Did you read the article you posted? Long term starvation diets are still considered very dangerous even for overweight people. There have been multiple deaths from starvation diets for weight loss--your article even links to a study that examines one of them.
"While 'starvation' as a treatment enjoyed some popularity in the 1960s and '70s, doctors abandoned this strategy because it was likely to kill patients.
After a certain period of time the body burns through fat and muscle, eventually causing physical changes that drastically increase the chance of a fatal heart attack.
Even low-calorie diets that provide insufficient nutrition have killed, with autopsy reports showing the characteristic signs of starvation."
The starvation diet in the article was also medically managed. Doctors did regularly blood tests and proscribed necessary supplements when he needed them. We don't have exact records of everything he was given, but we know he was given magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus as well as yeast.
The point is, telling fat people to eat less isn't going to kill them. Even genuine starvation is not fatal for fat people, assuming they consume a few vitamins and essential nutrients that are very easily obtainable. I'm not advocating starvation diets, merely responding in kind to the ludicrous suggestion that not subsidizing obesity is tantamount to forced starvation.
Telling fat people to eat less is a bit different from cutting off disability to anyone who is obese, which was the suggestion.
>Even genuine starvation is not fatal for fat people, assuming they consume a few vitamins and essential nutrients that are very easily obtainable.
Starvation diets for weight loss are rare, but even among the few well documented, managed examples there have been multiple deaths. You're not correct here. A 27 year old in otherwise good health, supervised by doctors might be OK. A 55 year old with heart disease that's bad enough to qualify for disability probably won't be.
> I'm not advocating starvation diets, merely responding in kind to the ludicrous suggestion that not subsidizing obesity is tantamount to forced starvation.
How about you say what you mean then instead of arguing that starvation diets can't kill people?
"While 'starvation' as a treatment enjoyed some popularity in the 1960s and '70s, doctors abandoned this strategy because it was likely to kill patients.
After a certain period of time the body burns through fat and muscle, eventually causing physical changes that drastically increase the chance of a fatal heart attack.
Even low-calorie diets that provide insufficient nutrition have killed, with autopsy reports showing the characteristic signs of starvation."
The starvation diet in the article was also medically managed. Doctors did regularly blood tests and proscribed necessary supplements when he needed them. We don't have exact records of everything he was given, but we know he was given magnesium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus as well as yeast.