why the need to denounce the comment as mean? One could call the comment ignorant and prejudicial, but mean?

Yale released a study in 2006 that reported a list of disturbing trade-offs people would make in order to not be fat:.

The correlation between longer life, obesity, and health is a false notion. We live longer because of advances in medicine, not because we are healthier. People who are obese have shorter life spans than people who are not obese. There is nothing healthy about obesity. It is also true that just because a person is skinny does not mean they are healthy. Health is not strictly tied into weight and appearance, but it does have something to do with the food that we eat and the amount of exercise we get.

For everyone who doesn't want to sound un-PC: Look, we all know she IS too heavy. Hardly any obese people are that way because of medical issues. Overweight maybe. Not obese. Maybe she's one of the few... Its terribly hard on the body and expensive too. And its not a good example. The guy had a point. It was one email, it was not public. It was rude. It was not bullying. Goodness, friends and family tell us things we don't like all the time. Blown WAY out of proportion. I don't think this whole thing reflected as well on her as she thinks (obviously he's gotten an earful).

I agree fully with her. Some people have problems loosing weight because of health problems. I've been bullied my whole life and it hurts so much. I try not to let it show but it eats me up inside. I think your a beautiful thick woman and having the courage to stand up on air and give that statement was so inspiring. Thank you for being strong...

I was looking at photos from the Bond films, and you know what, the women in the early years would be considered fat by today's standards. Women wearing bikinis...with a little celulite on their thighs...and a bit of a tummy...and no six pack abs either! That was the standard my mom lived with as a tall, thin, small-breasted woman of the late 40's and early 50's. Even the female characters of the Mad Men series were asked to put on weight and they wear padding. So, what's health and not. When I was a teen and used to make myself vomit because all my girlfriends were 100lbs and I was 128, was that healthy? Sitting on the couch watching movies while eating chips and dip also isn't healthy. The problem and sin isn't that we're fat Americans, but that we're American obsessed with/by food - it's and idol/obsession - we think about food way too much and everything we do somehow surrounds food. Food is almost sexual - how it's viewed/described/thought of seems more appropriate to a lover than something chewed/swallowed/brokendown/pooped out. The food industry - not just fast food either, any restaurant - portions way too big. How do we change things? There are a lot of overweight people - how did there get to be so many? It's obsession/addiction to food, and as an inanimate object, we should not have a "relationship" with it.

Just because we've been conditioned to view overweight/obese people (particularly women) as undesireable and unhealthy, doesn't mean that they are, in fact, unhealthy or undesireable. Being "fat" isn't a sin. Really, it isn't. Find it in the Bible. I believe that 99% of the American population could certainly eat healthier and could certainly strive to be at peak "fitness" their entire lives -- unfortunately, this would likely preclude most other tasks. Those who are ultimately "fit" spend a huge amount of time, energy, and other resources on maintaining that lifestyle. So, you say, strive to be "tolerably healthy" or a "reasonable weight" -- and who is to judge what is reasonable? -- Oh, You do, for everyone else. Great. And there lies the problem when we set ourselves up to judge another person's lifestyle-- one that isn't sinful, but may be distasteful to our own sensabilities. Maybe then, we'll feel entitled to send them an email of our own.

I think her heart was right when she did this, because she addressed a very big problem: cyber bullying. I won't comment on whether she was fully justified, but I want to say that this is the kind of journalist I am touched by.

Being fat is a problem in America. ..... to pretend that America does not have a fat problem is to hide one's head in the sand. Not everyone can be slim and petite, but everyone should strive to be lean. Many who do not so strive end up fat." I agree with this 100%. And it's the average American's lifestyle - lots of TV, junk food, driving everywhere etc etc etc that is largely to blame. Has anyone SEEN the calorie counts of most fast food items??? This industry is getting filthy rich by selling you soft drinks the size of a regular water bucket, deep fried stuff with horrible ingredients and crazy fat content. I could go on. This should be illegal!! Many people simply cannot afford healthy, organic foods and the only option out there is KFC and similar junk. It is so sad. And the worst part is the children - when I was in grade school, there were two kids in my class that were slightly overweight. When I taught in an elementary classroom twenty years later - more than half of the kids were on the heavy side. And don't tell me that's healthier! Kids are being poisoned and no one seems to care!!!!

Biologically, men are attracted to the roundness of women ~ it's what makes them look different from men. Pop culture/fashion dictates that women be stick figures - ie, lose all their roundness and look like young boys. Why is that? Because most fashion designers are gay men and what are gay men attracted to? Young boys. Think about it. All this dieting, anorexia, and bullemia is caused by gay men trying to make women (who they do not desire) look like young boys (whom they do desire.) Why do women let sexual deviants determine what they should look like? God created women to be naturally rounder than men and that's what they should look like. And don't forget the other side of the coin - women who are naturally thin and not voluptuous are not safe either - the industry saw that there was a tiny part of the population they were missing out on selling anything to, so now the newest fashion industry tells them that they too are imperfect and sells them breast and buttocks implants. What a contradictory industry! It takes whatever you have and says you should want/have the opposite in order to be happy!! Reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode where everyone is forced to look exactly the same as everyone else.