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Officially, Western societies are waging a war on obesity. Unofficially, we are waging a war on fat people. Anti-fat sentiment is pervasive, and fat people suffer a host of harms as a result: workforce discrimination, inferior medical care, relentless teasing, and internalized shame. A significant proportion of the population endures such harms. Yet, that is not typically regarded as a serious problem. Most of us aren't quite sure: Is it really OK to be fat? This book argues that it is.In Why It's OK to Be Fat, Rekha Nath convincingly argues that conventional views of fatness in Western societies—as a pathology to be fixed or as a moral failing—are ill-conceived. Combining careful empirical investigation with rigorous moral argumentation, this book debunks popular narratives about weight, health, and lifestyle choices that underlie the dominant cultural aversion to fatness. It argues that we should view fatness through the lens of social equality, examining the wide-ranging ways that fat individuals fail to be treated as equals. According to Nath, it is high time that we recognize sizeism—the systematic ways that our society penalizes fat individuals for their size—as a serious structural injustice, akin to racism, sexism, and homophobia.For additional online material from the author, related to this book, please see rekhanath.net

Using a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, this book explores the social factors that influence the ways in which societal norms police fat bodies. Chapters examine the racist and colonial constructions of Western beauty norms as well as the evolution of anti-fat bias and fat liberation, before delving into the relationship between social media and body size activism, with a particular emphasis on social media companies censoring fat people. The authors draw on first-person narratives of artists, activists, and fat social media users to unpack how, these mostly women, have used their bodies to transform the negative social perceptions of fat people. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in Sociology, Gender Studies, History, and Media Studies who research body size activism and beauty norms.

Fat Studies beschäftigen sich mit hohem Körpergewicht, ohne es auf die Wahrnehmung als Gesundheitsgefahr zu reduzieren. Sie fokussieren auf den gesellschaftlichen Umgang mit ›Übergewicht‹ als Ordnungs- und Herrschaftskategorie und analysieren, wie dicke Körper normiert und pathologisiert werden. International bereits weit entwickelt, sind die Fat Studies im deutschsprachigen Raum noch kaum bekannt. Die multidisziplinären und internationalen Beiträger•innen des Glossars präsentieren erstmals eine breite Palette zentraler Begriffe dieser jungen Disziplin: von A wie Aktivismus über I wie Intersektionalität bis Z wie Zucker.

Traits that signal belonging dictate our daily routines, including how we eat, move, and connect to others. In recent years,'fat'has emerged as a shared anchor in defining who belongs and is valued versus who does not and is not. The stigma surrounding weight transcends many social, cultural, political, and economic divides. The concern over body image shapes not only how we see ourselves, but also how we talk, interact, and fit into our social networks, communities, and broader society. Fat in Four Cultures is a co-authored comparative ethnography that reveals the shared struggles and local distinctions of how people across the globe are coping with a bombardment of anti-fat messages. Highlighting important differences in how people experience'being fat,'the cases in this book are based on fieldwork by five anthropologists working together simultaneously in four different sites across the globe: Japan, the United States, Paraguay, and Samoa. Through these cases, Fat in Four Cultures considers what insights can be gained through systematic, cross-cultural comparison. Written in an eye-opening and narrative-driven style, with clearly defined and consistently used key terms, this book effectively explores a series of fundamental questions about the present and future of fat and obesity.

Drawing on the concept of the somatic self, Castro-Vázquez explores how Japanese men think about, express and interpret their experiences concerning bodyweight control.Based on an extensive ethnographic investigation, this book offers a compelling analysis of male obesity and overweight in Japan from a symbolic interactionism perspective to delve into structure, meaning, practice and subjectivity underpinning the experiences of a group of middle-aged, Japanese men grappling with body weight control. Castro-Vázquez frames obesity and overweight within historical and current global and sociological debates that help to highlight the significance of the Japanese case. By drawing on evidence from different locations and contexts, he sustains a comparative perspective to extend and deepen the analysis.A valuable resource for scholars both of contemporary masculinity and of medical sociology, especially those with a particular interest in Japan.

Body stories capture a nuanced, interconnected, interactive and complex telling of our understanding, perception and experience of and through our bodies. Plenty has been published on body image but image suggests a static fixed body unmitigated through our social interactions and varying times and spaces. This book is not a “how-to” guide for fat confidence. It's not a compendium of fat suffering. It's simply a collection of narratives about what it's like to survive in a weight-hating world. It resists the ways that marginalized bodies are being written and researched and put into other people's ideas about our existence. The stories in this book are celebratory and are painful. They look at intersections of race and queerness; they destabilize womanhood by presenting a range of possible female embodiments. They explore issues of disability and madness. The full range of possibilities that are collected here give a picture of what it means to live in a society with strong and powerful messages about size, about normalcy, about what a moral and healthy life and body look like. This book is a snapshot of its place and time, but these stories remind us that we're here to stay. The body stories will change but we will keep owning our own narratives. While story, especially written by women, is often seen as outside the academic canon, these stories, these creative offerings, are theory, are research, and are activism. They are nothing less than the blueprint for liberation. Writing about fat and about bodies outside of medicalized narratives, without ignoring the impact of race, sexuality, class, ability, gender, fashion, appearance and beyond, is radical and rigorous. It is impossible to think about the future without wishing for liberation. Liberation can come in many forms. It can mean an awareness, the ability to confront. The stories in this book display the ways that liberation isn't a finish line or a thing we can complete—rather it is a million small actions and understandings in aid of a renewed and hopeful world.

