Mississippi bill to outlaw serving the obese

[Kelshir]

Three people in the Mississippi House of Representatives have introduced a bill to make it illegal for a restaurant to serve anyone deemed obese as outlined by the Department of Health.

Would this even be legal under federal discrimination laws?

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...01081fat1.html
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline...ould-make.html
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/200.../HB/HB0282.xml

[AFPheonix]

I don't even understand how that could even be enforceable. Add in waitresses who are plump and are hired on due to fair employment practices and having to deny fat customers wouldn't go well, either.
Besides the fact that something along the lines of 30% of that particular township's population are obese, it would be political suicide to vote for it.
Once again, legislators attempting to make a symbolic point can't be bothered to do it in a reasonable way like increase funding for nutritional education, better urban planning to enforce some walking and zoning for grocery stores near homes instead choose to make themselves look like complete asses.

[Kelshir]

If there is a plump waitress or waiter at a place that offers free (or discounted) employee meals, then can they get their free (or discounted) meals?

I highly doubt that it will pass, but it is worrying that there is an attempt to pass a bill of this sort.

[Sylvia727]

Once again, legislators attempting to make a symbolic point can't be bothered to do it in a reasonable way like increase funding for nutritional education, better urban planning to enforce some walking and zoning for grocery stores near homes instead choose to make themselves look like complete asses.

Exactly! There are some two dozen stores within 2 miles of my university, and the sidewalks are tolerable to excellent the entire way, but my classmates view me as crazy for actually walking there. The two I have convinced to walk with me run out of breath halfway there, and we walk at about a shopping mall pace instead of the power walk I normally pace myself at. My university requires one to pass the health and nutrition class before graduation, and almost half of the course was how-to on choosing healthy foods and good balance. Best class I ever took on healthy living was actually culinary arts. The teacher presented foods that were nutritious, easy to cook, and tasted delicious. This isn't difficult for people, just inconvenient for lawmakers.

And what about those who have legitimate reasons? My friend's mom has a glandular disorder that makes it incredibly difficult for her to lose weight healthily. Women who gained too much weight during pregnancy and put more on while dealing with the stress of a new baby. Who decides what a legitimate reason is and isn't?

I'm overweight, but I'll be damned if I starve myself to look like Barbie. My personal life plan includes plenty of exercise and healthy food, so if I feel responsible enough to treat myself to a hamburger or an ice cream cone once in a while, who the fuck are they to say no to me?

[AFPheonix]

Heh....I'm just thinking about how they'd enforce this.

"You must be this wide to enter the restaurant"
--->___________ <----

[Sylvia727]

Heh. What about little kids? They're obese too. Height/weight charts, with public scales? What if some members of a group are obese and others aren't? What if the obese members just want to order a water, can they still sit in the restaurant? What if the non-obese friend gives the obese friend food, do the waiters come and take it away again? Are underweight people required to eat at least 500 calories? With monitored bathroom breaks so they can't puke it back up?

[Seshat]

What about people who carry bone/muscle weight? Such as some athletes, most bodybuilders, and a few people who are genetically naturally heavy: and not in fat? Accurately measuring body fat percentage is still more of an art than a science, unless you use one of the very expensive tests which requires significant operator training: certainly beyond what a hostess at a restaurant is expected to have.

Here's my off-the-top-of-my-head legislation to fix obesity:
* modify the civic budget to ensure proper, safe footpaths (sidewalks?) and bike paths along ALL road verges except freeways/highways, and even those should get footpaths/bike paths that follow their route.

* modify the civic budget to ensure proper, safe road crossings at frequent enough intervals that no pedestrian or cyclist has to go significantly out of their way to cross the roads.

* modify the civic budget to provide nutrition and cooking classes for all schoolchildren.

* modify the civic budget to provide remedial nutrition and cooking classes for all adults, especially those whose doctors suggest they attend. (Though anyone should be able to attend as desired.)

* create good public transport, such that everyone in an urban area(*) can catch public transport that runs no less than every twenty minutes at peak, no less than every half-hour off-peak. A train station, light-rail stop or bus stop should be within ten or fifteen minutes walk of everyone living in an urban area. There should be cross-town routes, as well as 'to the city centre' routes.
Rural areas are more difficult to serve with public transport, but an attempt should be made.
Public transport encourages people to walk, even if only short distances.
(*) in my Australianocentric experience of urban. US urban may well need other frequencies.

