response 68 of 378:

Mar 6 23:35 UTC 2006

resp:65 The real question is if gastric bypass operations lead to
improved health. I have looked into it because it sure would be nice to
fit into society more. I mean, there are a lot of non-health related
reasons why being thin would be nice. But, even the initial risks have
put me off. 2% of people who have that surgery die within 30 days. A
number of people have long term side effects too. Some people lose too
much weight. Some people have symptoms of malnutrion. Still, I am
looking forward to reading a long term study about how the surgery
effects people's health. The few studies I have read suggest that for
some people it might be an appropriate choice but others get less
benefit. I think it really depends on the individual. 

resp:66 I have kind of decided that high fructose corn syrup is pretty
bad. It's being so common is an interesting thing though from a public
policy point of view. It has a lot to do with agricultural policy and
trade policy. Our government has tarrifs on imported cane sugar thus
making it more expensive while at the same time they have subsidies for
corn farmer which results in a corn surplus which makes high fructose
corn syrup much cheaper relative to cane sugar. I am not sure how sugar
beet sugar figured into all of that but really, it is quite interesting.
If I were still taking Econ classes, I would write a paper about it. 

resp:67 Have you any evidence that airplane seats have gotten wider in
the past 25 years or so? Because I dont think they have gotten wider at
all. But yes, as people have gotten bigger, it has caused the airlines
to have to purchase more fuel and that probably has resulted in higher
airline fares although how much higher I dont know. Maybe it is just a
buck or two per ticket. 

response 70 of 378:

Mar 6 23:45 UTC 2006

I think its par for the course to check out when someone gets an ice cream.
Its also pretty natural to look at people in public.  And if they're big fat
people..and they have ice cream..yea, its not uncommon to check them out too.
One of the places I check people out is at the grocery store.  Often, I'll
take a peak at someone's cart to see what they're getting and man if it isn't
just coincidence that the heavier folks tend to have alot of sugary cereal,
soda, chips, snacks, ice crea, and whatever.  If it makes me a bastard for
noticing stuff like that so be it.  None of my business is if they want to
eat ice cream with a bag over their head in the dark..but if they're next to
me on an elevator or standing in line at grocery checkout or heck even idling
at the stop light next to me in their minivan...its public.  I'm not going
to stare at my shoelaces everytime I leave my house.
Now, I wouldn't exactly point and moo at somebody but at the same time if Big
Bertha blocks my sun at the beach while wearing a thong then I'm not one of
those "oh, pretend the pink elephant is invisible" types.  
Society interacts.  Feedback is part of that. People stare.  Hell, I just got
off an elevator where some creepy guy stared at me the whole ride.  I smiled
and he didn't smile back.  It seems really rude but who knows..he didn't
assault me or anything.

response 72 of 378:

Mar 7 00:30 UTC 2006

resp:69 - Oh please tell me which airlines have spent so much money
increasing the size of their seats because I would really like to fly on
those airlines! Come on, are you really worried about private businesses
spending money in order to make seats wider? Why is it any business of
yours if a private business decides that they want to go after fat
people and their money by making things more comfortable for them. Never
mind that most people find wider seats more comfortable and get a
benefit from them that they may find worth the cost even if they are not
fat. 

resp:71 Obviously, since I have never been grocery shopping with you, I
cant speak for the contents of fat people's grocery carts in Seattle.
But,  I admit to checking out people's carts at the grocery store too
and I have not noticed any difference in the amount of unhealthy foods
in fat people's carts. The truth is that one or both of us is probably
looking at things selectively. People tend to be better able to process
information that fits with whatever worldview they happen to have. YOu
seem to think that all fat people have bad eating habits so you are more
 likely to notice when a fat person has bad things in their cart. I
think that you cant tell if a person eats a healthy diet based on their
weight so I might overlook bad things in the carts of my fellow fat
people. *shrug*. Anyways, it isnt looking that I was bitching about, it
was public shaming or any shaming really. I think it is wrong for people
to go around shaming other people for things like what they eat or how
fat their ass happens to be. 

