I rant. Therefore I am.

Fatism (n) -

1. Discrimination or prejudice based on a person's weight.

Fatist (n & adj) -

1. A a person with a prejudiced belief that one persons weight is superior to others.

2. based on intolerance to a person's weight.

I have never even heard of the term! Was channel surfing last night and stumbled upon 2 separate documentaries on the whole UK weight issue which is currently a hot topic here that they are actually organising/screening a whole week of programs regarding weight (not to sure when this is happening though..). One was entitled "Fat & Proud" and the other "Too young to diet?". It was interesting.

Did you know that :

2 in 5 of the UK population are overweight? (Its probably 1 in 20/30 in Asian countries!)

A size 16 is the average size for women in the UK? (Its probably a size 7-8 in Asia)

That a group of dedicated individuals are trying to establish some sort of discrimination act (similar to racism, sexism- hence the name fatism?). I guess it is somewhat called for in certain situations, apparently there have been cases where employers at certain organisations rejecting applicants due to their size although they were well qualified for the job!

fat & proud

They featured some very 'horizontally-challenged' women and interestingly enough some of them were very active but due to some specific component in their genes they have been 'living it large' throughout their lives. Most of the individuals they featured had at one point (prior to being on the show!) very little or no self confidence.

I guess being Asian, constantly surrounded by slim people and with the whole asian culture where appearances are everything (shallow as it may be! It is true!), even at my size I'm considered 'big' in Asia! (still hasnt stopped me from thinking my thighs are too big in this side of the world!) I was in a shop the other day in Weymouth town and couldnt find my size(everything was huge), for a second there I thought I was in a plus-size store: No I wasnt, it was a regular store! The obesity rate is low (though increasing) in Malaysia, however its still nothing compared to the obesity/overweight statistics of the UK and US. The other survey conducted was one based on race and found that the chinese/asian community here are a minority in terms of contributing to the statistics of the overweight community! Must be the food! Although they do have it easier here, its relatively easy to eat healthy as they have a variety of healthy food/meals and are all ready packed. I think generally everyone has presumptions of others. The individuals in this documentary were saying that they were singled out and mistreated because of their weight *sigh* - we've all been singled out and called names because of our race, weight, height, accent.. if thats the case should there be a discrimination act for each category? Why cant we just get along?..

Too young to diet?

Which then brings me on to the next documentary. "Too young to diet?". With the whole hype of obesity and the increase in numbers of overweight individuals in the UK, they are now trying to educate school kids on eating healthily and being physically active. Unfortunately this has opened up a huge can of worms and instead of having a whole generation of healthy kids they're tackling new problems with weight conscious kids who now suffer eating disorders!

They conduct the following test on diagnosing Anorexic/Bullimic/etc patients:

What do you see?

Do you see both a young lady and an old lady or can you only see the young lady?
According to the therapist if you can only see the young lady and find it difficult to switch between young lady to old lady you're likely to have an eating disorder and are probably very body conscious.
(I remember seeing this as a kid and thinking wheres the old lady I cant see her.. ooh!)
Anyway they featured two kids on their show a 10 year old girl and a 9 year old boy who were way O.T.T on the whole weight issue.

Quote 10 year old girl: "I'm afraid of being fat. I think I am fat. I exercise throughout the week to keep trim and count calories "
(My opinion: She was skinny, she was doing adult exercises when she could be doing fun not-exercise type exercise like playing rounders or something, she should enjoy her childhood and her mum shouldnt encourage her calorie counting habit!)

Quote 9 year old boy: " I am scared of putting on weight. I am not happy about my body shape and am trying to change it. I want a 6 pack. I feel guilty from eating ice cream on holiday"
(My opinion: HE'S 9 he doesnt need a 6 pack of any sort unless its a type of yogurt. Stop doing push-ups and press-ups, ice cream is a kiddy treat indulge while you can!

What is the world coming to?
Moderation is key.Nuff said.

I want cake now.