The Lard Family
bugger it kev's post in the Pet Hates thread below reminds me:

It all happened while in my local chippy, treating myself to an occasional foray into the world of deep fried foods.

Having ordered my small cod and chips I stood back, breathed in and, eventually, stuffed myself into the corner as the Lard family took up every other part of the chippy, including the counter... their grotesque bellies resting comfortably upon it.

They then ordered (literally):

Mother Lard: "Give me a chicken and chips." "Actually, make that two bits of chicken. Just the one chips, though... watching me weight, ha ha ha."

Master Lard: "One large cod and chips, one kids fish cake and chips and, um, actually, what's the biggest bit of fish you do?" "Yeah, one of them then instead." "No, I still want the fish cake and chips, but with the 1/4 pounder special and chips as well."

Miss Lard: "I want large cod and chips, some kids chicken nuggets and a pickled egg."

Their subsequent discussion confirmed that they weren't ordering for the extended Lard family but looking for enough grease and fat to satiate their immense individual appetites instead.

Now, is it just me, or is it not obvious that ordering two portions of deep fried fish, and chips isn't going to help Mr or Mrs Heart enjoy a long, healthy & clog-free life? Or do these people just not give a shit?
( Moey, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 12:43, 31 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

They just don't give a shit.
Then when they get to the stage that they have to be pushed around in a wheelchair because they're too fat to walk it will be Oooo! but I have a thyroid problem.

I've been a bit of a heffalump in my time and eaten crap but at least I knew it was wrong and did something about it.
( girlinthehole, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 12:52, Reply)

I wouldn't want to be around
when they do shit, as it sounds as if it would be enough to fill a wheelbarrow and greasy enough to slide down the tubes on its own...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 12:58, Reply)

^
I've not always been the fine, svelte specimen of humanity that I currently am (ahem). And, to be honest, as adults I think we have a choice (in the most part) as to whether we're aware of and do something about our weight or not, but for children of their age to be given carte blanche to eat like that is shocking.

Surely it's the parents responsibility to stop kids eating themselves into an early grave. Or worse, being a life long burden on the NHS due to their extreme obesity.

EDIT: Loon, that's just put a very different perspective on it, and not one I ever thought I'd find myself considering... I actually feel a bit sick now.
( Moey, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 12:58, Reply)

Um..
First off, not all that many people are educated in fatty food= bad for you. An awful lot of people still think that it's government scaremongering, in the same way that people used to think that smoking was good for you. The majority of us on b3ta are from the middle classes, and therefore lucky enough to be able to make informed choices.

And yes, they are eating beyond what is required, which in the big scale of things is bad for the environment.

But what I don't get is why this is such a big deal. I smoke- this is stupid, and bad for me. But because I'm thin people don't find me disgusting for doing so. Why is it that fat people are thought of so badly, when ultimately they're indulging a vice same as any of us?

It's not your place to criticize people who have done nothing directly to hurt you, just because you disapprove of them.

/rant.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 12:59, Reply)

I'm Hank Marvin just now
and two portions of fish and chips and a pickled egg sounds pretty damn good to me. Roll on 1330 (Lunchtime for baz).
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:07, Reply)

@MM
My issue is really to do with the kids being allowed to eat that way, although I failed to articulate that first time round...

Granted not everyone has access to the same level of education, etc... and can confuse warnings with scaremongering, but if you see your children becoming obese before they've even become a teenager, would you not think there was something very wrong?

People can blame a lack of education all they want, but sometimes it's really quite obvious; if, for example, the kids can't see their feet without looking in a mirror!
( Moey, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:08, Reply)

@MM
Well, to use your example of smoking- if you had a voice like a great blue heron and constantly coughed and wheezed and spit out phlegm, people would rant about you as well. Those are attributes and behaviors caused by excessive smoking, and are horrifying to witness. (I've known more than a few men and women who have been like this.) Seeing a person like that smoke is revolting.

Seeing someone who is morbidly obese consume enormous quantities of stuff that is well known to be bad for you is every bit as horrifying to witness.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:13, Reply)

@MM
I disagree. I think that nowadays it's common knowledge that eating crap food will make you fat and give you problems in the future. The problems poor families face in feeding their kids good food are difficult but not impossible. I grew up on a council estate and had an awful diet but that was years ago when we were all ignorant of the problems a bad diet can cause. What about the stupid women who were going to the chippy for their kids when the school banned them from leaving the school gates. How thick can some people be.


