You may have seen this week that Oprah was back on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oprah-insists-obesity-is-a-disease-in-new-doc-touting-ozempic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">primetime</a> television. 
She hosted a special on Monday called &#8220;Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution.&#8221; Really, it was more of an infomercial for drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, which millions of Americans are taking to lose weight.
Previously, I&#8217;ve <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshShow/status/1661507373851131909" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gone into</a> the various side-effects of these drugs. Ozempic, for example, can potentially <a href="https://www.ozempic.com/important-safety-information.html#:~:text=It%20is%20not%20known%20if%20Ozempic%C2%AE%20will%20cause%20thyroid,type%202%20(MEN%202)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">cause</a> thyroid tumors, cancer, and projectile vomiting. Maybe even more alarming is that we also don&#8217;t really understand how these drugs work. Ozempic essentially tricks the pancreas into releasing more insulin. In turn, Ozempic&#8217;s artificially created hormones, &#8220;appear to actually bind to receptors on neurons in several parts of the brain,&#8221; <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/05/ozempic-addictive-behavior-drinking-smoking/674098/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a biologists quoted last year by The Atlantic. What do these hormones do when they bind to receptors in the brain? Apparently, they reduce people&#8217;s urge not simply to eat, but also to shop, and to engage in a range of other compulsive behaviors. If that&#8217;s true, no scientist in the world has any idea why it&#8217;s happening, or what other modifications this drug might be making to the brain. 
As if to prove that point, as recently as this month, the Atlantic published a follow-up piece <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/ozempic-glp1-weight-loss-brain-gut/677645/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entitled</a>, &#8220;The Science Behind Ozempic Was Wrong.&#8221;
It all sounds very much like an elixir, a wonder-drug that can magically solve all of your problems. But if you&#8217;re the cynical type — or if you just paid any attention at all to big pharma over the past few years — you might have some questions. These are the questions that Oprah&#8217;s infomercial on Monday was intended to address. And to be fair, some of the side effects did come up; one woman in the special said that she had to stop taking one of these weight-loss drugs due to the nausea symptoms, for example.
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But by and large, this was a puff-piece that centered on a lie. It&#8217;s a lie that Oprah repeated several times, and that every television medical expert in this country repeats as well. It&#8217;s the claim that obesity is a &#8220;disease,&#8221; rather than a symptom of poor life choices. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Oprah" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9YPZoLQd_xU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Oprah uses this idea that obesity is a &#8220;disease&#8221; to justify &#8220;treating&#8221; it with drugs instead of diet and exercise. This is an idea that, if you listen to medical experts, is something you&#8217;re not supposed to question. As you just heard from that CBS doctor: &#8220;It&#8217;s a chronic disease! Go to the C.D.C. website! Everybody will tell you the same thing! It&#8217;s just like asthma or diabetes!&#8221; And then everyone nods around the desk.
Except, obesity is nothing like asthma or diabetes, actually. People with obesity can cure themselves. That&#8217;s true in literally every case of obesity. You can lock someone in a room and feed them 1,000 calories of fruit every day, and they will be cured with one-hundred percent certainty. All you have to do is eat a healthy diet, and you&#8217;re cured. You can&#8217;t say the same for everyone with asthma or diabetes (at least not Type 1 diabetes). And if obesity is a disease, you’d need to explain why almost nobody in the country had this “disease” in the 1930s. And why nobody in Ethiopia has it today.
There seems to be a very curious correlation here. The “disease” of obesity only takes hold in places where people eat a lot of food and don’t get a lot of exercise. 
They say correlation isn’t causation, but I think in this case the causation is pretty clear. This is such an obvious, self-evident point that it made me wonder: When exactly did medical experts suddenly decide that obesity is a &#8220;disease,&#8221; and why did they do it? What definition were they using, exactly?
It turns out that the esteemed medical journal The Lancet has already answered this question. Back in 2013, the American Medical Association simply decided to arbitrarily classify obesity as a disease, even though they admitted that it didn&#8217;t meet the scientific definition of a disease. 
As <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370%2823%2900139-6/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Lancet</a> notes: 
<blockquote>A disease, by definition, needs to have characteristic symptoms and signs, and even though excess [body fat] is a characteristic sign, there are no symptoms that are unique to obesity. &#8230; The American Medical Association (AMA) applied a different approach to this conundrum in 2013. Instead of trying to determine whether obesity fits specific definitions of disease, the AMA used a utilitarian approach to determine whether the recognition of obesity as a disease would have a positive impact on the individual patient, the healthcare system, and the wider society.</blockquote>
In other words, they realized that obesity doesn&#8217;t meet the definition of a disease, because there are no unique symptoms that only obese people suffer from. But they just decided to call it a disease anyway, to raise awareness (otherwise known as, to sell more medications). That&#8217;s what one of the top medical journals in the world is admitting. And by the way, it wasn&#8217;t just the AMA that took this approach. The Lancet <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370%2823%2900139-6/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continues</a>: 
<blockquote>In the U.K., the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) recognised obesity as a disease in 2019. The main argument of RCP and those in favour of this recognition is that, unless obesity is defined as a disease, the funding for effective treatment options will be inadequate to stop its increasing prevalence and the health and socioeconomic costs associated with it.</blockquote>
This is almost too absurd to be real. But it is real. Leading medical associations all over the world decided to lie about obesity being a &#8220;disease,&#8221; and they admitted it out loud, and everyone just went along with it. We&#8217;re still seeing this today, of course, with nonsense like &#8220;Long COVID.&#8221; But with obesity, they just came out and told us they were lying. And no one saw a problem with it.
Take for example this remarkable clip from 2013, which is the year the AMA decided to just invent the idea that obesity is a disease. Watch as Charlie Rose asks the medical expert about this. You can tell Rose is a little confused as to why the AMA has suddenly made this decision out of nowhere. What &#8220;science&#8221; changed all of a sudden, Rose wanted to know, that explains why the AMA abruptly decided to label obesity as a disease? 
Watch how the in-house medical expert responds:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 AMA" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZxhITy-iKDM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It&#8217;s just one non-answer and non-sequitur after another. &#8220;It&#8217;s a disease because it hurts your body!&#8221; exclaims the T.V. doctor. But that&#8217;s not what a disease is. Shooting yourself in the foot would hurt your body, too. That doesn&#8217;t mean that shooting yourself in the foot is a disease. 
Drowning yourself in the river will hurt your body. But when they pull your corpse out of the water they aren’t going to say, “Wow, it looks like he died from the drowning disease.” It doesn’t make sense. So when Charlie Rose puts some more mild pressure on this guy, he just says, well, the AMA overwhelmingly agrees with me. So shut up and accept the fact that obesity is a disease. Science commands it. You don&#8217;t get to ask questions.
It&#8217;s not hard to see what&#8217;s going on here. The point is to medicalize the human condition and remove human agency by turning all vice into an illness. And in the process, big pharma makes a lot of money. It&#8217;s less clear why exactly anyone should take Oprah seriously concerning this topic. Back in December, Oprah <a href="https://people.com/oprah-winfrey-reveals-weight-loss-medication-exclusive-8414552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disclosed</a> that she has been taking a nonspecific weight-loss medication herself. More recently, just weeks before this primetime infomercial aired, Oprah <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/01/1235100405/after-nearly-a-decade-oprah-winfrey-is-set-to-depart-the-board-of-weightwatchers#:~:text=Oprah%20Winfrey%20plans%20on%20leaving,next%20shareholder%20meeting%20in%20May." target="_blank" rel="noopener">stepped aside</a> from her role on the board of Weight Watchers this month, claiming it could present a conflict of interest.
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In reality, the conflict is so obvious and so significant, that it completely undercuts the integrity of Oprah&#8217;s special, no matter what she does. Last year, Weight Watchers <a href="https://corporate.ww.com/news/news-details/2023/WW-International-Inc.-Completes-Acquisition-of-Sequence/default.aspx#:~:text=(NASDAQ%3A%20WW)%20(%E2%80%9C,specializing%20in%20chronic%20weight%20management." target="_blank" rel="noopener">purchased</a> a tele-health startup called Sequence that connects customers with doctors who are ready and willing to prescribe Ozempic. Weight Watchers realized that its model of preaching personal willpower and self-control was going out of style, so in a last-ditch effort to save the company, they started <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/14/business/weightwatchers-ozempic-weight-loss/index.html#:~:text=The%20support%20program%20is%20included,care%20physician%20if%20they%20prefer." target="_blank" rel="noopener">selling</a> $99-a-month subscriptions to connect their customers with these weight-loss drugs. Oprah was on the board of Weight Watchers during that period.
Given that background, it&#8217;s hard to be impressed with the fact that Oprah left Weight Watchers&#8217; board *right before* airing a special that stands to benefit both Weight Watchers and their new partners in big pharma. This would be a little like Hunter Biden suddenly leaving his extremely well-paying job on the board of a Ukrainian oil company, a few days before flying Joe Biden into Kiev on a private jet to fire the attorney general looking into the oil company. It doesn&#8217;t really look good, under any circumstances.
But the possibility that Oprah is a corrupt saleswoman isn&#8217;t really the story here. Everyone knew that already. The fact that virtually every medical expert in the country has been lying to you about obesity is the story. It&#8217;s not a disease. It&#8217;s not a chronic disorder that only some miracle drug can fix. That whole idea is a scam — one that the AMA deliberately started spreading more than a decade ago. And everything we&#8217;ve heard from the medical community since — including this transparent, cringeworthy Oprah infomercial this week — has been designed to perpetuate that scam. They want you to believe you don&#8217;t have any agency over your body or your life, so they can sell you a supply of drugs that cost $1,000 a month. Don&#8217;t fall for it.

