All I can say to this comment is "narrow minded" these are the kind of comments you could keep to yourself.

doctor jim's comment may be insensitive but it is not bigotry nor is it "narrow minded." bigotry or narrow-mindedness refer to the intolerance of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality or sexual orientation.

his preference for healthy, well-shaped women is just as acceptable as anyone's preference for blond, brunette, white or petite women. how many of you women would be willing to marry a 3 feet tall Little man?

just because someone doesn't find you attractive doesn't mean they are automatically shallow or a bigot.

Actually, as a former obese person who is the way down, I find I have to side with markl323 against RN2003 & Nanamouse. While doctor jim 59's personal preference regarding how a potential partner looks may not have been stated in the most sensitive manner, it is simply a preference and not "narrow minded" or "bigotry".

A person's preference for how their partner looks is simply that - a preference and his preference simply doesn't include people who are overweight.

You hypocrites. If i say not wanting a black woman is my personal preference you would call that racists. You people want it all your way. You're just as intolerant.

Actually, doctor jim is correct.

Obesity does decrease fertility and increase risk of complications in delivery.

That's a medical statement, not a preference.

They actually don't know.

"Exactly how obesity contributes to cesarean risk still has not been well addressed"

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Obesity+driving+section+rates+higher+Study/3391937/story.html#ixzz0wVYF3KNo

Right on.

In the 1980's and 1990's research showed that women of shorter stature were significantly more likely to have/need C-sections. Presumably this was due to larger babies than the mother's body could deliver risk-free.

Back then, the medical establishment also encouraged V-back deliveries (vaginal deliveries for subsequent pregnancies after a previous C-section) but this seems to no longer be the case. The risk of uterine rupture - is now seen as more serious than the risks due to surgery.

Actually, diet and exercise do work for most people. It means cutting out all the junk and processed mystery food in your current diet, not depriving yourself. Your metabolism slows with age, so that's no big surprise, and you probably don't run around like you did as a kid. Common sense, not Jenny Craig. So, stop trying to blame your weight gain on some mysterious difference between thin people and those not so thin. With the exception of the small percent of the population who have a real medication condition, the rest of society brought this on themselves and their kids. I'm thin, but I have to work much harder to maintain that now, than I did when I was 17 or even 27!

Red Wolf: I agree with most of what you say. I, too, believe that obesity is often more complicated than just diet and exercise.

But I gotta defend Michelle Obama. When she first spoke out about her concerns with childhood obesity, she said it was because the girls' pediatrician noted that their BMI was getting a little too high, which had never occurred to her. Also, she's leading the battle by emphasizing positives, like education about healthy eating and exercise - not by berating the overweight, like so many on the thin side of the line.

Although some bodies are more efficient metabolically, there is still no getting around the fact that when calories in exceed calories used, the body gains weight. When the oposite is true, the body loses weight.

That's physics, and there's just no getting around it.

If you want to lose weight, you must cut down on caloric intake, increase caloric usage, or both. (Diet and exercise....)

Why does it matter that Michelle Obama has never been fat (do you even know this for a fact?)? You don't need to have battled obesity to help other people battle it. A car mechanic who's never had a breakdown can still be a car mechanic, and a cancer researcher doesn't need to have had cancer to understand the disease. Every First Lady has a pet project, and this is hers. She's trying to make our nation's children healthy; what's wrong with that?

Diet and exercise DO work. I'm in my 30s, and while I can't eat the junk I ate when I was 20 (and why would I want to?), I'm fitter and healthier than I was when I was 20, even with my metabolism slowing. While a select few CAN be heavy and healthy, and while a very small percentage of the population who have thyroid disease, for most of the U.S. it's a consequence of being sedentary and eating processed junk food instead of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are very cheap at the local farmer's market just now, but in urban areas, there are no farmers markets. In Detroit, there are no grocery stores, period, residents have to leave the city limits to buy any kind of food. There is a fruit and veggie mobile (like the old bookmobiles) that makes the rounds in Detroit. It's like an ice cream truck except they offer fresh produce for sale to people who would otherwise have no access to healthy foods.

Canned stuff doesn't even look or taste like the real foods, it has too much added salt and sugar.

there are such things as canned fruit and vegetables.

people that are obese are just lazy, wont make their own meals, always get supersize meals or super big gulps. they cant eat a normal portion and like my brother in law, he would eat 2 and 3 weight watcher meals at a time.

and just because it says fat free, doesnt mean it will not make you gain weight. actually fat free will make you gain weight.

fusseltier: I think I know your secret to staying thin. You get a lot of exercise flapping your jaw and burning up the keyboard about things you obviously know nothing about. I suggest you limit your observations about fat people to your brother-in-law instead of making insulting assumptions about all of the obese.

I agree with warchief to a point.

However, items like beans (canned or dried), rice, lentils, flour, sugar, eggs, etc. are all very affordable and can be the basis of a nutritious diet - but they require a lot of preparation.

Planning, time and energy have to go into creating nutirtious meals on a shoestring. Unfortunately, this seems to be a lost art.