Are overweight people gluttons?

No

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by Mary W. Matthews

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Before we go throwing around charged words like "gluttons," let's check the dictionary. A glutton is "a person who greedily eats too much" OR "a person with a great capacity for something," as for example a "a glutton for work." A boxer who keeps getting up no matter how often he's knocked down is a glutton for punishment. A captain who insists nothing is wrong while her ship is sinking is a glutton for self-delusion.

It's true, a few fat people got that way because they greedily eat too much. But most fat people are fat because their genes programmed them to be fat, or because they have a chemical imbalance in the brain, or because they have emotional difficulties, or simply because no one ever taught them nutrition. Think of the tens or hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. who are overweight, fat, or morbidly obese because their parents can't AFFORD to feed them anything other than potato chips, cheese puffs, and snack cakes. These are not rapacious monsters who "greedily eat too much"; they are victims of the great god Corporate Profit.

Obesity is a recognized medical condition protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act and by many states. These laws make it illegal to fire someone because that person has a disability. In New York City, an outstanding teacher who was 6 feet, 4 inches tall was fired because he weighed 325 pounds (and he was newly eligible for tenure). His bosses all described him as well-prepared and his lessons as well-executed; his annual performance reviews were "overwhelmingly positive." Photographs of this professional show a man who looks slightly chubby.

The same weight charts that inform us that this slightly chubby man is "obese" inform us that George W. Bush — who appears to spend most of his waking hours biking, clearing brush, or working out in other ways — is "overweight." OMG, the president is a "glutton"! No wonder the country is going to hell in a handbasket! (Nobody mention the name "William Howard Taft," okay?)

Whether or not you agree that a man who looks slightly chubby should be fired for weighing more than some wholly arbitrary chart says he should weigh — or whether or not you agree that his lawsuit to get his job back should succeed because he has a "disability" — almost everyone can agree that it is unfair, unkind, and unwise to discriminate against anyone solely on the basis of that person's appearance.

Today's culture is deeply prejudiced against the overweight. Beautiful size-6 supermodels are labeled "fat" because they're not size 0; beautiful size-10 actresses are labeled "gluttonous" because they're not size 6. Young girls deliberately court death through anorexia and bulimia because cultural stereotypes demonize fatness. No one is allowed to be slightly overweight; any woman who is not a walking skeleton is a "glutton." Diseases that are supposedly related to obesity are called a drain on the national economy because they increase the costs of health care and allegedly decrease productivity.

As anyone who has ever struggled with controlling her/his weight can tell you, there are many reasons other than "gluttony" for a person to be fat. For example:

* Genetic predisposition. * A friend I am very fond of was born chubby, and between ages 2 and 13 she looked like a Campbell's Soup Kid. As a teenager and young woman, she dieted her way down to a slim size 7 by living on less than 1,000 calories a day. On the command of her physician, who was concerned that her health was in danger, my friend increased her caloric intake to 1,400 calories a day. Today she is an "obese" size 16. Oh, the horror! The gluttony!

A recent study conducted by the University of London suggests that genetics may account for 77 percent of all obesity. My friend is no more of a glutton than Twiggy is. My friend is the "victim" of genes that would have made her extremely popular a mere 20,000 years ago, when food was scarce and malnourishment common.

* Genetic disorder. * Leptin resistance is quite a common disorder that is undetectable except by genetic testing; it leads to conditions such as Prader-Willi Syndrome and Bardet-Biedl Syndrome. Should sufferers from these syndromes and similar conditions be labeled "gluttons" and stigmatized for the supposed rapacity of their appetites?

* Endocrine disorder. * A whole spectrum of things can go wrong with one's endocrine system, including (but not limited to) insulin resistance, insulinoma, hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, hypothalamic trauma, polycystic ovary syndrome, Cushing's syndrome, and growth hormone deficiency. All of these disorders make their victims fat. None of them is proof of "gluttony."

* Aging. * Between ages 25 and 75, your percentage of body fat naturally doubles, partly because you stop working out the way you did when you were a vibrant young thing, and partly because of natural slowing of the metabolism. Is your dear old grandmother a "glutton" because the exact same diet she ate at 18 has made her fat at 88?

