Anti-diet day Even the state discriminates fat

Many overweight people feel discriminated against in Germany
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04/05/2012

This coming Monday will take place „Anti-Diet Day“ instead of. Obese people want to protest against everyday discrimination of fat on this day. Diets harm people because the weight can not be maintained after a successful weight loss treatment. "The state also disadvantages overweight people", is the accusation of the initiative "Dicke Menschen e.V.".

Many overweight people are discriminated against in Germany. This is reported by the club „Fat people e.V.“ and accuse the federal government one „massive discrimination against overweight people“ in front. In almost every medical publication, overweight is dubbed a disease-causing condition. For example, it is said that obesity massively increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and gastrointestinal diseases. This is what overweight people apparently feel in everyday working life. In an interview, the club chairman Gisela Enders reported by „Fat people e.V.“, that the state assumes that full-blooded people have an increased disease risk. For this reason, they would often not be licensed, as Enders reported in Berlin. It would even happen that medical officers recommend those affected, „with a radical diet“ to lose weight first. Those same diets are considered harmful.

Diets are bad for your health
Such diets are healthier dangerous, as the overweight itself, so the club chairman. Such dietary radical cures are neither an aid to the state, which has then, as it were, a covert fat man, and certainly not for the person himself, "as Enders said before the 20th International Anti-Diet Day on May 6. An This day, thickness and non-thickness want to go against „Bodyismus“ and „thinness“ demonstrate and denounce the unequal treatment in society.

Health risk profile at the civil service
Opposite the news agency „DAPD“ The national chairman of the public health association, Thomas Menn, justified the practice. The medical officers want to help those affected. In addition, the decision on the official service is not based solely on the health data. Personal conversations are also decisive, Meen says. "Of course, if a person drops ten pounds in a month, I'm worried," the doctor said.

The duty of the medical profession is to eliminate as many risky factors as possible. People who have a higher BMI than 35, according to common opinion, an increased cardiovascular risk or hypertension. These factors play a role in balancing for the approval of a judicial officer.

Social stigma
According to Vice President of the German Obesity Society, Martina de Zwaan, people with weight problems are not only discriminated against, but are socially stigmatized. About those affected will „getuschelt“ and the charge was raised that overweight resulted from an insufficient willpower. As a result, obese people blame themselves for their suffering. The consequences: depression, hopelessness and resignation.

Disadvantages also in the job center
Enders reports that the prejudices and disadvantages also prevail in the job centers and employment agencies. If the unemployed person is fat, he is immediately put in the drawer „It's hard to say“ plugged. It will be in the offices „after the appearance and not after the qualification decided“. Many employers decide on job interviews in terms of thickness. In this context, Enders called for bodyweight to be included in EU anti-discrimination directives. „We urge European and national politicians to include discrimination based on body shapes in the respective anti-discrimination laws. And to first perceive that this form of discrimination takes place on an ongoing basis and has not yet been sanctioned socially“, It says in a resolution of the association.

More weight than before
Many of those affected are shifting from one diet to another. Nutritionists assume that about 80 to 90 percent increase after diets that promise a supposedly fast weight loss. „Not infrequently, they even weigh more after the yo-yo effect“, reports social worker Gritli Bertram. Zwaan also advises against dieting. "It's hardly possible to permanently reduce weight," she says. Advertisements promise people to lose 16 pounds in just a few weeks. Although this is indeed possible, but hardly anyone can keep the weight of long term thereafter. For this reason, it is important to take action on the anti-diet day. The problem is that there is a huge industry behind it ".

The association chairman therefore advises obese people to fundamentally change their lifestyle. Those who are overweight on average have good chances to maintain their weight in the longer term. Step by step, old habits should be thrown overboard and the composition of food restructured. Only in those who suffer from obesity with massive overweight, could also help a stomach op. But diets do not make any sense permanently and additionally harm your health.

The International Anti-Diet Day was first held in 1992 in England. Since then, May 6th is a day of action that highlights the dangers of dieting, informs about food cravings and their serious consequences, and promotes a healthy life, no matter how much weight. Actions are being carried out in many places around the world on this day. (Sb)