Where I live, being fat is glorified. I guess there are so many fat people that they are starting to outweigh (npi) popular opinion on being fat.

This I don't mind, it's just that it's so obnoxious when people think something is wrong with you just because you want to look after yourself.

Somehow people equate being fat with being happy and being thin with being unhappy...I work on a table with a few woman and whenever they are talking about a slim lady, it's all like "Ah, she's got a problem. I'd rather be happy than be all skinny."

In my sisters magazines, they are always talking about how unhappy they were when they were thin and letting herself go was some kind of liberation.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I think it's a myth that people like to believe that fat people are happy. I think they often pretend to be but I don't know any that truly are. Fat women are often really threatened by thinner women and wish they could be like that too. All that 'talk' that you mentioned is defence I think.

For so many people dieting to be slim is really hard work and they feel like they are depriving themselves all the time. Of course when they let go and eat what ever they feel like it feels liberating but in the long run It truly isn't.

Personally, when I am slimmer I feel more confident, happy, cheerful, able to deal with the world, fitter, stronger - the list goes on.

IMO getting slim and trim is simply a matter of eating fresh raw vegan foods. Once a person starts eating live foods the excess weight just melts off naturally.

I've noticed this, too. It's a defense mechanism.

Just ignore it.

There was this woman at my old work, she was pretty but a bit chubby...She started dieting and I didn't really pay much attention but then wow, she became a real hot mumma She looked so much healthier and just about everything seemed to improve, she got a boyfriend and seemed really happy.

Then all the women at work started talking about her behind her back. She was slim, not 'skinny' but they seemed to prey over her every move. If she passed on a McDonalds they would make out she was torturing herself...it was crazy.

As a man, I don't get it nearly as much or hardly not at all...But I felt it when I started fasting and it was a horrible feeling of people seeming to go into their own fantasy land of rumour. It must be way harder for women (especially female fasters).

I don't even tell people about my diet. Most people think I eat a lot of fruit and veg but don't even know I'm a vegitarian, let alone raw vegan.

I think they must have been jealous of her new attractiveness. People can be mean when they are jealous.

Its called willful ignorance and its very SAD.

ARUGULA My mom is eternally dieting yet always saying that she doesn't want to be thin. I think its a defense mechanism too.

The comment you wrote Kombaiyashii that the co-workers made about the woman being tortured while passing a McDonalds is interesting. Sometimes I wonder if people think I feel deprived because I don't eat "_______" (fill in the blank with whatever you want - cake, ice cream, donuts, McDonalds, pizza, etc.).

The reality is, others don't know what they are missing - no acid reflux, diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid problems, etc.

Patty

Yes, a friend made a comment to me the other day that it must be so very difficult to find seasonings to add to my raw food that is also raw.

I tried to explain that the more raw I eat, the less I desire strong seasonings, but she just couldn't imagine that. So to her, I am so deprived, yet I don't feel deprived at all. What a wonderful thing to be able to enjoy a piece of food just the way it is - nothing added.

I find the taste of fresh raw foods to be absolutely radiant so the only thing I am being deprived of is the degenerative disease that comes from putting the wrong fuel into my body.

I'm a man, and people say bizarre things to me about my eating habits. People tell me I'm depriving myself, people tell me I'm too skinny, people tell me I don't eat enough protein, I eat too much sugar, I get too many carbs, I don't get enough healthy fat, people have even told me I'm not a real man because I don't eat meat. I laugh at them. I mean, I'm not just laughing out of spite, it's really, really funny that people say the things they say. So, if you don't feel like ignoring the idiotic comments of numb skulls, then just laugh at them directly. I mean, not in a provocative or rude way, but in that secure place down inside of you. Then, after laughing, have sympathy.

Shane - that is such a good response.

I think a lot of us have the benefit (if you can call it that) of having beeen omnivores and/or cooked food eaters ourselves, so we know we aren't "missing out" because we've already experienced that lifestyle and woldn't want to go back. For people who haven't tried raw vegan and have only tried processed, they have no place to talk about "missing."

hoping i dont get lynched for saying this but i think when people like oprah who has yo yo dieted for pretty much most of her adult life .. and one minute is saying its ok to be big and beautiful and then next thing she is saying hey be skinny like me an follow this guru blah blah blah .. i think people like her set really bad examples

sorry to the oprah fans

(that and she wears furs and really pisses me off )

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist