Half-Nudist?

[mossytrail (deleted)]

I call myself a nudist because I don't like wearing clothes, and I don't understand why most people think there is something shocking about seeing another person naked. But there is one part of nudist "philosophy" which I am not sure I buy.

I offer two definitions from The American Heretic's Dictionary by Chaz Bufe:
Quote: FAT LIBERATION, n. An attempt to make socially acceptable the visual consequences of the typical American diet and exercise regimen (more accurately, the lack of such a regimen).
Quote: SENSE OF WONDER, n. An attitude of awe, a quasi-religious sensation of pure amazement, as upon discovering an FBI agent with respect for the Bill of Rights and individual liberties, or a fat-liberationist who avoids sugar and exercises regularly.

In principle, the nudist ideal of accepting one's body just as it is sounds good; but I can see how it can very easily become an excuse to just let oneself go. From what I have seen at nudist resorts, I think Mr. Bufe was onto something in his definitions. People who DO make the effort to eat healthy and exercise are, in my experience, always dissatisfied with their bodies in some way, and that dissatisfaction is their motivation.

In the bigger picture, isn't dissatisfaction always the motivation for anything constructive? If Martin Luther King, Jr. had been able to accept the racial situation just as it was, would he ever have made his speeches and been in those marches? If George Washington had accepted the colonial regime just as it was, would there ever have been an American Revolution?

Given that the majority of Americans' health care spending is on degenerative diseases either caused by unhealthy lifestyles, including overweight (i.e. type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension), or made worse by such lifestyles (e.g. varicose veins, rheumatoid arthritis, lower back pain), it seems to me that "accepting one's body just as it is" is actually a harmful philosophy. Ultimately, it isn't about what you look like; ultimately, human notions of attractiveness evolved biologically from the need to find healthy mates. We instinctively find excess fat unattractive because we instinctively know it is unhealthy.

Live was I ere I saw evil

[centauri4]

The idea of someone being overweight and being unhealthy may not always be true, because as a first hand example I recall knowing a martial arts instructor who did NOT look like Bruce Lee but could put his foot up alongside your head in less than two seconds! He was fast and fit!

However, there is a more practical approach to assessing weight and fitness some people might not consider. Emergency situations; life and death ones I mean. I know these do not happen very often, but if a person has to climb a fence or wall in order to reach safety, and they physically cannot do it, then the outcome is clear.

What about pulling yourself out of a raging river? Climbing through a window, under a partially opened garage door or pulling yourself out of a car wreck? Although these situations do not happen very often, they are very real instances of where an overweight person might not be able to escape danger!

I hope this makes sense and certainly do not want to offend anybody. I am not very fit myself, but I think we have an obligation to ourselves, family, friends and even strangers to be better prepared to handle "life". Whatever it throws at us, whenever it happens. The ultimate outcome of fitness and physique may be decided in a split-second; one that almost nobody is prepared for in reality.