Oprah Winfrey

Virtually Every Medical Expert Is Lying To You About Obesity. Here’s The Proof.

Virtually Every Medical Expert Is Lying To You About Obesity. Here's The Proof.

Drugs

Matt Walsh

Medical

Obesity

Opinion

Overweight

Readers Pass

TV host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/oprah-winfrey">Oprah Winfrey</a> is fully on board with Ozempic, insisting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">obesity</a> is a disease and should be treated as such.
The 70-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">celebrity</a> has talked about her struggle with weight for decades and served on the board of Weight Watchers for nearly 10 years. Earlier this year, Winfrey admitted to using semaglutide injections for weight loss and expressed her desire to reduce the stigma associated with them.
On Monday night, the ABC special “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution” further defended the use of medication such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound to aid with weight loss, per <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oprah-remarks-weight-loss_n_65f9c06ce4b0947e42005230">HuffPost</a>.
During the special, Winfrey said people should “stop the shaming and blaming” of individuals and themselves for weight gain because they could be battling a food addiction “disease” much like alcoholism. 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution - MONDAY 8/7c on ABC" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wcoWD5IpqCs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it’s in the brain,” Winfrey said.
The talk show host also discussed her past struggle with maintaining a healthy weight, saying, “I have to say that I took on the shame that the world gave to me. For 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport.”
She brought up the infamous moment in 1988 when she showed off 67 pounds of animal fat on camera to portray the amount of weight she had lost. But now Winfrey says she didn’t take weight off in a healthy way at the time, but rather opted to “starve” herself.
“After losing 67 pounds on liquid diet, the next day, the very next day, I started to gain it back,” she said. 
During the special, Winfrey interviews individuals who have used semaglutide drugs for weight loss. She also speaks with doctors to assess the safety of taking the drugs long-term.
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“All these years, I thought all of the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower, and they were for some reason stronger than me,” Winfrey said during the special, per <a href="https://time.com/6958224/oprah-weight-loss-special-ozempic/">Time</a>. She said taking these types of drugs had made her stop obsessing about food all the time. While Winfrey admits to taking the medication, she has not publicly revealed the specific brand she uses. 
This type of medication, which is usually prescribed to treat Type II diabetes, has exploded in popularity as it slows gastric emptying, leading to users feeling fuller for longer. Many users report a long-lasting feeling of satiety which curbs their appetite significantly, leading to weight loss results.
There are also reports of unpleasant side effects from taking the medication, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doctors-sound-alarm-over-latest-ozempic-risk">including</a> a potential risk of thyroid tumors and cancer associated with Ozempic, according to studies done with rodents. More common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation, while more severe side effects of Ozempic and other similar drugs include gastroparesis, allergic reactions, changes in vision, and pancreatitis.
Some doctors may prescribe Ozempic to help individuals without diabetes lose weight, but this use is considered “off-label” because the drug is not FDA-approved for weight management. Also, studies show that users who stop using the drug regain the weight they lost in three to five years.
Winfrey closed the special by saying semaglutide drugs are not for everyone. She said, “for the people who think that this could be the relief and support and freedom…that you’ve been looking for your whole life… bless you.”

