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25 new of 378 responses total.
happyboy
response 192 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:03 UTC 2006

yes he could if he were a lacto-ovo veg.

you know,vegetarian lite.
nharmon
response 193 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:03 UTC 2006

Ok, I'd be a lactovegetarian then. ;)
slynne
response 194 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:24 UTC 2006

I never said that the 600lb woman was healthy. I think that probably 
she was not and probably her choice to have gastric bypass was a wise 
one. What I thought was prejudiced and bigoted about that blog post was 
the writer's speculation on the diet that led to someone being 600lbs 
and that she chose to call that woman names like "freak." 

richard, that is an interesting prejudice you have. FWIW, I dont feed 
my pets junk food and the dogs are not fat. The cat is fat but so what? 
I dont consider it a problem and neither does she. 
richard
response 195 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:26 UTC 2006

slynne said:

"The cat is fat but so what? "

By refusing to put your cat on a diet, you may be shortening its life.  
You don't think cats have heart attacks?

I am not prejudiced against fat pets btw  
richard
response 196 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:34 UTC 2006

I'd like to see some studies on food addiction, because clearly it seems 
like you can get addicted to certain types of food just as you can get 
addicted to nicotine or alcohol.  If you have a physical addiction to a 
food, then your overeating is responding to your body's needs.  Such 
addictions cant always be overcome by sheer discipline, just as some 
people can't quit smoking cold turkey.  There was a guy here in New York 
State, he weighed 1200 pounds, he was addicted to pork sausage and cheese.  
Kept a portable stove and frying pan next to his bed.  He could not quit 
eating sausage and cheese on his own, his body craved it too much.  The 
problem is there is not a "patch" for food addicts.
slynne
response 197 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:36 UTC 2006

The cat is 17 years old which is a ripe old age for a cat. There is no 
evidence that putting her on a diet now will improve her health. There 
is a LOT of evidence that putting her on a diet would be bad for MY 
health since she tends to keep me awake if her food dish is empty

There almost certainly are food addictions. I am going to guess that 
the most common one would be to refined sugar based on my own addiction 
to the stuff. 
richard
response 198 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:39 UTC 2006

re #197 Im guessing that salt is addictive.  McDonald's heavily salts all its
food because it makes customers crave their food more.
kingjon
response 199 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:43 UTC 2006

Salt is a flavor-enhancer. I suspect they salt their food because a) it makes
the customers thirsty and b) it means they don't have to use as much custom
flavoring.

edina
response 200 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:45 UTC 2006

re 194  Please tell me what would cause someone to weigh 600 lbs and have a
doctor do that surgery on her?
richard
response 201 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:48 UTC 2006

re #200 what would cause someone to weigh 600 pounds?  an addiction to certain
foods

richard
response 202 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:49 UTC 2006

some people can't eat potato chips, because if they eat two they can't stop,
they end up eating the whole bag.  the body craves the salt content, you can't
eat just ONE potato chip.
nharmon
response 203 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:49 UTC 2006

> what would cause someone to weigh 600 pounds?

A hundred pound backpack and a 2G aerobatic manuever
richard
response 204 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:51 UTC 2006

I knew a girl some years ago who could not control herself eating haagen daaz
ice cream.  If she ate one spoonful, she ended up eating the whole pint at
one sitting.  The high sugar content probably made it addictive.  So she ended
up not being able to eat haagen daaz at all anymore.
edina
response 205 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:54 UTC 2006

Thank you Richard.  Thank you for your charming, wonderfully anecdotal
stories.

If you're really interested in food addiction, go to an overeaters anonymous
meeting.
richard
response 206 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:56 UTC 2006

edina you sound like you don't buy the "food addiction" thing.  So you must
think "overeaters anonymous" is a stupid group?
jadecat
response 207 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 19:59 UTC 2006

Rumor has it that at least one fast food place uses sugar in their fries
to make them more 'addictive.'

Fat cats also have a higher chance of diabetes.  The fun thing is that
sometimes dieting a cat to a healthy weight (which can be done, I got
Sasha down from a "morbidly obese"- said her vet- 18.4 lbs to 11 lbs in
2 years) can actually cause the diabetes to 'go away.'

With obese pets free-feeding seems to be a problem more than anything.

With very obese people- the ones who make the news because they can't
get out of bed or off the couch anymore... They didn't get there alone.
If there's a person who hasn't gotten off the couch for any length of
time there must be an enabler there who is making sure they eat.
Personally I think some of the blame should go to them.
edina
response 208 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:00 UTC 2006

No - I do agree that there are addictions and trigger foods.

