For those of us under 50 who need an excuse for being fat, here’s a good one: it’s not me, but the chemicals that I was exposed to before birth that made me fat.
I’ll let you read the Newsweek article yourself – I don’t feel inclined to do a book report at present, but to summarize: there is an epidemic of obese 6-month-olds, and since these babies don’t have the ability to go on a White Castle run or hit the cookie aisle hard, we can’t exactly blame them for being fat.
They’ve even come up with a new word of the day: obesogens. These are a family of chemicals they found that can trigger obesity in these wee folk – at least that’s the thinking in the article.
As being fat in this culture is synonymous with some sort of character flaw, usually lazy, sometimes stupid – always gluttonous – it really cheeses moralizers that cute, innocent babies might be getting fat.
Maybe the fat person that says they eat like a bird isn’t lying? And that there is no moral superiority in being thin over being fat?
Anyway, the real challenge in this article is what to do with it. I mean, if I was exposed in the womb, now I got a reason/excuse for my fatness, but I’m still fat.
It doesn’t really help me get thin here and now.
For woman planning to have babies it provides some food for thought on avoiding chemical exposure during pregnancy. Even if the article is totally wrong – it might be a good idea.
For thin folk who put down fat folk, it’s an argument that maybe you shouldn’t be all that superior – if we ate like you, we’d still be fat. Fact is though, there are people who need to feel superior to others, and as fat folks are so easy to spot and demonize, I expect the contempt – and self-contempt – against people who are fat will continue unabated.
But for us folks who are fat, it’s a distraction. If you are playing cards, it doesn’t matter why you were dealt a particular card – ya gotta play it.
So for those of you so inclined to self-pity, I recommend: read the article, then feel sorry for yourself – for 10 minutes.
Then start/continue/restart your diet.
Low Carb Confidential 
Interesting thing about breast fed babies is, some of them can get really chubby for a while, then they have a growth spurt and become slender toddlers. Then, some of them get chubby again until the next growth spurt.
One breast feeding mom with a fat baby told me her pediatrician was concerned about the baby’s weight, but she wasn’t. The kid is skinny now.
The problem facing the doctor is how to tell the difference between a naturally chubby infant and one that has been exposed to the endocrine disruptors discussed in the article.
By the way. That’s a really interesting article. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.