Oprah Insists Obesity Is A ‘Disease’ In New Doc Touting Ozempic

Oprah Insists Obesity Is A 'Disease' In The Brain In New Doc Touting Ozempic

Celebrities

Entertainment

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oprah-defends-her-use-of-weight-loss-medication-obesity-is-a-disease" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oprah Winfrey</a> will host an ABC special focusing on the popularity of Ozempic as a weight loss drug, which she has called a &#8220;personal topic&#8221; for her.
The 69-year-old billionaire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">TV personality</a> — who has been open in the past about her weight loss struggles and has defended using the medication (which is intended as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes) to lose weight — will host &#8220;An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution&#8221; in front of a live studio audience, <a href="https://www.accessonline.com/articles/oprah-winfrey-to-host-tv-special-on-ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-personal-topic-for-me">Access Hollywood</a> reported.
&#8220;It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity,&#8221; Winfrey said in a statement.
&#8220;This special will bring together medical experts, leaders in the space and people in the day-to-day struggle to talk about health equity and obesity with the intention to ultimately release the shame, judgment and stigma surrounding weight,&#8221; she added.
According to a press release from ABC,  the event will gather together &#8220;leading medical experts and everyday people&#8221; to discuss the &#8220;prevailing questions and concerns surrounding the impact on our health care, economy, lifestyle and culture.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Oprah Winfrey hosting Ozempic TV special after WeightWatchers controversy: ‘A very personal topic for me’ <a href="https://t.co/pkqmeneUIN">https://t.co/pkqmeneUIN</a> <a href="https://t.co/FthG04rujk">pic.twitter.com/FthG04rujk</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1765874838957080706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich said in a statement, &#8220;We are thrilled to work with Oprah and the voices she has assembled to open a dialogue that destigmatizes and educates viewers on the important and polarizing topic of weight loss.&#8221;
&#8220;I can think of no one better to lead this meaningful conversation about such a critical issue that touches all of our lives,&#8221; his statement added.
Winfrey recently opened up about her decades-long weight loss struggle and said she&#8217;s done with &#8220;shaming&#8221; and blaming herself, <a href="https://people.com/oprah-winfrey-reveals-weight-loss-medication-exclusive-8414552">People magazine</a> reported.
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&#8220;It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,&#8221; the media mogul said of the media&#8217;s reporting on her fluctuating weight over the years. &#8220;I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.&#8221;
&#8220;I now use it [Ozempic] as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,&#8221; she added. &#8220;The fact that there&#8217;s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,&#8221; Winfrey continued. 
The primetime special will air Monday, March 18 at 8 PM on ABC and premiere on Hulu the following day, the outlet noted.

‘Personal Topic For Me’: Oprah Winfrey Hosting Special About Popularity Of Using Ozempic For Weight Loss

Pop singer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kelly-clarkson">Kelly Clarkson</a> recently discussed the conversation she had with her doctor which prompted her to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">lose weight</a>.
The 41-year-old made the revelation during a recent episode of her eponymous talk show while responding to guest Kevin James, who mentioned how great she was looking.
“Well, I was told I was pre-diabetic,” Clarkson responded with a laugh, per <a href="https://people.com/kelly-clarkson-says-pre-diabetic-diagnosis-prompted-her-weight-loss-8555725">People</a>. “That’s literally what happened… and well, I wasn’t shocked. I was a tiny bit overweight.”
“But I wasn’t shocked by it,” the “Because of You” singer added. “They were like, ‘You’re pre-diabetic. You’re right on the borderline.’ And I was like, ‘But I&#8217;m not there yet.’ And then I waited two years and then I was like OK, I’ll do something about it.”
Clarkson had previously spoken to People about how she achieved her <a href="https://www.today.com/health/kelly-clarkson-weight-loss-rcna131969">near 40 pound</a> weight loss, which she attributed to staying active and increasing her protein intake.
“We go walk the dogs a few times at the park. We&#8217;ll go for ice cream because my daughter will wear me down. We&#8217;ll go make slime and we go to the museum,”  the mom of two said, speaking of how she gets to exercise with her two children, 9-year-old River Rose and 7-year-old Remington Alexander. 
“Walking in the city is quite the workout. And I’m really into infrared saunas right now. And I just got a cold plunge because everybody wore me down,” she continued. 
Clarkson explained her eating habits, too. “I eat a healthy mix. I dropped weight because I’ve been listening to my doctor — a couple years I didn’t,” she said. “And 90 percent of the time I’m really good at it because a protein diet is good for me anyway. I’m a Texas girl, so I like meat — sorry, vegetarians in the world!”
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“But I still splurge. The other night I had a frozen yogurt with my daughter, and it was magical,&#8221; Clarkson admitted.
Despite being overweight at different points during her career, Clarkson said it didn’t hinder her opportunities. “I got on the No. 1 television show at my heaviest point, because it was right after I had kids, and it was like they didn’t care,” Clarkson told <a href="https://www.today.com/series/love-your-body/i-can-t-compete-kelly-clarkson-being-body-shamed-t184435">Glamour UK</a> in 2020. 
“Paul (Telegdy, chairman of NBC Entertainment) hired me from NBC because he loved my personality, he loved that I connect with people and I’m really raw and real. It had nothing to do with my sex appeal or my look aesthetically. It had to do with me as a person. I think it’s really up to artists to force people to have that mentality.”

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson Reveals Health Diagnosis Which Prompted Her To Lose Weight

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/plastic-surgery">Plastic surgeon</a> Terry Dubrow, who became nationally recognized during his time on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/reality-tv">reality show</a> “Botched,” called the semaglutide <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">Ozempic</a> a “miracle” but still said he decided to quit using it.
The 65-year-old reality star discussed his experience with the popular drug during a recent interview with <a href="https://pagesix.com/2024/01/19/entertainment/dr-terry-dubrow-tried-ozempic-quit-because-he-missed-joy-of-eating/">Page Six</a>.
“I’ve tried it. I thought it was amazing,” Dubrow told the outlet. “I didn’t have that much weight to lose. But I wanted to try it because so many of my patients were on it and I wanted to see what it was like when you’re not diabetic and you only have 10-15 pounds to lose.”
Though some users report serious side effects, the famous plastic surgeon said he only experienced “low-grade nausea” while taking the medication. Dubrow said even though he stopped using Ozempic, he remains a “huge fan.”
“I think it’s a miracle,” he said of the medication. “The biggest breakthrough in medical history.”
Ultimately, Dubrow opted to stop using the medication because he found his reduced appetite less than appealing ahead of the holiday season.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I kind of want to get my appetite back. The holidays are coming, I want to enjoy myself,’” he told Page Six.
“You go on vacation, maybe you don’t exercise, you eat too much,” he added. “It was kind of like, ‘Well, I want to go on a food vacation,’ meaning I want to be able to eat again cause it really took my appetite and all the joy of eating away.”
The “Botched” star also issued a few words of warning for those considering trying Ozempic.
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“You can’t drink on it,” Dubrow said. “You’ve got to be really careful with alcohol because people are being put in the hospital with pancreatitis.”
He continued, “For patients who want to try [Ozempic], you have to realize your skin is going to loosen up a lot faster,” he explained. “You are going to lose lean muscle mass. You have to increase your protein, you have to work out.”
Ozempic is a medicine made for people with type 2 diabetes. It&#8217;s a weekly injection that helps lower blood sugar by helping the pancreas make more insulin. It is not approved for weight loss, but some physicians prescribe it for that purpose anyway as it causes users to have significantly reduced appetites, which in turn causes them to drop pounds quickly. 
Many celebrities, including Oprah and Sharon Osbourne, have admitted to using Ozempic to lose weight, while others, like Jillian Michaels, have warned against the harmful side effects.

