Rather be honest and call us fatty to our faces

If we were honest about how we feel about fat people would that make it easier or more difficult for people to lose weight?
I can’t help but think that if people viewed the obese in the same way as they do alcoholics or smokers in public that rather than turning the self-loathing that most obese people experience (I certainly did), emotions might be channelled towards the person expressing the disapproval rather than ourselves.

Imagine if the same pressure that exists on barmen serving more drinks to drunks came to bear on waiters serving high-calorie meals to people already obese.

The argument that people driving drunk or that the impact of second-hand smoke affects not only the person doing it but others also should be extended to include how we view the obese. Hospitals are investing in bigger beds and stronger chairs to accommodate the increasing number of people who are fat. Medical Insurance, by its very nature, means that the many pay towards the few and as lifestyle diseases which are inexorably linked to being overweight increase so too will the premiums we all pay.
I suggest that mothers need not correct children who candidly ask strangers “why are you so fat” as it is a question that those of us who are, or were, incessantly ask ourselves.
Despite the efforts of my parents to limit the amount of food I would eat as a child, I would steal back into the kitchen and eat, often compulsively, from what was left over. I am not for a moment suggesting that losing weight is easy but I am suggesting that as most of us think about food not as nutrition but as a source of pleasure that we make it more difficult for those of us who have an unhealthy relationship with food to limit ourselves.

A recent study in the US demonstrated that even when diners knew the calorie content of a dish they still made poor choices. So, information is not necessarily the key to help us maintain healthier lives. As furious as I imagine I might be if a waiter refused to let me order a confectionery or high-calorie dish if I were obese, I can also imagine how the embarrassment of that eventually might help me make better choices.
Perhaps in an attempt to shield obese people from unkindness we are all contributing to their growing girth.