Queue jaw drop. The first result was 'Top diets review for 2014' on the NHS Choices website. Granted the list gives semi-useful pros and cons from the British Dietic Association (BDA), but what on earth is the NHS doing promoting diet/weight loss plans?!
I already know that the NHS practically endorses some plans as, for example, you can get a certain number of weeks and the membership fee for Slimming World via your GP...don't get me wrong, I'm not 'anti' (all of) these things and if it works for you then go for it (personally, Slimming World works for me; see my previous post), but I would expect the NHS to be promoting healthy eating/a healthy lifestyle, not (what are, in my opinion, mostly fad) diets.
Next on my reading list is an article that's making me think that next time someone makes a comment about my weight, I'm going to tell them it's because of my job and see what they say; the article I'm referring to is on the US version of Women's Health magazine's website and is entitled 'The Jobs That Make You Most Likely to be Overweight'. Because, of course, the worst possible thing you could be is overweight; ignoring the fact that you actually have a job in the current economic climate, when many people don't. What's worse is that the article claims that this information comes from a new study in Preventing Chronic Disease...err, pardon?! I am fat, obese, overweight, whatever you want to call it, but I do not have a disease. Obesity is not a disease. Weight is not 'a disorder or structure of function' (that is the Oxford Dictionary definition of disease). Oh wait, don't worry, exercise and diet play a part, too...no ****, Sherlock.
Anyway, I digress. I could go through a million links and pull them to pieces. At the end of the day it's not going to change the fact that society places a great deal of importance on aesthetics. I don't think that someone should have to change their appearance (with the exception of looking 'smart', obviously) to get a job, progress in their career or, well, basically for any other reason than that they want to. But, if I'm being honest, I'm not convinced that people's perceptions will change any time soon. Personally, on the job front, I think being fat is the least of my concerns; being young, female and having pink hair are more likely to go against me than the size of my backside (unless I can't fit in the chair).