Terry Dubrow

‘Botched’ Plastic Surgeon Calls Ozempic A ‘Miracle,’ But Says He Quit It To Reclaim ‘Joy Of Eating’

'Botched' Plastic Surgeon Calls Ozempic A 'Miracle,' But Says He Quit It To Reclaim 'Joy Of Eating'

Reality TV

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s conversation with physician and longevity expert Peter Attia about the benefits of exercise, even from just three hours a week. You can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/wecewcwe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/trttrt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch</a> the full podcast episode on DailyWire+.
Start time: 04:07
Jordan Peterson: A long while back I was looking at interventions to improve people&#8217;s lives, and I knew at that point cognitive decline was a major problem, especially in terms of productivity and general competence. It is a pretty pronounced linear downhill trend on the fluid intelligence front from about the age of 25 forward, and that can decline precipitously in the late 70s and early 80s, especially with the onset of degenerative neurological diseases. I was looking at the literature on cognitive remediation. This was about 10 or 15 years ago when there were a lot of online sites that purported to run you through cognitive exercises that could increase or maintain your IQ. There has never been any evidence for that, by the way. It is pretty damn dismal literature. But what I did find, and I think this is extremely solid, is that if you want to maintain your cognitive function, both cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting seem to do a pretty damn good job. Maybe that is because the brain is such an oxygen demanding organ. It is energy demanding and resource demanding in other ways, and if you can keep yourself cardiovascularly fit, interestingly enough, that is the best pathway to cognitive health.
Then I looked on the psychological side and found there were interventions that helped people get their story straight. Of course, psychotherapy is one of those, but there are also written interventions. If people write about their past, about their past traumas, and if they write about their future plans, they reduce general uncertainty that reduces their stress, and that seems to produce a relatively pronounced physiological benefit. So there is an interesting interplay there in terms of the emotional and the physical. It is pretty funny that if you want to improve your cognitive function or maintain it, you should exercise rather than think, and if you want to improve your physiology, you should straighten out your story and face your traumas rather than, say, exercise. 
What do you recommend in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Outlive-Science-Art-Longevity/dp/B0B64WL9PK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BSJCHG0XLE4G&amp;keywords=outlive&amp;qid=1705523336&amp;sprefix=outlive%2Caps%2C105&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">your book Outlive</a> with regard to the expansion of health span? What do you think? And how do you practice this personally? What do you recommend to people? 
Peter Attia: I think that exercise is empirically the most valuable tool we have for both the cognitive and physical components. So let&#8217;s start with the cognitive because I think it was less intuitive. So about 10 years ago when I really went down this rabbit hole, I had one of my research analysts spend a lot of time going through the literature, so we created a framework where we were going to look at every single intervention and how it impacted executive function, processing speed, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Those were the four metrics we cared about because, as you point out, those are all bits of intelligence that decline with age.
We looked at everything. We looked at every molecule. We looked at every possible thing that you could think of. And after about nine months of this, the thing that stood out above all else — beyond any diet, beyond the importance of sleep, and other things that certainly mattered, controlling blood pressure, lipids, et cetera — was exercise. And even though I was a lifelong exerciser and love to exercise, I just couldn&#8217;t believe it. It seemed so trite that exercise could have such a profound difference on the state of cognition, not just in terms of its performance as effectively a no trophic, but also in its ability to delay — if not outright prevent — dementia.
Once we dug into the mechanisms, I think it became clear why exercise is so potent, and it&#8217;s basically that it is acting on so many different levels. So as you pointed out, it&#8217;s acting at a metabolic level. The brain is such an energy demanding organ, as you know and maybe your listeners do, it weighs about 2% of your body weight and it&#8217;s responsible for 20 to 25% of your energy consumption. Therefore, anything that disrupts that is catastrophic. When you look at the improvements in glucose disposal, insulin sensitivity, and all metabolic parameters, exercise is the most important tool we have there. When you look at the reduction of inflammation, vascular health improvements, again, exercise stands alone. When you look at the production of neurotrophic growth factors such as BDNF, again, exercise is basically a drug for neurons.
I think I eventually came around after a year or so to realize that, again, as simple as it sounds, exercise is such a potent tool. And you look at the brains of people who exercise a lot and you can see far less damage, not just microvascularly, but in terms of brain volume lost over time.
Jordan Peterson: So let&#8217;s talk about exercise from the perspective of a behavioral psychologist. One of the things you learn as a behavioral psychologist is that it is very difficult for people to change their attitudes or their actions, and it is very difficult for people to change their lives. We all know this because we might tell ourselves, for example, to exercise, and we might be well supplied with arguments for why that is a good idea, but that does not necessarily mean we learn how to incorporate an exercise routine into our lives.
There are many reasons for that, one being that exercise is difficult, but it is also often the case that people do not form a strategy and break the problem down into steps that are simple enough to actually implement. They think things like, “Well, I&#8217;ll go to the gym two hours a day, three times a week, and I&#8217;ll start that next week.” The truth of the matter is they do not have six hours to spend, and they cannot tell themselves what to do anyway.
So as a behavioral psychologist, you look at the simplest possible change that produces the maximum possible benefit. For example, if people want to begin to implement an exercise routine, like maybe a daily walk of 10 minutes in the morning, where would you start someone?
Peter Attia: So it completely depends on their baseline. But based on your question, I&#8217;m going to take it as we&#8217;re talking about someone who&#8217;s doing no exercise. The good news is, first of all — and I accept the fact that not everybody is swayed by data, but I at least want to put it out there — if you&#8217;re a person who&#8217;s in the “doing zero exercise per week” camp, the very good news is the benefit you get from going from zero to three hours a week is a greater benefit than anyone gets along the exercise curve. So taking someone who&#8217;s at five hours and taking them to 15 will produce less relative benefit than going from zero to three. So in other words, I want that person to see some real incentive for making this change.
Secondly, I&#8217;ll put some numbers to it. So going from no exercise to three hours a week approximately reduces your all cause mortality — that is to say, death — by every cause by 50% at any moment in time. So if you&#8217;re standing there asking, what&#8217;s the probability I&#8217;m going to die this year? Well, we can sort of actuarially figure that out. You get to cut that number in half by simply going from zero to three hours of exercise a week if you&#8217;re a non-exerciser. So again, there&#8217;s going to be a subset of people for whom that&#8217;s a very powerful piece of information they didn&#8217;t know.
Then what I would say is, how do you do that? I agree with you that you&#8217;re much better off trying to do 30 minutes six times a week than three hours once a day or two hours, you know, in whatever fashion. What I would say is the most effective way to do that is probably about 90 minutes of low intensity cardio. And for a person who&#8217;s not particularly fit, that&#8217;s going to amount to just brisk walking. Rather than tell them what to do, I tell them how to feel when they&#8217;re doing it. So what you want to feel is out of breath enough that you can barely carry out a conversation, but you could if you had to, but not so out of breath that you can&#8217;t carry on a conversation and not so easy that you can speak easily. So there is that sweet spot in there. Physiologically, we call that zone two, but I&#8217;m not going to bore them with that nomenclature. It&#8217;s just basically 90 minutes to, say, three times 30 or two times 45 a week where you&#8217;re just out of breath enough that you don&#8217;t want to talk, but you could if you had to. That&#8217;s part one.
Jordan Peterson: So you push yourself past, or slightly past, your simple level of comfort. Then let me push on you a bit with regards to three hours a week, again, from the perspective of taking someone from zero to somewhere. You talked about the benefits of walking, something approximating 20 to 25 minutes a day, that can be dispersed out various ways. You also mentioned two 45-minute sessions or three 30-minute sessions. What would happen if someone goes from zero to like 10 minutes a day or an hour a week? Where do the benefits of that 3 hours kick in?
Peter Attia: Yes, that&#8217;s a great question. I don&#8217;t think we have the fidelity of the data at that level because you generally don&#8217;t push enough of a conditioning benefit. But I think what you&#8217;re getting at, and we do this as well, is you want to separate between the behavior change and the physiologic change. James Clear has written a lot about this, but I think a lot of people have come to the same conclusion with any behavior change. If it&#8217;s a person who&#8217;s never done anything, you&#8217;re right; the answer might be for every day when you wake up in the morning, rather than your normal routine of jumping in front of the computer, I want you to go and walk around the block once. It&#8217;ll take four minutes. I don&#8217;t want to represent [that] you&#8217;re going to get a physiologic benefit from that. You probably won&#8217;t.
But what you will get is, you&#8217;re going to start to reset a behavior which is, “Aha, the first thing I do in the morning now is this other thing,” and we’ll slowly increase that and at some point you will get a physiologic benefit. But what we&#8217;re doing is planting the seed of how to change the behavior.
* * *
To hear the rest of the conversation, continue by listening or watching this episode on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch">DailyWire+</a>. 
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson">watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

