbit food”. The food will all be heavy and rich, covered in cheese and dripping with grease. You will be offered beer or soda. The hosts will encourage you to take seconds and insist you take food home. If you eat dinner at a rich friend’s house, though, you will see that the effort has been diverted into appearance and quality. The salad will be colorful, the entree will be delicately arranged, perhaps served with exotic sauce or seasoning, and the dessert will be more refreshing than filling (gelatin instead of pudding…Italian cookies instead of a big slab of chocolate cake.) There won’t be a lot of left-overs. You will be offered tea or wine.
The way you were raised has a big impact on what you eat as an adult. Both of my parents grew up in poor/working-class, and the result is that as adults, they served only canned vegetables with dinner To this day, I’m wary of vegetables, and I blame years of canned spinach, canned asparagus (ugh!), canned peas, and canned green beans. I’m trying to change this aversion by eating fresh or frozen, but it’s been hard.
I agree. My mother would feed me canned spinach when I was young. I learned to absolutely *hate * spinach. It wasn’t until I was in my early 30s that I began to eat it again, primarily because I learned that spinach tastes great if it is fresh and properly prepared.
Mmm. And I attacked you how, Guin?
Sorry to stop you there, but something has been bugging me in this thread. Yes, I believe that poverty plays a big part (har!) in the obesity epidemic, but it isn’t the be all and end all of the problem. Yes, I see a lot of morbidly obese people in my job, and the poor and poorly educated are overly represented.
But I’d hate to see obesity misrepresented as a class issue, or a partisan issue, or of course a moral issue. It cuts across all boundries.
Okay, so what do you suggest? I’m willing to listen.
I was prepared to ignore your ignorant ranting in the rest of this thread, but you have at long last said something intelligent. I loves me some fresh spinach! I’m not so keen on the raw stuff, but wilted in a little olive oil, it’s great food. A little lemon juice or balsamic vinegar spices it up just right. For an unhealthy treat (once in a great while), I add a sprinkle of (non-canned) parm and some slivered almonds. Food of the gods!
And how about that saag paneer, eh? It doesn’t get much better than that.
I loves me some yum.
Not that I can improve on her excellent post, but I’ll give it a shot.
How about recognizing that the fat problem is more complex than “eat less, exercise more”? Then learning the facts and ignoring the garbage? Then ignoring the naysayers? And finally tying these things to actions?
Seriously, dude, I owe you a great deal of gratitude – you gave me the push over the edge to take action. I can’t thank you enough for that. Take pride in the fact that you’ve pushed at least one Doper to get healthy. That’s a great thing. 
But also realize that part of my taking action was to educate myself on the issue, and it’s been a long road. And one of the things I learned was that there is a whole lot more to it than “eat less, exercise more.”
Funny enough, as a child, I loved canned spinach with butter. But I hated canned peas or canned corn-still do.
Now I prefer my spinach raw.
My point, Crafter Man, is that you keep standing there, looking down on everyone else, and saying, “Well, I did it, so it’s easy!” No. The formula for losing weight is simple, as in uncomplicated-less calories, more exercise, etc. BUT, just because something is simple doesn’t mean that it’s easy. People need to work at it.
Perhaps you should walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you immediately dismiss them as lazy/stupid/whatever.
Guin: you didn’t answer my question.
You called me an “asshole”. Why? Because *my * opinion happens to be different from *your * opinion? So you’re saying it’s O.K. for me to call you a !@#$% idiot because *my * opinion happens to be different from *your * opinion?
Yea yea, I *know * this is The Pit, and such behavior is allowed. But just because something is allowed doesn’t mean it’s necessary.
That’s true, but I do think that the reasons behind poor people’s fatness explains much of American obesity in general. Most of us come from poor/working class backgrounds. “Middle America”, if it exists, comes from more of a commoner background than elite. And the “quantity over quality” ethos is exhibited not only in our diets, but in our overconsumption in general.
Perhaps this is a manifestation of a collective insecurity?
Oh, come on. You’ve gone on and on calling people lazy and stupid, and when someone calls you on it, suddenly you’re not allowed to express your opinion? Oh, poor you.
You might want to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps instead of playing the “pity poor me” card.
But I do respect your opinion on spinach.
I think you’re onto something here, but I wouldn’t rule out that there’s more to it than that.
I think a huge part of it is because of our busy lifestyles. Despite all of our modern conveniences, we have less free time than ever before. Less time to exercise, less time to food shop, and less time to cook. And we’re surrounded by low energy and high calorie solutions to these problems.
Um, see if you can follow me here.
It’s my *opinion * that most (not all) chronically poor people are lazy and irresponsible. Your opinion may be different. It may be the complete opposite. Fine. But note I have made no personal attacks… I have not called anyone in this thread an asshole, cunt, or whore because their opinion is different from mine. But according to the Rules of Guin, any opinion that is different from hers must be immediately countered with personal attacks w/ vulgarities.
Carry on…