Category Archives: Fat, fat and more fat

Via Big Fat Deal, I read this interesting article in New York Magazine about fat people who have (at least temporarily) turned into thin people through weight-loss surgery. Here’s a few select quotes: A 1991 study in The American Journal … Continue reading →

Via Big Fat Blog, a news article about a clinical study (to appear in this month’s Journal of the American Dietetic Association) that directly compares a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach to a Weight Loss Diet approach. I don’t … Continue reading →

In the comments of an earlier post, also about fat, Decnavda totally cracked me up by writing: I am having a really hard time grasping the political alliances here. In this corner we have amp, a social democrat explaining why … Continue reading →

Before the fisking, a digression. May I beg for a ban on titles for articles about fat issues featuring faux-clever wordplay? I’m talking about titles and subtitles like “Weight of Evidence” or “fat haters’ arguments flabby” or Cathy Young’s latest … Continue reading →

The point is, the “400,000” study did not get an enormous P.R. push because of scientific merit. There was simply an idealogical need to trumpet a study proving that fat is “the new tobacco”; and in serving the needs of ideology rather than science, the CDC put itself in a position where it deserved criticism. (Nor can the criticism be dismissed as solely coming from fast-food industry flacks; independent fat activists have been making the same criticisms since the study came out.)

What Majikthise doesn’t consider is that the huge publicity given the “400,000” did have a scaremongering effect; it encouraged a level of anti-fat hysteria unjustified by sound science. (“Hysteria” is the correct word; the director of the CDC called fat worse than the black plague.) The CDC made itself a leading contributor to the “fat=bad” mentality that emphases bathroom scales and self-loathing for the fat, rather than emphasizing healthy eating and exercise for everybody. Isn’t that something that merits criticism? Continue reading →

The New York Times has an article summing up the same study that I talked about yesterday (thanks to “Alas” reader Katie for the tip). The big finding: it’s better to be a little “overweight” than to be “normal” weight. … Continue reading →

Sesame Street’s producers, reacting to the “obesity epidemic,” have decided that the Cookie Monster should moderate his eating habits; a new song for C.M. will have the title “A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food.” When I read the story, I … Continue reading →