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Employers in Europe may soon have a duty to create reserved car parking spaces for obese staff, or adjust the office furniture for them as BBC reports that the European Court of Justice is considering a test case of a male nanny who says he was fired for being too fat - a ruling that could oblige employers to treat obesity as a disability. Employment expert Audrey Williams says the judges would have to decide "whether obesity itself should trigger preferential rights, or should only impact where an individual, due to obesity, has other recognized medical issues. Employers would have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace or working arrangements," says Williams. "This might include a review of where the employee is located and their seating arrangements, or even preferential access to car parking."
The US Equal Opportunity Commission already defines obesity as being a disability, under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. In a recent case involving morbid obesity, a Texan employee who weighed more than 680 pounds received $55,000 in compensation for being dismissed. In October 2009, the man was told to report to human resources where officials told him the company had reached the conclusion he could no longer "perform his job duties because of his weight and he was therefore terminated," the suit said. Ronald Kratz, who had gotten two promotions and high performance ratings over his 16-year-career, insists his weight did not interfere with his ability to perform his job duties as a parts sorter. Kratz, who lost over three hundred pounds since he was fired, has not been able to find another job despite sending out numerous applications, and his unemployment benefits have run out. "It has been really hard on the family."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Monday June 16 2014, @01:48AM
Most of the time very heavy people are on Diet soda. Gallons of it.
There is something wrong with the whole concept of diet drinks when the actually seem counter productive most of the time.
One could almost make the case that the amount of real sugar in regular soda actually might suppress appetite but the fake sugar substitutes enhance appetite.
We sure as hell aren't getting any thinner since the advent of diet sodas.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by tynin on Monday June 16 2014, @02:11AM
I'll give you my diet coke when you pry it from my cold, fat hands!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday June 16 2014, @02:35AM
Absolutly correct - diet drinks are getting known in provoking the insulin response that causes fat storage. All the negatives of sugar response and no positives, plus the other chemicals that the body gets an addiction to. They are if anything worse than the drinks they claim to be a healthy sub to.
I switched from diet to fresh and unprocessed fruit juices as possible (in moderation, the only thing I drink in litres is water now) and apart from a fucking feral headache or two at beginning, it's quite conducive to losing fat.
If you want to lose fat, drink water. It's what genuinely works and helps flush crap out of your body too as well as giving your body something to help burn the fat.
(Score: 1) by pendorbound on Monday June 16 2014, @09:26PM
Gonna have to call BS on that one. I lost 200lbs (and kept it off going on three years) drinking 2-3 liters of diet soda a day. I know what a strong insulin response feels like (IE feels like shit) because a key part of my taking the weight off was curbing carbs and getting my insulin levels under control. Diet soda most definitely does NOT trigger the same insulin response that full sugar soda or other source of fast carbs does.
I get that aspartame isn't anyone's idea of health food, but it doesn't magically break your metabolism the way a lot of people try to suggest. To me, diet soda is the most efficient way to get caffeine into my system, and being de-caffeinated is far worse of a metabolic effect on me than whatever aspartame and phosphoric acid might cause. It's not even the caffeine withdrawal thing that's a problem. I generally don't drink much soda over the weekends, and I'm fine. It's that the caffeine acts as a metabolism booster to a noticeable degree. Granted I'm sure there are other variables (reduced activity from less *zoom* probably), but on the few occasions I tried to cut out diet soda during my weight loss (for a week or so at a time), there was a noticeable reduction in my rate of loss for those weeks.
As far as flushing things out... Soda is still mostly water. If the number of times a day I need to pee is any indication, it's flushing me out just fine, thanks. For me, switching to fruit juice would be the worst thing I could do. Might as well drink sugar water.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2014, @02:39AM
Everyone is quick to say it is 'one thing'. But it is a major combination of things. If it was as simple as eliminating one thing a diet would be easy. Lucky it is. Its sugar. The downside is there are about 20 different kinds of sugar. It is in *everything*. Also most juices are just sugar bombs in disguise. Keep your carb intake bellow a particular level and you will lose weight. That level is different for everyone.
However using diet drinks can be effective in a diet. However, if you just use it as an excuse to not reduce in other areas do not use diet drinks. I have noticed if I drink a diet drink I feel even more hungry than when I started.
I stick to water. As my level of exercise is low. If I had a higher level. I could get away with drinking some sugar drinks.
(Score: 1) by Qzukk on Monday June 16 2014, @03:25AM
I lost somewhere around 30 pounds switching from dr. pepper to diet (didn't have the heart to step on a scale when I started, so I don't really know where I started from but it was north of 300)
If someone came up with a diet cheese that was edible, I'd probably lose another 40 pounds.
People rant about burning calories or whatever, but it's pretty much entirely about what you put in, because it is possible to put in WAY more than you will ever burn, even if you somehow managed to run marathons back to back (one marathon apparently burns somewhere around 2500 Calories, depending mostly on weight).
Myself, my weight stabilized (at 6'4" 280lbs) with this as a complete and honest accounting of what I eat daily, numbers thanks to myfitnesspal.com:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled, nothing added but a bit of pam to keep it from sticking. Three slices of bacon, two slices of pepper jack cheese, two slices of toast (assembled into two open-face sandwiches). Calories: 540
Lunch: Healthy Choice cafe steamer (we have a freezer and a microwave at work, much more convenient than waking up early enough to make a lunch, and at $2.50 and ~300 calories, much cheaper both ways than eating out). Baby carrots, large red delicious apple. Calories: 450
Dinner: 2 roast beef sandwiches, Calories: 563
Snacks: about 1000 calories of cheese & crackers (a quarter pound of cheese and a handful of triscuits) (yes, it disgusts me when I think about it being a quarter pound of cheese that I just ate. No, that's not going to stop me)
That's what I've eaten today between the time I woke up at 10AM and now (10PM). 2500 calories without even trying. I don't even buy chips anymore since I could eat an entire bag at one sitting and still be hungry. I don't buy ice cream, cookies, etc for the same reason. My doctor keeps telling me to quit eating dessert, but doc, it's the cheese that's killing me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2014, @05:09AM
Listen to your doc. And, if you think the cheese is killing you, stop eating the cheese as well. Use the money you save to buy the complete Futurama DVD set or a used thinkpad on which to run Debian Hurd.
You don't need much food if you work at a desk.. just (hah.. easier said than done, I know) get in the habit of eating less (assuming you're looking for free advice :))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16 2014, @01:52PM
Breakfast: 2 slices of toast, coffee, and OJ: 270 calories
Lunch: out - something between rice bowl and Big Mac. Let's go with the Big Mac Meal deal: 1130
Dinner, or more likely 4:30 "Tea": quart of whole milk + yogurt: 700 calories
snacks: maybe a couple of bananas, berries, or a beer: 150 calories
drinks: water and unsweetened tea: 0
Your body expects to wake up, eat, and be active. Every species does this, regardless of whether they wake at dawn or dark. Shift your calorie consumption earlier in the day, get your blood glucose synchronized with your activity, and your body will feel less pressure to store those calories against future activity.
There's only 400 calories in a quarter pound of most cheeses.