Dr. Lyle Hackett, a lifestyle medicine physician who helps people cure chronic health problems through changes to their diet and lifestyle, made an impassioned plea for Americans to stop shaming fat people.
"Just because you're grossly obese and can't walk up a flight of stairs, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you," said Dr. Hackett. "You're more than the bulges of fat spilling over your waistband. You matter."
Dr. Hackett went on to lament the social norms that cause some people to look down on those whose bodies are cartoonishly distorted due to excess fat.
"Look, if someone is horribly disfigured in a car accident so that they're utterly grotesque, we don't make fun of them; we sympathize," said Dr. Hackett. "In the same way, we shouldn't ostracize people who are physically deformed by the layers of cellulite covering their bodies."
Dr. Hackett concluded with a call for acceptance and inclusiveness of all, regardless of body size. "There's room in our society for all body shapes and levels of physical fitness. Whether you're a vegan triathlete or wheelchair-bound due to obesity has nothing to do with your value as a person. Fat lives matter. We all belong."