resp:71 I thought gaining back some weight was considered very normal
wtih gastic bypass and is soemthing to be expected. A person might lose
a hundred pounds and then gain back thirty but that is still a net loss
of seventy pounds. I know that some people gain back all of the weight
but most people end up with a sustained weight loss. 

response 74 of 378:

Mar 7 01:25 UTC 2006

And I -- along with three-quarters of my family -- am sensitive (a stronger
word would be "allergic") to corn products. Corn is in just about *everything*.
"High fructose corn syrup," "corn syrup," "corn starch," "food starch
modified," "xanthan gum," etc. The fact that from-scratch food often tastes
better is just a bonus. :)

response 76 of 378:

Mar 7 02:32 UTC 2006

Xanthan gum is often from corn. (I trust my mother on this -- she did the
research long ago.) Anything that is artificially sweetened is likely to be
from corn -- I've heard that this is because sugar is artificially more
expensive.

response 78 of 378:

Mar 7 03:40 UTC 2006

resp:77 Fair enough. $275 million dollars extra a year sure sounds like
a lot, doesnt it? But I wonder how much that is per passenger? Since
that $275 million figure was from 2000, I tried to get a stat as close
to that as I could. What I got was pretty close and it says that around
2000 there were 600 million airline passengers. So that $275 million
dollars amounts to an additional cost of about 45 cents per passenger
per year. YIKES! FAT PEOPLE are costing everyone who flies a whopping
FORTY FIVE CENTS per year. THE HORROR. Clearly we must publicly shame
them at every opportunity. 


This is the site where I got that 600 million figure, btw. 
http://www.countryplace.com/cplace/Congress/Airline_Fairness.html

response 80 of 378:

Mar 7 06:09 UTC 2006

...except it's much, much cheaper to just buy two coach tickets (unless you
can upgrade with miles or something.)

response 82 of 378:

Mar 7 11:59 UTC 2006

Note that last sentence. Our experience has been that it generally comes from
corn plants and that residue does remain (from the effects).

response 84 of 378:

Mar 7 14:24 UTC 2006

Society decided it's society's business, due to insurance costs, to 
have laws about motorcycle helmets, seat belts, drunk driving, no-fault 
insurance, and smoking tobacco.  It's well established that, if it 
affects insurance costs, it's in the public interest.  I don't like it 
either but I see no reason why obesity should be exempt.  Americans 
like to tell other people what to do, and are constantly looking for 
any sort of excuse to justify doing so.

response 86 of 378:

Mar 7 16:08 UTC 2006

re #68 I think some people see gastric bypass surgery as an easy solution.
It is a lot less work to have someone cut you up and reduce the size of your
stomach than it is to exercise hard and diet intensely and lose a hundred
pounds the old fashioned way.  Sadly I have read that since most doctors won't
perform the surgery unless a person is *at least* a hundred pounds overweight,
that many patients deliberately *gain* weight to be fat enough to qualify for
the surgery.  

response 88 of 378:

Mar 7 16:14 UTC 2006

Re 86  Believe me, when I want Pad Thai and can't have it (long noodles bother
me) or when I get reckless and eat it anyway and then have to go and make
myself sick to relieve the pain, I don't think it's easy.  Nor did I think
it was easy when I *had* the surgery.  

response 90 of 378:

Mar 7 16:19 UTC 2006

edina there are some doctors who don't advise that surgery unless your life
is in danger.  Was your life in danger?  Don't you think that some people just
obsess about their weight and all of a sudden some miracle surgery comes along
and they just *have* to have it?  I look at a guy like Al Roker of the Today
Show, who was overweight but clearly healthy and not dying, and it seems like
he had the surgery for vanity reasons.  He had the surgery because well...he
could, and then he could go on tv skinnier and boast about it over and over

response 92 of 378:

Mar 7 16:31 UTC 2006

I knew one woman who had the surgery, a co-worker at a past place of
employment.  She lost a great deal of weight, and looked like a different
person, and then her husband divorced her.  He liked her better fat
apparently, and felt that if she was so dissatisfied with her pre-surgery
life, that he must be part of that dissatisfaction.  How such surgery affects
your loved ones or will affect them and how they perceive you, is something
that needs studying.