Screenshot 2024-01-18 at 3.41.30 PM (2) copy

A Practical Approach To Living Longer With Improved Health

Health

Jordan Peterson

Psychology

Former “Biggest Loser” trainer and fitness coach <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jillian-michaels">Jillian Michaels</a> warned against the dangers of the semaglutide injection drug Ozempic, which is primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes but is frequently used for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">weight loss</a>.
Ozempic has become a popular pick among <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">celebrities</a> for weight loss, with big-name stars, including Sharon Osbourne and Oprah, admitting to using the drug to drop pounds. But Michaels cautions users about some of the drug’s side effects, which she says outweigh the benefits.
&#8220;If it was the easy way out, I would recommend it,&#8221; the 49-year-old fitness coach <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/biggest-loser-star-jillian-michaels-warns-against-ozempic-use-these-celebrities-are-not-health-experts">told</a> Fox News Digital during an interview published Wednesday. &#8220;I&#8217;d be like, ‘Fantastic, let me get in the business. Let me get my app on board. Let me sell these drugs through my app.’ Just like Weight Watchers.&#8221;
&#8220;Of course, I would get in line and profit like crazy if I didn&#8217;t really believe these things were bad, based on the research that&#8217;s already out there,&#8221; Michaels added.
The “Biggest Loser” trainer cautioned people against taking health advice from untrained celebrities.
“All these celebrities are not health experts,&#8221; Michaels told Fox News. &#8220;They&#8217;re not nutritionists. They&#8217;re not fitness experts. And they don&#8217;t spend all day talking to doctors.&#8221;
She continued, saying, &#8220;Every medication, whether it&#8217;s antibiotics or vaccines, have a cost-benefit analysis. They all have side effects. So, when we look at Ozempic and all of those drugs there are many side effects from extremely nefarious to just absolutely sh***y, no pun intended.&#8221;
Michaels mentioned both common and serious <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/users-say-ozempic-causing-one-really-gross-side-effect">side effects</a> associated with semaglutide, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, pancreatitis, changes in vision, kidney issues, and gallbladder problems.
She also mentioned a phenomenon that’s been nicknamed “Ozempic face.” This happens when a person using the drug loses weight too quickly, which results in sagging skin, especially in the face. 
Finally, the fitness coach pointed out how people who use Ozempic for weight loss will need to stay on the medication to maintain the benefits if they don’t change their lifestyle. She argues that since the medication is an appetite suppressant, the same results can be achieved without resorting to using Ozempic.
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&#8220;Here&#8217;s the problem with this: [It’s] that you can never get off these drugs. If you do get off of them, all of the meta-analysis shows us that you will gain all the weight back, and then some, two-thirds of it within the first year,&#8221; Michaels told the outlet.
&#8220;You will plateau on Ozempic. It will stop working right around the 18-month to two-year mark. It&#8217;s going to stop working. Now what are you going to do? Because now you&#8217;re literally beholden to it. It&#8217;s expensive. Insurance isn&#8217;t going to cover it forever. Are you going to be on it forever? So, we don&#8217;t even know what this looks like five years down the road, ten years down the road.&#8221;
&#8220;It has proven what I&#8217;ve been saying for three decades, calories in, calories out is weight loss. Health is a different conversation, but it facilitates weight loss,” she said. 
&#8220;Second thing, we know that women and men of all ages can lose weight because most of these people on Ozempic are 40-plus. And they’re shrinking, so it looks like you can still lose weight if you’re eating less food.&#8221;

Jillian Michaels

Fitness Star Jillian Michaels Warns Against Ozempic Use, Calls Side Effects ‘Extremely Nefarious’

Fitness Star Jillian Michaels Warns Against Ozempic Use, Calls Side Effects 'Extremely Nefarious'

Ivy League doctors say that obesity constitutes a new normal for Americans, classifying it as a chronic disease that requires perpetual drug intervention.
In a <a href="https://www.medscape.com/mtv/obesity-s01/e03">six-part series</a> on Medscape, “Treating Obesity: Confronting a New Normal,” doctors from the Harvard, Yale, and Rutger medical schools made the case that obesity doesn’t stem from behavioral issues. One of the doctors, Yale School of Medicine professor Ania Jastreboff, said that the traditional understanding of eating less and exercising more had no effect on reversing or preventing obesity. 
“Obesity is not a personal choice,” said Jastreboff. “For years, the advice was that our patients needed to ‘eat less and move more.’ That does not work.”
Harvard Medical School professor David Ludwig dismissed the “Western” viewpoint of obesity as a consequence of weak character. 
“Western culture has considered obesity a character problem. Obesity is simply a matter of eating less and moving more, and if you can’t do it, it’s a lack of character or discipline. When in reality, obesity is more about biology than behavior,” said Ludwig. “We need to think about nutrition as we think about drugs.”
In the latest episode, the doctors touted drugs as the cure to obesity. They discussed the injectable appetite suppressant semaglutide, the weight loss drug <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doctors-sound-alarm-over-latest-ozempic-risk">popularized</a> by celebrities under the brands Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as a similar drug, tirzepatide (Mounjaro).
“I think we’re in an incredibly exciting time,” said Jastreboff. “We had tools previously to treat patients with obesity. But now we have new, highly effective and safe medications that target disease pathophysiology.”
In order to keep the weight off once lost, however, the doctors said that individuals have to take the drugs in perpetuity.
“One of the most common questions that I get, whether it’s from my colleagues or my patients, is ‘Well, I took this medication, I have lost the weight, can I stop taking the medicine? Am I all done?’” said Jastreboff. “And the answer is no, you have to keep taking the medicine.”
Chika Anekwe, an obesity medicine doctor with the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center, concurred.
“Once you started a medication, we expect that you would stay on it long-term in order to both lose and maintain that weight loss over time,” said Anekwe. 
Although the doctors dismissed personal choice as a factor for obesity, the doctors blamed obesity on poor food choices. 
The doctors classified America as an obesogenic environment: a prevalence of highly-processed and palatable foods, sedentary and high stress lifestyles, and poor sleep. The doctors indicated that the transition to remote work and education during the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the obesogenic environment. 
They linked modern obesity rates to the Nixon administration’s overhaul of agriculture under then-Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, who led the mass industrialization of two key ingredients in highly processed foods: soy and corn. The doctors said Butz’s leadership resulted in the massive proliferation of junk foods: processed foods that are easily digestible and consisting of simple sugars.
Rutgers professor Ronald Weiss noted that processed foods hijack “true hunger drives” developed through evolutionary processes: the more junk foods are consumed, the greater an individual&#8217;s desire for them. 
“I think the most dangerous drug on earth is food. Addictive foods are so pervasive — they’re everywhere,” said Weiss.
The doctors blamed highly-processed foods for creating negative peptide hormonal feedback loops, as well as disrupting the flow of insulin and glucagon. Ludwig said that these foods cause fat cells to hold onto too many calories while starving the brain and other parts of the body, resulting in an individual eating more to feel full; Ludwig said that fasting would be futile in these cases.
The American Medical Association (AMA) <a href="https://policysearch.ama-assn.org/policyfinder/detail/obesity?uri=/AMADoc/HOD.xml-0-3858.xml">recognized</a> obesity as a chronic health condition in 2013. Over 40 percent of American adults and 20 percent of children <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm">qualify</a> as obese.

