Minister: GPs must say 'fat' – not 'obese'

By Jane Kirby

Thursday, 29 July 2010

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Doctors should tell people they are fat rather than obese so the message gets through, a health minister said.

Anne Milton said the term "fat" was more likely to motivate them to lose weight, adding it was important people took "responsibility" for their lifestyles.

She told the BBC: "If I think I am obese I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat."

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Guest

Perhaps we could start calling MPs with bad ideas ?stupid MPs?.
Christopher East

Ce n'est pas "gross"! Le mot est "gros" pour moi ou grosse pour ma concubine.
andy taylor

Home Secretary i fink
andy taylor

Why not just put them ( the fatties') in a room, lock the door ,then they can eat each other, the winner can be be spit roasted and served up on a TV show? No NHS money used, only for a mops and buckets from B & Q, , now thats an incentive surely.... Damn Channel 5 beat me again.......
vhawk1951

pass
True_Belle

Good stuff, Where is Eliza Doolittle nowadays?
vhawk1951

it is noteworthy that humans tend to feel negative towards anyone different from themselves. bizarrely the 'blame' them for being different. it's an abnormal an un becoming 'mechanical 'reaction, that sometimes manifests itself as hatred.

be they black, daft, short, crippled or fat, they are hated for it. very common in the playground but unbecoming in adults, supposedly beings of 'responsible' age, but incapable of 'responding' humanely. very odd beings, the beings of the planet earth. unique in our great Universe. uniquely nasty. all the other responsible beings of the Universe regard all other beings, regardless of exterior coating as their brothers, and love them as such. 'why' are the said beings so nasty? well may you ask that.it has to do with accidental events in their very distant past.
vhawk1951

ta, i thought it was jessie something, but thanks to you i have more precise knowledge. she was a funny lady. there is also and english story of a large woman in a train corridor who replied the same when the inspector tried to get past and suggested she turn sideways. lord luv ya ducks oi ent got no soideways:)
traineeangel

when it was suggested that the lady in question was Jessye Norman, she sued. On the other hand, Louisa Tetrazzini was happy to admit to having no sideways, but apparently never got stuck in a door.
Croydon

Calling someone fat won't automatically fill them with the urge to suddenly modify their behaviour. The thought of a box of fried chicken with chips and wings AND coleslaw AND a drink AND dessert is stronger than a three-letter word coming out of the mouth of your local friendly doctor. Imagine if a boss labelled an employee 'fat' and claimed it's now OK because they read it in the paper (the printed word can legitimise nearly anything) and they storm out of the job, only to take the company to a tribunal claiming victimisation.
John Paul B

Would it not be a good idea to base national insurance contributions on a family's average BMI that way fat families contribute their fair share towards their medical expenses?
cpfreeatlast

Maybe we should take it a step further and use the french word for fat; Gross.
Do_they_get_it

Will we also inform "fat" adults of working age that they will not be given state aid in order to be able to continue their vice? How pathetic giving people Incapacity Benefit because they can't keep their mouths shut, did anyone force them to shove thousands of calories per day down their gullets?? The same should go for alcoholics and drug addicts.

You should not get extra benefit for abusing your body but when all these people are thrown off sickness benefits, they should show as unemployed. It's about time that we had an unemployment figure that is at least somewhere near the true figure.

Liebour have got a lot to answer for, never before have so many been betrayed by so few.
ArfurSixpence

No, no, no! You can't label the 'corporally challenged' in this prejudicial manner. It's not their fault! Let's all continue to bury our heads in the sand and let the f*t b******s eat themselves into an early grave. They've got feelings, you know!
vhawk1951

GP's 'must? call a spade a spade. why not? we live in a world of euphemisms. why not say sir /madame you have no sideways? someone will remind me of the name of the famous American opera singer who so described herself, when advised to turn herself sideways when she was stuck in a revolving door at the royal opera house.