Naafa

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The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie Craig Pepin-Donat See book keywords and concepts

Is naafa Helping Or Hurting? Naafa stands for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. I had my first encounter with the organization while I was working with 24 Hour Fitness in Northern California. One of the advertising agencies we were using came up with an offbeat advertisement that was a spoof based on the then-popular TV show, The X Files. The ad featured an alien figure and the tagline was, "When they come, they'll eat the fat ones first.

On the positive side, naafa is all about "size acceptance," which includes the fight against any type of discrimination based on size or weight. They believe that fat people (the organization encourages using the "F word," fat) can lead a fit and healthy life and that our society paints a very negative stereotype for fat people and an unrealistic image for the average person of a fit and healthy body type. They believe the real culprit causing poor health is physical inactivity, not weight.

As much as I commend naafa for trying to get fat people to be comfortable in their own skin, it's not enough. Many people who have a weight problem are not exercising or doing any significant consistent physical activity and instead they go down the road of the quick-fix solution with a diet, weight loss pill or worse, with surgery. For those who have achieved significant weight loss, it is amazing how happy they are to have lost the fat. Often these stories include the elimination of specific health related issues that were caused by their weight problem.

NAAFA would have you believe that most of these studies have been debunked. Not true. The science is overwhelming. If you are fat and you have health problems or are at risk for many of the diseases associated with obesity or if you are just sick and tired of being fat, you stand a better chance of getting results once you accept the fact that you have a problem. This is the point when you need to change your mindset and do something to effect a positive change with your lifestyle — for the rest of your life.

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