Fast Food Restaurants Remain Firm Favourites With UK Consumers

Ivy League Doctors: Obesity Is the ‘New Normal’

Doctors

Ivy League

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southwest-airlines">Southwest Airlines</a> is going viral for their company-wide “<a href="https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/extra-seat-policy">Customer of Size</a>” policy, which allows overweight <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/air-travel">travelers</a> to potentially get extra seats for free if they don’t fit.
The policy states that customers who “encroach upon any part of the neighboring seat(s)” may purchase however many extra seats they need. Those passengers can then request a refund after travel, <a href="https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/extra-seat-policy">according</a> to their website.
Southwest says the policy isn’t focused on just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">weight</a>, but applies to anyone who doesn’t fit in the seat because of their body type. The space is determined by the placement of armrests. 
“The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats,” the policy says. “If you’re unable to lower both armrests and/or encroach upon any portion of a seat next to you, you need a second seat. Our policy does not focus on weight.”
“The purchase of additional seats serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to adequately plan for the number of occupied seats onboard,&#8221; the policy continues. “It also helps us ensure we can accommodate all customers on the flight for which they purchased a ticket and avoid asking customers to relinquish their seats for unplanned accommodation.”
A TikTok influencer named Kimmy Garris, who calls herself a “fat solo traveler,” posted a video of herself boarding a Southwest plane in October and asking about their policy for overweight passengers. The customer service agent can be seen giving Garris an extra ticket, which the TikTok user said “should be the industry norm.”
But unlike Garris, many social media users were annoyed by the policy. 
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“Rewarding bad behavior. Society is regressing,” one person <a href="https://twitter.com/lifegripper/status/1735704204675776818">wrote</a>.
“Fat supremacy in action,” another commenter agreed.
Many comments questioned whether tall travelers would get extra perks as well.
“I presume this means that tall people will be upgraded to Business Select class for free, then, [SouthwestAir]?” another person <a href="https://twitter.com/Hilohaw/status/1735696866321600721">asked</a>.
Most social media users worried that the airline giving away free seats to certain passengers would result in ticket prices going up for everyone else.

Southwest

Southwest Trashed For ‘Customer Of Size’ Policy Which Gives Free Seats To Overweight Travelers

Southwest Trashed For 'Customer of Size' Policy Which Gives Free Seats To Overweight Travelers

Air Travel

Airplane

Southwest Airlines

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/oprah-winfrey">Oprah Winfrey</a> defended her use of weight loss medication on occasion, saying “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">obesity</a> is a disease” and is not due to a person’s lack of willpower.
The 69-year-old billionaire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">TV personality</a> has publicly discussed her weight loss struggles for decades. She most recently shared her thoughts during an interview with <a href="https://people.com/oprah-winfrey-reveals-weight-loss-medication-exclusive-8414552">People</a> that was published Wednesday.
&#8220;It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,&#8221; she said of the media’s fixation on her fluctuating weight over the years. &#8220;I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.&#8221;
Winfrey said that after “five decades” of obsessing over losing weight and “believing willpower” was her “failing,” she experienced a turning point after undergoing knee surgery in 2021.
&#8220;After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends,&#8221; the TV talk show host told People. &#8220;I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.&#8221;
Of her eating habits these days, Winfrey said, &#8220;I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.&#8221;
&#8220;I was actually recommending [the medication] to people long before I was on it myself,” she added.
Winfrey said she changed her thinking about the use of weight loss medication during a panel discussion called “The State of Weight,” which is part of Oprah Daily’s “Life You Want” series.
&#8220;I had the biggest aha along with many people in that audience,&#8221; she said of doing the panel in July. &#8220;I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control.&#8221;
&#8220;Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it&#8217;s about the brain,&#8221; Winfrey told People. 
As for using weight loss medication herself, the media mogul said she let go of “shame” when she started using it. She also didn’t disclose which specific one she’s been using. 
&#8220;I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,&#8221; Winfrey told the outlet. 
&#8220;The fact that there&#8217;s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for. I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.&#8221;
She explained how she utilized the medication ahead of Thanksgiving, for example. &#8220;Because I knew I was going to have two solid weeks of eating,&#8221; Winfrey said, adding that &#8220;instead of gaining eight pounds like I did last year, I gained half a pound.&#8221;
&#8220;It quiets the food noise,&#8221; she said.

Oprah Defends Her Use Of Weight Loss Medication: ‘Obesity Is A Disease’

Oprah Defends Her Use Of Weight Loss Medication: 'Obesity Is A Disease'

