Are overweight people gluttons?

No

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by Ty Fillers

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While there are some overweight people who you do see actually gorge themselves on fattening foods, there are far more overweight people among us who do not. To place all overweight people in one category is grossly unfair and to label that category as glutton is as offensive to an overweight person as any filthy name or racial slur you could throw at them.

The word glutton is defined as being a person who eats or drinks too much excessively or voraciously and as a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something. The word glutton, however, to an overweight person translates to mean greedy pig and conjurs up images of a very obese person sitting at a table shoveling food in their mouth with both hands as rapdily as they can.

The concept that all people, women in particular, must be razor thin came about when the toy manufacturer, Mattel, created the Barbie doll and fashion designers began using zipper thin models such as Twiggy to wear their fashions down the runway. While most little girls still love to play with their Barbie dolls, their mothers would like to rip the doll's pretty little head off!

Not all women can conform to a perfect Barbie size body and women are the main target being ridiculed and insulted about their weight. This is because a woman's body was made to bear children and by nature stores a fat reserve. Most women gain wait during pregnancy that is extremely hard for some to lose after the birth of their child. To further complicate weight issues for women, a large portion of employment opportunities for women place women behind desks or counters all day. Women who do work manual labor jobs traditionally do not work on as strenuous jobs as do men due to their size and strength. Therefore, they develop weight problems far younger and in much greater number than do men.

Excuses for being overweight have long been mocked by the thinner crowd but there truly are reasons for being overweight that have nothing to do solely with the quantity of food a person eats. These include low self esteem, genetic predisposition, mental disorders and chemical imbalances, endocrine issues and other medical problems, dieting in the wrong manner, and certain medications to name a few.

Many people with low self esteem became that way through abuse, whether physical or verbal, and developed eating problems as a result. While some cannot eat when upset, others comfort themselves with food. This is especially true if their mothers shoved food at them every time something went wrong in their lives while they were young. Before they realize it they have become overweight, causing their self esteem to drop even further. To be mocked in public and called names because of their weight problem certainly would not help them conquer their problems with self esteem or obesity.

Dieting in the wrong manner can lead to a lifetime problem with weight. If a person goes on a crash diet to drop a few pounds quickly their body's defense system jumps into action and lowers the body's metabolism rate in an attempt to keep the person from starving. Once the metabolism rate has been reset it is very difficult to reverse it and so much easier to gain back the pounds they did lose plus several more. A vicious yo-yo cycle of dieting and gaining begins that takes place their lifetime or until the person gives up altogether on dieting.

An underactive thyroid gland will cause weight gain, as will mental disorders and chemical imbalances. Often patients with chemical disorders do not sleep well through the night. They wake frequently and while awake raid the refrigerator and cabinets for food and drink. They often have no memory of waking or of eating during the night. Many medications, including steroids and antidepressants, cause uncontrollable weight gain.

Others among us may have been born with a predisposition to being overweight through our gene pool. Others may have had parents who allowed their children to live on fast food and junk food. Though we are supposed to be taught in elementary school what a well balanced diet consists of, a child develops lifelong eating habits based on what it grew up accustomed to at home.

To put all overweight people into one category and call them gluttons not only is rude and insensitive, but shows a lack of informed thought on the part of the person categorizing the overweight.

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