“I credit my ‘entitled’ childhood and G-d-given gifts with the ability to embrace the challenges and remain sane”
I feel I must respond to the letter writer who expresses her anguish over a dearth of her diabetes medicine… because she believes the reason is that it’s being diverted to help the obese.
Her attitude left me shocked, then saddened.
I had successful bariatric surgery over five years ago. I consider myself lucky that I was able to have the surgery, lose weight, and keep it off. Believe me when I say that if I could have lost weight through conventional dieting, I would have done so. Surgery is not an easy way out.
My husband, because of health issues unrelated to his weight or BMI, isn’t a candidate for surgery. He is going through the process to be approved for Ozempic. His health, indeed his life, is just as important as those of diabetes patients. And just like the letter writer, he needs to have whatever option is right for him made fully available.
By her own admission, the letter writer has an alternative, albeit not an ideal one: insulin. My husband doesn’t have another option. And before other readers start saying things like, “Well, stop with the doughnuts! Exercise! Wire your jaw shut! Develop some self-control!” and other such compassionate comments, I’d say that this blanket fat-shaming has no place in frum minds.
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