Posts Tagged ‘weight discrimination’

In a fascinating new paper, Paul Thibodeau and colleagues propose that four competing obesity narratives can explain a lot about how people think about obesity and the solutions they are willing to support. These narratives are: Sin. “A big problem with America is that people are unwilling to make an effort to take care of themselves. People who […]

It’s been two years since the American Medical Association (AMA) declared that obesity a disease that merits medical attention. What has been the impact on thinking? The answer depends upon where you look and who you ask. It’s fairly clear that the general public hasn’t shifted to viewing obesity primarily as a medical problem. ConscienHealth and […]

Update: Within three hours of this publication, KevinMD removed the offensive video and claimed “success” in sparking conversation. Sheesh! Thanks to all who spoke up and especially the Obesity Action Coalition. Kevin Pho promotes himself as “social media’s leading physician voice” and his website, KevinMD.com, is recognized as a thoughtful source for perspective from intelligent, front-line […]

You don’t have to look very hard to find people who are scared to look at people with obesity. Plus-size model Tess Holliday on the cover of People magazine this week flushed out quite a few people worried about visual exposure to obesity. https://instagram.com/p/259NqNvOcF/ “Is People magazine glamorizing obesity?” asks Katrina Fernandez on her blog at patheos.com. Fernandez […]

Attempts at regulating obesity — changing obesity’s prevalence through legal and regulatory action — have been pretty dismal failures to date. In his unique, complete examination of this subject — Regulating Obesity — law professor Bill Bogart asks some critical questions for understanding these failures and developing better strategies. Why have efforts largely failed? Bogart thoroughly […]

If you want a fresh understanding of how the national discourse about obesity has taken a wrong turn toward the wrong destination, Fat-Talk Nation is well worth reading. In her new book, Susan Greenhalgh sets aside the dogma of fat acceptance and anti-fat bigots. She sets aside the dizzying complexity of this metabolic disease. She straightforwardly examines […]

A research question that seems to get repeated ad nauseum is: “Do parents worry enough about their kids being fat?” Ask young people with excess weight and they will likely tell you that their weight gets plenty of attention. So please stop asking now. We’ve been showered this week with publicity for the umpteenth study of this […]

In a somewhat surprising outcome, Rebecca Puhl and Sai Liu have found substantial evidence of public support for the 2013 AMA decision to classify obesity as a complex, chronic disease. The majority of a robust national sample of 1,118 of U.S. adults agreed with 11 of 17 reasons favoring classification of obesity as a disease and agreed with […]

Can you tell the difference between healthy and unhealthy wellness programs? If you’re not sure, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON) and the American Heart Association are both offering some perspective. In the Spring issue of Conduit, CON focuses upon obesity in the workplace and provides some detailed perspective on designing a healthy workplace wellness program and related issues of […]

Giving voice to people living with obesity is a theme that is running through the Fourth Canadian Obesity Summit in Toronto. On every day of the meeting, people living with obesity have been playing an active and visible role in the agenda presenting personal reflections, presenting their own research, and giving interviews to media attending […]