Without a lot of fanfare, a movement has been underway in this country for some time to outlaw the idea of &#8220;fat phobia,&#8221; which literally means &#8220;fear of fat people.&#8221; 
Of course, like most of the other new &#8220;phobias&#8221; that have been discovered in the past fifteen minutes or so, &#8220;fat phobia&#8221; is a misnomer. No one&#8217;s really afraid of fat people, just like no one&#8217;s afraid of people who call themselves transgender. People are afraid of being fat, however, which makes sense. A fear of being fat is really just a fear of heart disease and early death. 
Which are both things that a normal person is afraid of, or at least interested in avoiding. But this is still not a fear of other people who are fat. 
Now it’s true that many Americans have, let’s say, an aesthetic aversion to morbid obesity. But this is also understandable, for lots of deeply ingrained biological reasons, humans have come to value traits like physical fitness. We also tend to prefer that women look like women, and men look like men, because that&#8217;s how the species propagates itself. This is human nature. The only way to outlaw this is to outlaw humanity.
And increasingly, it looks like that&#8217;s indeed the goal. 
Earlier this year, in New York City, fat activists successfully campaigned to enact a law that makes it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their weight. What this means, in practice, is that every employer that fires a fat person in the city of New York can look forward to an investigation from the city&#8217;s Commission on Human Rights. Watch:
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There are &#8220;still gaps&#8221; in the bill, remarks the fat activist. And if there&#8217;s one thing fat activists want to ensure, it&#8217;s that there are no gaps anywhere. They want to fill that space, they want to fill every space. And they&#8217;re going to expand their ranks until they&#8217;ve accomplished that objective. They certainly don&#8217;t want anyone to lose weight. They don&#8217;t want to reduce the number of people who die due to obesity in this country, which is one-in-six, by some estimates. That would make too much sense. The last thing they want is to encourage Americans to become less obese. Instead, as you just heard, they want to re-order all of society so that we &#8220;accommodate&#8221; the morbidly obese.
To that end, the New York legislation bans discrimination on height and weight in the areas of housing, the workplace, and public accommodation. The only real exception is for jobs where (in the eyes of New York city politicians) it&#8217;s &#8220;essential&#8221; for people to be physically fit.
What does that mean, exactly? And how often have people been fired for being fat in New York? Those are good starter questions when you&#8217;re talking about passing a sweeping new law like this, which has ramifications for every business in the city. And yet, no one has the answer to either of them. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1276-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
What little data we do have doesn&#8217;t seem very credible. For example, there&#8217;s one study on fat phobia that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/22/weight-discrimination-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was cited</a> by the Washington Post recently. Using data from 1979, this paper concludes that, &#8220;a woman’s hourly pay can drop by almost 2% for every one-unit increase in BMI.&#8221; It’s the standard story. We’ve all heard it. A woman gets called into the boss’s office and told that she’s getting a pay cut because she’s too fat. It happens all the time, except for the fact that it never happens. If it did, by the way, lots of people in this country would be getting paid negative $50,000 a year at this point. They would be charged money to go to work.
The whole premise is absurd, and yet, as the Daily Mail reports this week, these laws against fat phobia are becoming increasingly common. Even Colorado — which is the thinnest state in the entire country — the one that&#8217;s presumably less &#8220;fat phobic&#8221; than any other state — is now <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/4332848-colorado-to-ban-fatphobia-discrimination-in-workplace-housing/#:~:text=The%20law%20aims%20to%20prevent,protect%20those%20who%20are%20overweight." target="_blank" rel="noopener">about to pass</a> a law outlawing discrimination on the basis of weight. This would be the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12845863/Fat-Pride-America-culture-One-six-deaths-linked-obesity-liberal-states-banning-fatphobia-discrimination-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first time</a> a law like this has been passed statewide in decades. Michigan apparently <a href="https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/colorado-poised-to-ban-fatphobia-in-workplace-housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> a law banning discrimination based on weight around 50 years ago, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12845863/Fat-Pride-America-culture-One-six-deaths-linked-obesity-liberal-states-banning-fatphobia-discrimination-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed</a> by Washington state. Now Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are looking to do the same.
But Colorado is unique because it&#8217;s a state that, even accepting these fat activists&#8217; standards, needs these protections the least. Their <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/4332848-colorado-to-ban-fatphobia-discrimination-in-workplace-housing/#:~:text=The%20law%20aims%20to%20prevent,protect%20those%20who%20are%20overweight." target="_blank" rel="noopener">obesity rate</a> is just 25%, which is, sadly, quite low by U.S. standards. But they&#8217;re about to get some new regulations for the benefit of the morbidly obese. 
According to <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/4332848-colorado-to-ban-fatphobia-discrimination-in-workplace-housing/#:~:text=The%20law%20aims%20to%20prevent,protect%20those%20who%20are%20overweight." target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hill</a>, &#8220;The law aims to prevent landlords from denying rentals based on weight limits and to implement workplace accommodations for overweight Americans.&#8221;
You&#8217;re supposed to accept that explanation of the law on face, but it raises a couple of obvious questions. First of all, how big do you have to be to exceed the weight limit for an apartment building? Second, what kind of &#8220;accommodations&#8221; are workplaces supposed to make for fat people exactly?
It&#8217;s hard to get straight answers to these questions, but if you look around on social media, you&#8217;ll find some specific proposals. You might have seen this TikTok video that was everywhere a few weeks ago. It <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12582115/Plus-size-travel-influencer-enlarge-HALLWAYS.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">features</a> Jaelynn Chaney, a self-described travel and lifestyle creator based in Vancouver. 
Here she is, to give you some idea of what these fat activists want:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Plus Sized Travellers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aEvL_0X0eG4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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So Chaney is basically demanding that every hotel and restaurant in the United States be razed to the ground, and rebuilt with new, super-wide hallways and wide bathrooms and elevators. She also wants to make life worse for everyone else, including by removing chairs with arm rests in rooms and common areas. 
Separately, she&#8217;s also demanded that airlines provide extra free seats to obese people, so they have room to spread out: &#8220;As plus-size travelers, my partner and I have unfortunately experienced discrimination and discomfort while flying,&#8221; she says. She doesn&#8217;t care about the discomfort she caused non-obese passengers on the plane. Really, what she&#8217;s saying is she doesn&#8217;t want those people on the plane at all. She wants their seat for free.
And she&#8217;s not alone. The D.E.I. website Femin-uity <a href="https://www.feminuity.org/post/workplaces-exclusionary-fat-people-accessibility#:~:text=Around%20the%20Office&amp;text=As%20with%20individual%20desks%2C%20comfortable,are%20inclusive%20of%20fat%20people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assembled</a> a list of similar demands on behalf of fat activists. Here are a few of them: &#8220;Communal spaces like dining areas, conference rooms, and relaxation rooms should have furniture like chairs, desks, sofas, and tables that are inclusive of fat people. It’s best to avoid stools, tiny benches, or chairs with rigid armrests. Creating a fat-inclusive office also means re-thinking every inch of the space. Avoid tight corners. &#8230;&#8221;
Yes, rethink every inch of space — remodel your entire office building — for the sake of people who have eaten so much that they can no longer comfortably walk down the hallway or sit in a chair. These are the demands, and they are actually being met. In London a few years ago, the mayor <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/londons-fat-shaming-ads-banned-from-transit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned</a> ads featuring attractive women in swimsuits from appearing on public transit. One of the ads asked, “Are you beach body ready?” That&#8217;s hate speech in London, evidently. Tens of thousands of people signed a petition to get the ads removed. They even vandalized it with graffiti. And ultimately they succeeded. 
In this country, the school of public health at the University of Illinois Chicago recently proposed banning the word &#8220;obesity&#8221; entirely. As The Independent <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/obesity-stigma-weight-fatphobia-public-health-b2082269.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, the university claims that weight discrimination remains,“one of the only forms of discrimination actively condoned by society”. Which is just not remotely true. And the University of Illinois knows it&#8217;s not true, because they had an affirmative action plan, which discriminates against whites and Asians in all aspects of admissions and hiring. That&#8217;s one of the worst imaginable forms of discrimination, because it&#8217;s based on something people can&#8217;t control. But they condone it. In fact they practice it.
That’s the thing about alleged discrimination against the obese. Most of these examples of discrimination are made up and ridiculous. But even if there was some discrimination going on, it wouldn’t be in the same ballpark as discrimination based on something like race. Obesity is a choice. It is the result of a deliberate lifestyle. Obesity is a consequence of behavior. If you are 500 pounds and feeling discriminated against, you put yourself in that position — and the good news is that you can get yourself out of it.
A white man facing affirmative action discrimination cannot do anything to be not-white. But an obese person can, and should, and for his own health must, do something to make himself not-obese.
Obese people have become the next big victim group in America, but they are — like so many of the new, modern victim groups — victims of their own behavior. That’s why this has is such a growing and popular victim group — because anyone can eat their way into it. Just lie on the couch and gorge yourself on Pringles and very soon you, too, will be able to recast any criticism of you as bigotry. You, too, will be handed a “get out accountability” free card. You, too, can claim that anyone who upsets you or disagrees with you is some kind of -ist or -phobe.
In this way, the fat acceptance movement is no different from any other faux-victimhood movement. But it does stand apart, to some extent, as perhaps the most farcical example of modern society&#8217;s &#8220;me-first&#8221; ethos. The whole idea behind the movement is that the world should rearrange itself for the sake of making room for the morbidly obese. And they mean that literally — we need to literally rearrange the furniture so that these people can fit in the room. It&#8217;s on-the-nose to the point of absurdity.
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Of course, the much easier, more cost effective, fairer, and more sane approach is for the morbidly obese to make some simple lifestyle changes so that they can more easily be included. But that puts the onus on the individual. That requires willpower and sacrifice. That can never be allowed. In our age, everyone else must sacrifice so that the individual sacrifices nothing. The self reigns supreme. All must bow to the self. Society must change for the sake of the self. Civilization must re-order itself. The world must stop on its axis and spin the opposite direction, if that is what the self demands. The self must be required to do nothing, and the world to do everything. The problem, of course, is that every individual is part of “the world,&#8221; which is how you end up with self-serving laws that hurt the people they’re supposedly trying to help. When you try to have a society where each individual is a god whose wishes, proclivities, and demands trump the good of humanity and of society, you end up with a predictable mess. You end up with decay and collapse and confusion.
We&#8217;ve seen this confusion for a while now. A decade ago, New York banned large sodas in order to make everyone skinnier. Now they&#8217;re mandating that everyone treat obesity as if it&#8217;s natural and healthy. No matter what the one thing politicians don&#8217;t want to do, because it would diminish their power, is to let people make their own choices. That includes the freedom to eat and drink to extraordinary excess. But also, more importantly, it includes the freedom to criticize those who do.

