The Obesity Myth

[queerbychoice]

Fair warning: This is long. It's probably longer than most LJ-hyperlinked pages you actually bother reading all of. But I request that you find the time to read the whole thing anyway, because it's important, and it's good for you, which the banner ads all over the internet depicting professional supermodels wrapping measuring tapes around their waists as though the amount of fat that requires a measuring tape to even figure out whether it's there or not is even visible much less unhealthy are not.
Also, who better than the many QBC people reading my journal to be interested in exposing ridiculously unquestioned pseudoscience that's been probably even more successfully popularized than the "gay gene" pseudoscience?

Two Chapters from The Obesity Myth

It's got some very good commentary on racism in there too. Oh yes, and thanks very much to fflo for passing this on to me.

Comments

[interjections.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I forwarded that to my mom, who has been struggling with her weight and body image for most of her life. :\

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I'm actually thinking of forwarding it to my own mom, who completely never seemed to worry about her weight at all up until a year ago, but now she's suddenly dieting all the time and I find the change a bit unsettling.

[interjections.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That's definately unsettling.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed that from a scientific perspective as well as from a social perspective. While there are very real correlations between obesity and health problems like diabetes, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if those health problems were really caused by something else that's linked to weight gain, like sugar intake or a sedentary lifestyle. Questioning the real causes of diseases, instead of on something that might simply be a superficial correlation, is going to be a more effective strategy for improving Americans' health.

As things stand, Type II Diabetes and heart disease are serious American health problems, and focusing on Americans' "weight problem" doesn't seem to be effective- the more people talk about weight, the fatter Americans get, and the more health problems we have. Besides, it ignores the fact that there are plenty of very healthy fat people, and plenty of thinner people with serious problems (severe dieting can be just as dangerous to your heart as obesity). Shifting the focus onto healthier foods and a more active lifestyle is probably a better strategy.

[septemberish.livejournal.com]

That was a fantastic read. Thanks for the link.

[arimle.livejournal.com]

That was really interesting. I think I'm going to have to read that book. Thanks for posting it.