The article is located at:

http://www.discoveryhealth.com/DH/ihtIH?t=8874&p=~br,DSC|~st,333|~r,EMDSC000|~b,*|

My comments:
This article was a little gloomy, but being a little morbid myself,
I didn’t mind it much. It was full of risk factors, blah, blah, as
if all of their other articles don’t fall lock step into the same
old lines whenever there’s the word “obesity” in them. What was
interesting, though, is that they gave more than one view on what
may be behind depression in some obese people, one of which was
depression caused by dieting, and another, body image problems. At
the end of the article, they also suggested a new approach to
handling the problem.

All in all, I found it very interesting.

In another Discovery Health article at:

http://www.discoveryhealth.com/DH/ihtIH?d=dmtWLCT&c=258918&p=~br,DSC|~st,333|~r,EMDSC000|~b,*|

Under Emotional and Social problems, they say that there is no
evidence that obese people suffer from major depression or anxiety
disorders to any greater degree than thin people. They did say,
though, that depression that is caused by obesity is usually
resolved by losing weight. I can understand that for the same
reason I understand why people get any other body modification. Not
everyone has the good fortune of being raised without, or being able
to shake off, the Barbie complex.

For many, whether they look like their particular culture or
clique’s ideal has alot to do with their confidence. We all have an
idea of what is ideal, but when it comes down to it, a person has to
decide not what is ideal for others, but what is ideal for them.
Strengths and weaknesses have to be looked at in the raw, and dealt
with accordingly. I, for instance, know that my dreads are me,
where the straight hair was not me. I had other “natural”
alternatives, such as neater braids, or a short afro, but I picked
the dreads. They are symbolic of my vow to never forget what a
family is for, like my yuppified parents did, and they are an
expression of my new healthier _balanced_ lifestyle. People tell me
that I can’t be taken seriously with my dreads, or that I’m trying
to be Blacker than I am, but hey, it’s me…So if being thin, damned
be the costs, is crucial to someone’s self-confidence, then they
should be thin…but if being big is either natural, or crucial to
someone’s self confidence, then they should be big. More on this
later…

The articles, though a bit nanny-like in “tone” both went the extra
mile of going into the psychology in terms most readers (as a
personality trait, not someone who is just literate) can grok. They
were more balanced than most other mainstream articles I’ve seen,
and in the latter, went as far as to go against the slave culture’s
“insidious opposition to the body itself”.

So, if you want a non-abusive place off Usenet to read articles, and
discuss health with no extremism either way, then Discovery Health,
I believe, is a great break from the mayhem here.

Now about the more…
I have decided to get not just back to the gym, but back into more
consistent martial arts training. Losing weight, at this point, has
zero priority to me, because I have seen here, what happens to
people when they get lost in that “I’m so happy to be better than
you” game. The haters here have convinced me that my weight loss
was pure vanity, and I’m not a vain person. I’m cute just because
and as is. Why should I bother with a cultural ideal that doesn’t
even apply to me? Why should I want to even get moderately close?
Why should I give a fuck? They certainly don’t.

Part of being on the net, for me, is to bounce my mind off of as
many other minds as are available and willing to speak. I am, glad
that Donald, David L, Lurker, Crash, Trader, Steve, and Doug, the
real men here, stay strong. Blackness is not just a color or even a
label for people of dark African descent. It is a symbol of depth,
mystique, and wholeness. If I was the Queen of Blackness, I would
make you each knights with swords accented with onyx stones. In the
meantime, please accept the humble gratitude of this little one for
teaching me so much, and standing with me…my Brothers.

…and to my Sisters, A.J. Lee, Sharon, Debbie, Enialle, Senshi, and
even Jet, you GO girls! You have helped me keep the haters on their
toes here, and I must say, we have given them a run for their
money. We are the proof that not all women are into assholes. We
are the evidence that a man who acts less than a man will not get
our respect. I don’t know which among you identifies more as
dominant, submissive, militaristic, or egalitarian in your
relationships, but all of you have been Divas in this
newsgroup…and as we love to say here in Israel, “Viva la Diva!”
Thank you for being both friends and role models.

Pendog, the enigma, who I do not know whether male or female, you
deserve your props too. You’re a tenacious one, and you have
mastered the art, far better than me, of getting alot said in only a
few words. Thank you for your humor and kindness.

I hope I didn’t miss anybody…I’m still riding a bit of an
emotional wave right now, as happens when I’ve released some garbage
that I was holding onto, even though it was rotten and putrid. The
smell of fresh air is wonderful.