* reduce farm subsidies for large monoculture farms. If subsidies are to exist, subsidise farming which increases food variety, especially fruits, vegetables, pulses, nuts and less common grains, interesting dairy goods and a variety of lean meats.

* encourage grocery stores to be built near public transport hubs, or place public transport hubs near shopping precincts which contain grocery stores. Encourage small-business butchers, bakers, fishmongers, delicatessans and greengrocers. Encourage large-business food stores to contain all such departments. Attempt to make a variety of nutritious food readily available to the populace.
(I am aware that that's going to require a simultaneous solution. Food which rots on the grocery store's shelves does noone any good.)

* have a 'pocket park' no more than ten minutes walk from any urban residence, and a larger park a half hour's walk away (an hour if you must). The pocket parks should be large enough for kite flying, frisbee throwing, and playing tag. The larger parks should be large enough for organised group sport, and ideally there would be a swimming pool or other sporting arena near or attached to the larger park.

* ensure that everyone has good medical care available and affordable. Ensure that doctors are trained in catching thyroid problems, insulin problems, and all the other varieties of problem that mean diet and exercise aren't sufficient to prevent obesity in the individual. Cure (or if incurable, treat) those people.

* ensure that good psychiatric care is also available and affordable. Ensure that general practitioners are trained in recognising the psychiatric and psychological causes of obesity, so they can route patients to the mental health sphere as necessary. Ensure that there are plenty of psychiatrists and psychologists skilled in treating anorexia, bulimia, and all the other mental illnesses that cause diet disorders. Cure or treat those people, too.



Yeah. My prescription for fighting obesity is expensive - but unlike banning people with a high BMI from restaurants, mine should work.

[CancelMyService]

Yeah, according to the tables, someone 6'5 and 265 pounds has a BMI of 31.4 and would be considered obese.




Does he (former WWE champ and current UFC fighter Brock Lesnar) look obese to you?

[Seshat]

Two more ideas:
* restaurant meals to have nutrition and ingredient information available. (This may not be feasible in all restaurants - can you imagine a small-business diner trying to comply?)

* encouraging genuinely healthy fast-food and restaurant options. Actual nutritionist-developed meals.

My best friend came up with these, pointing out the 'busy American' urban lifestyle.


And yes, CancelMyService, that's exactly the sort of person I was thinking of. Also, people who are like him but with more of a fat covering: people with the muscle development but who aren't specifically aiming for visible muscle development.

(Many competition bodybuilders are actually fat-low. Despite the high body mass, some competition female bodybuilders don't have enough fat to menstruate - they're just as dangerously short of fat as the stereotypical 'heroin chic' fashion model. A person can be muscularly heavy without being so visibly muscular as the guy in CancelMyService' pic.)

[daleduke17]

Yeah, according to the tables, someone 6'5 and 265 pounds has a BMI of 31.4 and would be considered obese.

Does he (former WWE champ and current UFC fighter Brock Lesnar) look obese to you?

Nope.

What about Big Daddy V (aka Viscera) or The Giant/Big Show? :-p Now those two are obese.

[rahmota]

This does sound like a empty symbolic gesture that is also discriminatory and probably down right insulting.

Everyone else (especially seshat) has made more than enough good points that anything I might have to add would be kinda redundant other than to agree that the way "obesity" is defined right now is rather wierd and useless.

[IDrinkaRum]

Also, can't we go back to the pre-upsizing of every meal? Please? The portions at all restaurant (except the really ritzy, expensive restaurants) are huuuuge! I can never finish it all. We'd like some normal portions. Thank you.

[rahmota]

Also, can't we go back to the pre-upsizing of every meal? Please? The portions at all restaurant (except the really ritzy, expensive restaurants) are huuuuge! I can never finish it all. We'd like some normal portions

hehehe Yeah definately. ever eat at the Flying J truck stops? They have a country fried steak dinner that I swear the steak is ike 8" across and close to 1/2" thick with enough potatos and gravy to drown a rat. This is for truckers though so they do eat a bit but still.....

[ditchdj]

That fact of that matter is that, if the HMO's start noticing and start flooding the lobbyist coffers with cash, then it WILL be law, no questions asked.

[Boozy]

I don't think it could get past the state Supreme Court, but maybe I'm being too optimistic.