I have participated in OA (it's a pretty big group) and my only issue with
the group was the self-imposed martyrdom of many of the participants.
richard
response 209 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:03 UTC 2006

the sugar thing makes sense, because alcohol is highly addictive and what is
alcohol made from?  sugar.  so logically why couldnt you get addicted to
haagen daaz vanilla just as easily as you could get addicted to vodka?
marcvh
response 210 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:07 UTC 2006

Sounds plausible.  Is OA more effective than the other 12-step programs?

With dogs I suspect that dogs owned by people who are sedentary (for
whatever reason) are less likely to get sufficient exercise for their
own health; this seems to make more sense than assuming that all
overweight people are freeding their dogs cotton candy.
edina
response 211 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:09 UTC 2006

OA is as effective as you want it to be - just like all other 12-step
programs.  the only key difference is that a person stops drinking/doing drugs
full stop, when people can't stop eating.  
keesan
response 212 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:19 UTC 2006

Alcohol is addictive because it interacts with some receptor, which sugar does
not interact with.  But some people can't stop eating sugar as long as it is
near them.  Jim can't eat just part of a half gallon of ice cream so he does
not eat any.  If people can't resist certain foods, they don't need to buy
them and have them in the house.  The big problem is if someone else in the
house buys them and keeps them around.  

There is at least one genetic defect that causes even little kids to get very
obese - I think they have something wrong with the normal feedback loop that
makes you stop being hungry when you have eaten.  There are probably several
such feedbacks, including a full stomach and raised blood sugar.

Some people may lack feedback to eating sugar so they keep eating it (or it
is backwards somehow), so they should probably avoid eating any sugar, like
an alcoholic has to completely avoid alcohol.

SOme people eat as long as they see or smell food, rather than if they are
hungry.
scholar
response 213 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:52 UTC 2006

Re. 209:  You're an idiot.  Alcohol is completely different than sugar.  One
chemical doesn't necessarily have another chemical's properties just because
it is derived from that chemical.
richard
response 214 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 20:58 UTC 2006

re #207 anne you talk about "enablers"  Were you Sasha's "enabler"?  
Eighteen pound cats probably= 300lb human beings.  Was that Sasha's fault 
or yours?  Were your roomies feeding Sasha without your knowledge?  Or was 
finding her own ways to secretly access food?  
jadecat
response 215 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 21:09 UTC 2006

resp:214 in a way. My roommate at the time had two cats that were open
fed- and were mostly okay with it. Sasha had been portion fed from the
time she was a kitten- so with open feeding available she went nuts.
Plus I was in denial about just how chubby she was- until she got a lion
cut... whoa. By that time that roomie had moved out, bhelliom had moved
in and I was able to go back to portion feeding her (the amounts as
suggested by her vet). It took time and much patience with "I'm
STARVING!!11!1" whining, but I won. And so did she- she's much
healthier, and much more active now at 8 than she was at 4.

Keep in mind too that some cats CAN be 18 lbs and right in line with
their optimal weigth/health. Cats like Maine Coons are often that big,
or bigger, and aren't chubby. The majority of 'mutt' cats range from
10-12 lbs. Sasha lost about 1/3 of her weight, so it would be like a
person who should weigh 150 weighing 225... 

The idea of her finding anything other than cat food on her own is just
funny. This is the cat that meows at spiders/insects that get into her
view. Apparently she thinks she can talk them into leaving...
slynne
response 216 of 378: Mark Unseen   Mar 8 21:41 UTC 2006

resp:200 and resp:201

Well. Although the research on set-point theory isn t conclusive, I ll 
share it anyways but with the caveat that this is only a theory and one 
where there is some research that supports it and some research that 
refutes it. But here it is  There is a theory that people have a 
natural weight set point. Their body will adjust in order to get to 
that set point. If a person starts eating less and starts losing 
weight, their metabolism will slow down. If a person starts eating more 
and starts gaining weight, their metabolism will speed up. Different 
people have different set points though. It is possible that 600lb 
woman, for whatever reason has a set point that is much higher than 
most. 

But really, even if she did eat a lot more than most people to get that 
fat, I see that as evidence that she has a different appetite level 
than other people. There is strong evidence that a large part of a 
person s appetite is physical and relates to hormones in the stomach. 
Maybe her stomach produced more of that hormone than other people 
produce. Maybe her brain is more receptive to that hormone. I have no 
idea. I do know that if that is the case, gastric bypass is probably 
appropriate for her since cutting out the stomach seems to greatly 
reduce the number of those hormones a person produces. 

The real thing is that I don t see her weight as a character flaw. 
Which of course doesn t mean that she doesn t have character flaws. 
Heck, she might be addicted to certain foods for all I know. The point 
is that I don t know and neither do you and neither does the author of 
that blog Mary linked to. There is a word for judging someone  based on 
one s own biases rather than actual information and that is what I am 
accusing people of.  
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