And for God's sake get off the fags. Your a good looking girl and you want to be staying that way for as long as possible.
( girlinthehole, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:19, Reply)

Lardism
There should be a measure of live and let live, I feel that the current government's attitude of "Let them eat cake" towards the poorer people who cannot afford decent (and rapidly getting more expensive every week) food - as demonstrated by the gluttonous excesses of the G8 conference in Japan where Gordo decided we should all "waste less food" - is a stunning example of how out of touch the government actually is.

However...

Food manufacturers are free to load more salt into one sandwich than you'd get in seven packets of crisps.

As for people being denied treatment on the NHS because of their lifestyle, let's not forget that a good many people have paid into the NHS all their working lives...

Having said that its bloody annoying to see folk who's main ambition is to clog up a hospital bed (more than one perhaps) one day having their arteries unclogged, which could otherwise be used by someone with a condition that hasn't been self inflicted.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:31, Reply)

Also.
I'm not saying that we should all adopt the dietary habits of Gillian McKeith but just try to stay reasonably heathly and fit. It's not rocket science.
( girlinthehole, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:37, Reply)

Okay...
I take what you've all said about the kids- admittedly I hadn't picked that up in the first post, and you're right- that is tantamount to child abuse.

What I object to is this anger you all seem to have for fat people- what business is it of yours to cast judgment on the way people live their lives? Are you all pariahs of clean living and good health? Do you all get your recommended 30 minutes of excercise a day? I'm guessing not. I am aware that obesity stretches the national health, but so do many things.

Here's why I'm pissed off by this attitude- when I was 11, I weighed 12 stone. I was bullied at school, called names, had thing stuck in my bag. People used to call me names in the street- and that is pretty much why I am still in recovery for anorexia 10 years on. Because people hated me, thought I was disgusting and a blight on humanity. And I thought that being like I am now was the only was to get acceptance. And you know what? I was right. I get talked to, invited to parties, people want to be my friend these days, rather than treating me like a fucking leper. It disgusts me that we can't just accept people for being the way they are, that we have to shoehorn ourselves into behaving a certain way to be allowed in the club.

This is a dangerous attitude- we need proper education and help for obesity. Because this level of disgust and avoidance is so very fucking damaging.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:49, Reply)

In every year
of Key Stage 2 at primary school (what used to be juniors) children are taught what they should eat to have a healthy life style.

There is no lack of education, it has nothing to do with money.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:51, Reply)

Livinabin
I'm not so much talking about school education- there's no point telling a kid what's right if they go home and their parents still serve up junk for tea. I mean as a whole, we have this mistrust of obesity, and are afraid to tackle it without an 'us and them' attitude.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:55, Reply)

my guess is that
people see lardism as inexcusable - they see greed and lack of self control, and this is why they pick on it.

in addition to this, lard doesn't fit the definition of beauty that is plastered all over every magazine and cinema screen in the country.

my friend sam is doing a phD in psychology at the moment, and as part of the course, has to work in various hospitals. the eating disorder ward made her really worried - girls who weighed about 5 stone would come up to her and ask incessantly how much she weighed; what size she was; what she'd eaten that day. sam is a healthy size 12.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 13:59, Reply)

@MM
I don't hate fat people. I hate people who blame everyone else for their problems and won't take responsibility for making their life a better one.

Kids aren't responsible for how they are brought up and so shouldn't be treated so shabbily by bullying etc. I've always been a 'big'girl and years ago while suffering with depression I became borderline obese and I know it's difficult to break bad habits.

I also know it's not always just a case of being greedy and food is sometimes used as a crutch for emotional problems but there are a large group of people out there that are dangerousley overweight and just don't want to do anything about it and everyone else has to eventually to pick up the peices when their bed bound or invalided.

Edit - I've always thought anorexia was not about food per se but about control. I saw a programme about it but I may have got the wrong end of the stick.
( girlinthehole, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:00, Reply)

Bear with me...
I think that a lot of the problems have to do with fear of distorted images. I recommend mistaspakkaman's excellent description and analysis here as a starting point.

We may not have a genuine fear of fat people (or black people, or midgets, or whatever group you care to point to) in terms of them making us want to run and hide, but I suspect that all of us have a touch of this which causes us to be uncomfortable around people who don't resemble us.

In the case of the Lard Family, it's compounded by the issues discussed in this thread.

Discuss.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:10, Reply)

*chucks in two penn'orth*
as a parent, it's my responsibility to ensure my kids grow up healthy. They've been vaccinated against everything possible. They are very very seldom ill.

My eldest daughter (14) is small and slight. At the doctor's the other week, for something totally unrelated to weight, she was questioned about her diet. I felt like a criminal. She's always been small (only 6 pound 6 at birth) and takes after me (5 foot not much and less than 8 stone).

We do eat healthy food - my bill for fruit and veg is shocking - but the kids stay small. It's genetic. The doctor still managed to make me feel like I wasn't feeding my daughter properly. Never bloody happy, are they?

That said, there are certainly more chubby kids at school these days than when I was young. I don't know what the answer is, but my own opinion is that lack of cooking skills doesn't help. You can nuke a ready meal in less time than it takes to peel the veg for a proper meal.

If the government can tax fags and booze to the hilt in an effort to reduce consumption, when do they hit Maccy D's?
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:11, Reply)

@ Madam M
My misanthropy of the fat among us is not a blanket disgust. I think of it more of a generic dislike due to my social conditioning. Nobody likes a fat sweaty slob and I'm no different. I do respect their right to the NHS as much as the next person, but I do object to paying extra money for my overweight baggage when the person sitting next to me is clearly 10 stone over their ideal weight.
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:19, Reply)

it's a difficult one to pin down
there could be many reasons why people have a dislike of or even fear of fat people.

I wouldn't say I have a problem with people such as those mentioned in the OP, but I agree with a lot of the sentiment in the replies and my reasoning is this:

as a teenager and into my 20s I was quite badly overweight, not to the extent of lots of sagging but still classed as obese.

I was never happy with this, never had much interest from the opposite sex, despite being intelligent, amusing and a good listener (all the things that women claim they want but don't, at least when they are young).

I have been losing weight steadily for the past few years through a combination of smoking, a good diet and exercise, but my diet was never particularly bad, and I always did at least some exercise in the past.

My large size was due in part to large portions (partly my fault, partly parents I guess) rather than junk, as well as a large bone structure.

The crux of this rambling spiel is that as someone who was fat and pretty much hated it, I can't stand to see others chowing down on completely unnecessary amounts of food, particularly food that is widely recognised as bad for you (edit: caveat credit to k2k6) especially bad for you in large quantities.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:29, Reply)

Folk pick on other folk because...
it's an easy way to feel better about yourself by feeling better than someone. Bullies, racists, tyrants, dictators etc...
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:32, Reply)

I agree with kev
on the airline luggage thing, as I've ranted about here before.

I also agree with Vipros's post above, but with the caveat that no food (at least that which is generally recognised as a foodstuff) is actually bad for you, per se.

It's the overconsumption of it that's bad. If you eliminate fat from your diet, you won't be very healthy. Especially if you're a growing child.

But all things in moderation. So long as you eat a balanced diet (including fat, protein, fibre, carbohydrates etc) and don't eat more than you need to live your daily lifestyle, then you're well on the way to being healthy.

Oh, and MM - give up the fags, eh? It's a revolting habit! :)
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:33, Reply)

Talking about fat
There is surprisingly little about the dangers of trans fats in the media here. These have been proven to raise levels of heart disease considerably and are banned in a number of countries. Why the UK hasn't already followed suite is a mystery.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat

Luckily beer & Jack with Coke is trans fat free so I think i'm safe.
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 14:40, Reply)

As far as I'm concerned
You are all still missing the point. What right do you have to tell someone how to live their lives? The amount of people who actually eat themselves to a point that they need to be cared for is minute, so that's a pretty poor point.

In the same way that I hate that bloody sinner winner guy for telling me that the way that I live my life is "wrong" compared to his own beliefs, I don't think anyone has the right to assume that just because someone is fat that they are unhappy and need help. Vipros- I'm sorry you had a bad time of being overweight, but surely part of that was feeling that you just didn't fit in.

TWW- I think taxing junk food is a great idea. If I have to pay for my inevitable lung cancer, then that seems fair enough. And I sympathise with your daughter- one of my friends at school was 6 foot tall and had a 23 inch waist, despite eating a tub of ice cream a day to try and put some meat on her.

And on another point, I'm very good with the fags. I never smoke around non smokers who don't want me to, and I am discrete when I have one. It's also a vice that has replaced something that was much more harmful to me in the long run, and I will give up when I feel that I am ready for it.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 15:01, Reply)

@MM: you make a good point generally
however, I did and still do have a lot of good friends, so I don't think it was not fitting in.

