Obese Need Compassion, Not Contempt

In response to the Jan. 24 article “The Lost Decade,” about Rosemary Green: I find it interesting, and also sad, that American society denigrates certain obsessive behaviors (compulsive eating) while rewarding other equally obsessive behaviors (compulsive dieting) simply because the outcome of a behavior appears to be more socially appropriate.

Rosemary Green has exchanged compulsively ingesting food for compulsively controlling, manipulating and thinking about food. The fact remains that she is still obsessed. Green has become thin, but she has not been healed.

LORYN LONGBRAKE

Yucaipa

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The article on Rosemary Green appalled me. Someone who has been there should have more compassion and understanding for those who haven’t been fortunate enough to solve the problem. Furthermore, assuming what worked for her will work for everyone is myopic and arrogant.

I have lost 50 pounds in 15 months. I thank God every day for the blessing of being thin again. I have only sympathy, and no opprobrium, when I see heavy women who haven’t had the good fortune to find their own solution.

Goodness knows they probably feel bad enough about themselves without holier-than-thou attitudes from those of us who’ve made it and those who were never there.

CLAUDIA DONALLY

Los Angeles

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The contemptuous distaste for obesity expressed by Rosemary Green is enough to set the cause of fat acceptance back 1,000 years.

ELIZABETH CORNELL

Beverly Hills

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Rosemary Green states, “I know it’s a sin to be obese like that.”

My sister and I have battled weight problems throughout our lives. Here’s a list of what we consider to be sins: war, poverty, abused and neglected children, homelessness, battered women, prejudice.

Obesity is not a sin.

LINDA SCHWARZ

Santa Ana