Cut the Crap. Call them Fat.
August 8, 2010 • By Sarah Richardson
Anne Milton, UK public health minister, is motivating her obese citizens to lose weight by calling them fat. The United Kingdom has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe. So, to address the epidemic, Milton recently told the BBC that calling people fat rather than obese would likely serve as motivation for them to shed the pounds.
Many health workers are naturally hesitant about using the f-word ("fat") because of the negative connotation it carries.
Still, Steve Field of the Royal College of General Practitioners welcomes it by saying that doctors need to be more honest with patients rather than telling them what they want to hear.
Lindsey Davies, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, says that people don't want to be offensive. She maintains there is a lot of stigma attached to being obese, and that obesity is something that happens to people rather than something they are.
Milton, a former nurse, told the BBC, "If I look in the mirror and think I am obese, I think I am less worried (than) if I think I am fat."
"At the end of the day, you cannot do it for them, people have to have the information," said Milton.
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