I suspect it's because I'm horribly vain....
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 15:04, Reply)

@MM
The problem with obesity is growing all the time. There's hospitals popping up in the States and even over here that cater strictly for the obese and their medical problems. When I was young you rarely saw anyone that was clinically obese. Sure they're were fat people about but even they were fairly fit. This has nothing to do with stopping free will, it's to do with putting a halt to the problems that we will face in the future if this epidemic gets any worse. In Japan their starting to see obesity on the rise due to the crap western food that's on offer there and no doubt China will go the same way.

Just as we need to sort out the problem of the starving world, we also need to address the problems of the greedy world.
( girlinthehole, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 15:22, Reply)

On a lighter note...
In order to help pay the costs of their health care, can clinically obese people be used as ballast?



EDIT, before anyone gets on their high horse, baz loves teh pie.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 15:32, Reply)

Lardism Part II
My comment earlier about a suggestion that medical treatment could be witheld from obese people until they lose weight was in response to a Radio 4 programme recently where a health authority in the Midlands has been doing just that - this is what happens when you post with just a couple of minutes of your lunchbreak spare!

We do have a very unhealthy attitude towards people with weight problems - of both ends of the scale. I recall sixteen years ago opening a copy of The Sun to see zoom lens pictures of Diana's cellulite on an ajacent page to a story about a young anorexic girl's tragic death.

You only need look at the scorn poured on Amy Winehouse for being both curvy and skeletal at avrious points in her career.

The other point I wish to make is that we live in a society where working parents seldom have time to prepare decent meals, it's easier to pick up something shrink wrapped and microwave it. Moreover, people on lower incomes are going to struggle to afford better diets, especially when the cost of living per se is on the upward march.

Taxing junk food is symptomatic of this government's short sighted response. The "If we make bad food expensive, the poor won't be able to afford it!" mantra only works if the alternatives are affordable too.

It's going to take education and some regulation on the food industry to sort the problems out, but I really don't think that introducing a large element of guilt to a problem which often has its roots in self esteem issues is going to help one iota.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 30 Jul 2008, 16:03, Reply)

@MM
This isn't about telling people how to live their lives.

I didn't say anything to that family. I didn't laugh or point or anything, I was just amazed that the mother would not only sanction such excessive consumption, but actually set the example in the first place.

I would (and have), however, say to friends and family about being overweight. In fact, I tell my dad that he needs to lay off the pies every time I see him.

@al: You'd think, with the popularity of 'celebrity' chefs that we'd be a nation of cooks who had mastered the art of making a meal out of raw ingredients we'd bought for only a fiver... it sadly appears as though this is far from the case.
( Moey, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 16:51, Reply)

@MM
I'm definitely not telling anyone how to live their lives, especially not fat people. I think we also need to clarify my definition of fat. I'm talking about the bloaters who have eaten their way into obesity through sheer lack of due care for their own well being. Overweight people who are off the scale in normal weight terms and are able to sustain small ecosystems in between their fat rolls.

I don't run up to them in the street and tell them to lose weight. I don't poke them in the stomach when I walk past. I don't sit at home on Fridays and write hate mail to Rik Waller. I don't have an obese voodoo dolls with a Dawn French mask on. I just don't like fat people who over massively obese. I have no issue anyone who's piled on a few pounds as that is the normal course of life, but if you have trouble squeezing into a chair at the movies then my brain will trip into fattist mode.
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 17:07, Reply)

At the end of the day
They are doing us all a favour, don't discourage them.

The cost of dealing with their various fat related disorders to the NHS before they cark out via massive heart attack in their late 40's or early 50's is utter peanuts compared to the cost of caring for a fit but senile patient sufferering dementia from their late 60's until god knows when.

Its the fit buggers who will bring the NHS down around our ears.

Smoker? .. by the time you die in your late 50's, mid 60's the NHS has made a very healthy profit from you via National insurence and tax on fags.

Fat bloke/lass .. again by the time you die an early death, the NHS is still well into the green on your lardy account after all those lovely taxes on fast foods and National health payments.

The real leaches on our society are the bastards who keep their bodies fit and end up dribbling into their porridge for 20 years at the taxpayers expense.

The Lard family is not the problem. Its the fit dribblers who will bankrupt us all in the next 30 years !
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 21:23, Reply)

Fuck it...
got here too late to say that MM's wisdom and insight beams across the Land of B3TA like a beacon of hope for humanity.

Or something to that effect.

MM - I concur.
( thealternativefact, Wed 30 Jul 2008, 23:42, Reply)