Obese man with 72 inch waist

The Growing Movement To Ban ‘Fat Phobia’ Nationwide

The Growing Movement To Ban 'Fat Phobia' Nationwide

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

New York City

TikTok

The first-ever plus-sized <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/miss-universe">Miss Universe</a> contestant, Jane Dipika Garrett, said she struggles with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/obesity">weight gain</a> due to a medical condition.
The 22-year-old beauty pageant participant said she was surprised to have made it so far in the competition. Garrett, who represents Nepal, spoke with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/plus-size-miss-universe-contestant-responds-critics-body-shaming">Fox News Digital</a> about the experience so far. 
&#8220;I really did not expect to get that much applause on the stage or that much spotlight,&#8221; Garrett told the outlet. &#8220;I came with a humble heart… but when I won on that stage, I got the loudest applause from the whole entire audience. And that felt so good because it was like a breakthrough moment for me and for society that they see something different, that they see real size beauty.&#8221;
Miss Nepal also noted how some viewers had negative reactions to her being a contender for Miss Universe.
&#8220;I see things like, &#8216;Oh, she&#8217;s a whale,&#8217; or &#8216;That&#8217;s disgusting. I&#8217;m going to vomit.&#8217; Or like, &#8216;She&#8217;s promoting obesity.&#8217; &#8216;Why don&#8217;t you go to the gym?&#8217; And things like that,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s like they don&#8217;t even know my story. They don&#8217;t even know what I&#8217;m going through.&#8221;
Garrett told Fox News that she has a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This condition causes the ovaries to produce a higher amount of male sex hormones, which can lead to weight gain, irregular periods, acne, cysts, infertility, and excess hair growth.
&#8220;So it&#8217;s very easy for us to gain weight,” the beauty pageant contestant said. “Even if we just look at a piece of cake, we can gain weight,&#8221; she said. &#8220;[Critics are] just judging me from social media. And that&#8217;s their problem. I don&#8217;t let it bother me… Society can be very cruel. People can be very cruel sometimes.&#8221;
&#8220;Recently, I&#8217;ve gained a lot of weight because of my hormonal issues,” Garrett continued. “And that&#8217;s also really taken a toll on my mental health and my self-esteem because I thought that I wasn&#8217;t good enough or that I wasn&#8217;t beautiful enough. But I really had to get the validation for myself and learn how to have a positive mindset and to love myself despite not feeling my best self,&#8221; she said. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s about being confident in your own skin and accepting who you are, where you are at. So I had to really remove all of those messages that were coming from society as well as coming from my own mind. So I had to really brainwash myself again and accept who I am and love myself.&#8221;
Garrett also said she believes that any body type can be beautiful. 
&#8220;You don&#8217;t have to do something like what a celebrity does or that a model does to be considered beautiful. I think that what&#8217;s most important for you, whatever suits you, is what is beautiful for you. And then I think that&#8217;s so important to just embrace who you are and love who you are and not try to fit into what society says is beautiful,&#8221; Garrett added. 
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Miss Nepal went on to describe how she struggled with mental health and “had a lot of eating disorders and mental health issues” during childhood. 
&#8220;I would feel like I&#8217;m not good enough. I&#8217;m too big because I&#8217;ve always been naturally big-boned. The boys had naturally a bigger figure. I&#8217;ve always been curvy since I was a child,” she said.
Finally, Garrett said being healthy is more important than being very thin. &#8220;Some models can completely starve themselves and do like liposuction or something. And there&#8217;s nothing wrong with that. That&#8217;s their own choices, but then they could be promoting that as their beauty standards,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And then some people that are very overweight and are very unhealthy could be promoting that and saying that that that they&#8217;re being body positive. But I think that there should be a balance.&#8221; 
She added, “Body positivity for me basically stands for whatever body that you&#8217;re in. You accept it, you love yourself, you are embracing what you are, but you&#8217;re also going towards a healthy lifestyle.&#8221;
This year’s Miss Universe contest previously made headlines for the inclusion of two trans-identifying contestants, 23-year-old flight attendant Marina Machete who is competing as Miss Portugal and Rikkie Kollé, who won the title of Miss Netherlands.
Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua was crowned the 2023 Miss Universe during the 72nd Miss Universe Competition on November 18.

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First Plus-Sized Miss Universe Contestant Describes Her Struggles With Weight Gain

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