* Dieting. * Yes, it's true; dieting can lead to obesity. When you cut more than 200 calories (1.25 bottles of Sam Adams!) out of your daily intake, your body assumes that there's a famine in the land. To protect you, your body slows your metabolism and clings to every molecule of fat the way Scrooge McDuck clings to money. When you go off your diet, you almost always go right back to the same eating habits that made you overweight to begin with . . . but this time, your body directs a much higher percentage of your intake into replacing the fat cells you lost, just in case ANOTHER famine strikes the land.

* "Diet" foods. * When you drink a can of cola, you're basically drinking about 150 calories of liquid sugar. When your body has had enough sugar, it signals your brain, and you feel satisfied. Imitation sugar (such as that in "lite" sodas), fat-free, low-fat, low-cholesterol, and other processed "diet" foods are not metabolized the same way, so your body fails to send the appropriate signals to your brain, and you DON'T feel satisfied.

That's one reason "diet" foods are wrong for people who want to lose weight. Another reason is the mistaken idea that there's something magic about a "diet" product. For example, some dieters feel free to order the most fattening dish on the menu because hey, they put a packet of artificial sweetener into their coffee, or drank a diet soda with their meal. Does that make them gluttons, or just untutored about their own psychology and physiology?

* Quitting smoking. * People who quit smoking don't gain an average of 21 pounds because they suddenly turn into gluttons. They gain because smoking uses an average of 210 calories a day. Only 200 calories a day in excess of what you need is enough to make you 20 pounds overweight in a year or less. What's more, after you quit smoking, your metabolism slows (resulting in improved fat retention) and your insulin levels increase (resulting in improved sugar processing).

* Pregnancy. * Having another human being living inside you changes your metabolism. Forever. Then after you give birth, you have amazingly stressful life changes to deal with, family adjustments ("No, it's YOUR turn to get up!"), fatigue, and diminished physical resources. Women who can't lose the "baby fat" aren't gluttons; they're perfectly normal.

* Emotional difficulties. * Some fat people are fat neither because they have a chemical imbalance nor because they are gluttons. I used to be one of them. These people may be depressed, lonely, bored, frustrated, or avoiding thinking about what their problems TRULY are. For example, if a girl is frightened of the dating scene, she may become fat for the same reason I did, as emotional self-protection. One of the biggest reasons I went from fat to morbidly obese was that I didn't want to experience the emotions caused by the death of my younger sister, so I stuffed the emotions deep inside myself and tamped them down with food. I gained almost 100 pounds in three months while insisting to everyone who loved me that "NOTHING IS WRONG!"

If a potential mate rejects you for being fat, he's NOT rejecting you for being smarter than he is, or having a weird sense of humor or an offbeat fashion sense, or looking too much like his mother, or all the other reasons potential mates reject each other. If a boss rejects you for being fat, she's NOT rejecting you for being inappropriately dressed or for writing a blog called "MyBossIsTheDevil." Fattening foods never make rude remarks about your personal appearance. Fattening foods comfort you when you're sad ("Oh, you scraped your knee, poor thing, here's a cookie!"). Fattening foods keep you company when you're lonely. Fattening foods always seem glad to see you.

Is the man who stops paying attention and drinks an entire six-pack of beer during the Big Game someone who "greedily eats too much"? How about the small child whose choice is a bag of potato chips or NOTHING AT ALL?
 

My husband and I adopt "lost" cats, either strays from our local humane society (long may they wave! Donate today!) or street cats. Several years ago, a scrawny little girl-cat adopted us, and even had a litter of kittens on our front porch. After we adopted her back and brought her indoors, Patience went from being about 25 percent underweight to being about 25 percent overweight. Because she is mostly white with regular dark markings, we call her our little soccer ball. Patience is sweet, loving, eager to please . . . and fat.

My husband and I put on fake Southern accents and say, "As God is our witness, you'll never go hungry again." Patience is no "glutton." And neither are most fat people.

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