The Other Side of Obesity-- A Follow-Up

Ruben Bailey of Your Average Horseplayer has opened a whole new world for Mike. Yesterday, in a note to my post about obesity, Why has obesity become such a problem in America? Bailey said...

You should check out this blog:
http://www.bigfatblog.com/

And also read this article from the cover of The Portland Business Journal about a local company on this subject: A man with big ideas (Portland Business Journal)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8538586/

It's interesting for everyone to be able to step back for a moment (or two) and look at issues/ideas/topics from the "other side," then we can truly begin to develop educated, informed, rational decisions.

At Big Fat Blog, you can register, only after you read and agree to these rules:

Big Fat Blog is a site devoted to fat acceptance. BFB provides a strong, supportive environment for those interested in issues related to fat people. But it is important to note that BFB is not a weight loss site of any kind; in fact, weight loss talk here is prohibited. Promoting weight loss and weight loss surgery is prohibited!

On July 12th, BFB posted about The Fat Business saying

It's always seemed so simple to me: there are a lot of fat people in this country, and we need the same goods and services that everyone else has. Yet the perpetual Forum threads on how x is so hard to find attests to the difficulties that we still face.

Which leads me to the Portland Business Journal Article and picked up by MSNBC. After Timothy Barry ballooned to 365 pounds,

"At every turn we are bombarded with news about how people are getting bigger, but nobody is accommodating the needs of these people."

Barry started SuperSizeWorld.com. SuperSizeWorld carries an amazing amount of merchandise that Mike or I hadn't given any thought about.
Things like:

Mega sized watch bands
headgear and bicycle helmets
bicycle seats and toilet seats
Mike liked Hangerzilla™

- this big hanger is special. With its 100 pound capacity, 23" width and 5" depth it can hold heavy leather coats, fur coats, full length lined top coats, diver wet suits or pretty much anything else that you can hang up on a hanger (the average hanger is 15-16 inches).

Even the funeral industry is recognizing that Americans are getting larger and the old caskets do not accomodate our sizes, so they came out with "double-wides".

I think the main thing that Mike takes away from Ruben Bailey, Big Fat Blog, and Timothy Barry is that there is a whole other world out there many are running from, and others are embracing. BFB really rants against the promotion of thin-ness that leads to unhealthy behavior, especially by young girls, who can't see their true selves when looking in a mirror.
Bev & Mike