Posts Tagged ‘bias’

Must everything be tribal and ideological? We think not. Yet avoiding this tendency is certainly hard for humans such as ourselves. Facing the health threat of COVID-19, we see a prime example of the importance of distinguishing science from ideology. It’s handwashing. The Most Effective Way to Prevent Transmission This is a matter scientific fact. […]

Many people can agree on one thing about obesity. Certainly, it’s clear that we live in a toxic environment that promotes the condition. We can debate what elements are most responsible. Is it the food supply or the structures of our lives that keep us inactive? Then we have to consider toxic chemicals, drugs, and […]

We occupy an interesting dwelling place at the intersection of advocacy and science. By doing so, we have the gift of constant reminders to pay attention to a bright red line. That line marks the very important distinction between doing research and proving a point. Too often in obesity and nutrition, we have lost sight […]

We are accustomed to talking in the language of “us” and “we” here at ConscienHealth. But as Obesity Care Week comes to a close, we’re shifting to a more personal focus. The theme of this day is “I Care.” So we’re sharing perspective from our founder, Ted Kyle, on why he devotes time and energy […]

If lofty rhetoric about childhood obesity were helpful, we would be done here. But four decades of that rhetoric have proven not to be helpful. Back in 1974, the Lancet told us that adult obesity would most likely never be cured. However, with vigilance throughout childhood, most obesity could be prevented, they said. In 2002, […]

Today for Obesity Care Week, the focus is weight bias, which lies at the core of our problems with making progress against obesity. It’s the core problem because it frustrates us in two ways. First of all, intellectual bias about obesity itself leads some very smart people to think (and say) some very dumb things […]

Today marks the opening of a big week of awareness. Not awareness of obesity, but awareness of the need for better care for obesity. You see, people are plenty aware that obesity is a problem. Certainly people who are living with it know it. It’s the subject of lots of idle conversation and unhelpful suggestions […]

Here we go again. New data from CDC on obesity prevalence gives us more of the same bad news we’ve been getting for decades. More rising prevalence. The rate of adult obesity in the U.S. rose above 40 percent for the first time ever, reaching 42.4 percent in 2018. For severe obesity, the prevalence is […]

We are swimming in a sea of implicit weight bias. At its most basic, the bias is this: obesity is a behavioral problem. When we tell people, no, it’s a problem of physiology, most often they can’t accept it. Tell them it’s highly heritable and they often spit back at us. “Genes are not destiny!” […]