It is okay to be fat. This is the basic premise of fat activism, a social movement that has existed in Canada since the 1970s. Being Fat focuses on the earliest strands of the movement, covering the last decades of the twentieth century. The book explores how fat activists wrestled with feminist issues of the era, including femininity, sexuality, and health. Showcasing the earliest efforts of fat activists in Canada, such as the growth of social initiatives “for fat women only,” Being Fat helps us recognize the long reach of second-wave feminism and how it shaped activists'approaches to everyday experiences like shopping, exercise, and going to the doctor.

Mémoire (de fin d'études) de l'année 2020 dans le domaine Médecine - Autres, Université de Monastir, cours: Geriatrie/nutrition, langue: français, résumé: Ce travail avait souligné l'intérêt de dépistage de la dénutrition chez la population âgée en surcharge pondérale, et avait montré qu'il parait justiciable d'apprécier la masse et la fonction musculaire et d'évaluer le statut en micronutriments sans trop se focaliser sur le calcul d'IMC. Il avait identifié aussi les principaux facteurs associés à un état nutritionnel défavorable. La dénutrition constitue l'un des principaux problèmes de santé chez la population âgée de plus de 65 ans. Nous avons mené une étude transversale descriptive, portant sur 41 patients âgés de 70 ans et plus ayant un IMC ≥25 Kg/m², dont les objectifs étaient d'évaluer son état nutritionnel selon la HAS 2007 et d'identifier les facteurs associés à la dénutrition chez cette population. Nous avons procédé à une étude analytique en comparant les patients dénutris ou à risque de dénutrition (groupe 1) à ceux ayant un état nutritionnel normal (groupe contrôle) ; afin de déterminer les facteurs associés à la dénutrition. Notre population était constituée de 22 femmes (54%) et de 19 hommes (46%). L'âge moyen était de 74,8±4 ans. 26,8% des patients étaient jugés à risque de dénutrition avec un score MNA entre 17 et 23,5, 48,8% des patients étaient dénutris et 24% des patients avaient un état nutritionnel conservé. Les sujets du groupe 1étaient significativement plus âgés par rapport au groupe contrôle ; p : 0,004. La solitude était significativement associée à un état nutritionnel défavorable (p : 0,017). Le bas niveau socioéconomique était significativement associé à la dénutrition (p : 0,012). Pas de différence significative concernant les comorbidités entre les deux groupes et le diabète était la pathologie la plus fréquente. La fréquence de chute était significativement plus élevée chez le groupe 1 (p : 0,021). Pas de différence significative concernant l'IMC entre les deux groupes, ce qui témoigne que le risque nutritionnel est beaucoup plus lié à l'altération de la composition corporelle plutôt qu'à une simple inflation de la masse grasse. Une qualité de vie plus altérée (p : 0,021), un risque de dépression plus élevé (p : 0,008), des troubles de la mémoire plus fréquents (p : 0,05), avec une dépendance et une perte de l'autonomie plus élevée (p : 0,066) chez les patients dénutris ou à risque de dénutrition.

Fat: such a little word evokes big responses. While ‘fat'describes the size and shape of bodies, our negative reactions to corpulent bodies also depend on something tangible and tactile; as this book argues, there is more to fat than meets the eye. Fat: A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life offers a historical reflection on how fat has been perceived and imagined in the West since antiquity. Featuring fascinating historical accounts, philosophical, religious and cultural arguments, including discussions of status, gender and race, the book digs deep into the past for the roots of our current notions and prejudices. Three central themes emerge: how we have perceived and imagined obesity over the centuries; how fat as a substance has elicited disgust and how it evokes perceptions of animality; but also how it has been associated with vitality and fertility. By exploring the complex ways in which fat, fatness and fattening have been perceived over time, this book provides rich insights into the stuff our stereotypes are made of.

“Nothing is more brilliant and juicy to me than a woman stepping fully into her self—mind, body, and spirit, full throttle, without apology. Kimberly Dark has been illuminating the path for a long time. This book is a triumph. This book is a jailbreak from cultural inscriptions meant to keep us locked up, shut up, and conforming.” —Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water and The Book of JoanFat, Pretty, and Soon to be Old is a moving, funny, and startlingly frank collection of personal essays about what it means to look a certain way. Or rather, certain ways. Navigating Kimberly Dark's experience of being fat since childhood—as well as queer, white-privileged, a gender-confirming “girl with a pretty face,” active then disabled, and inevitably aging—each piece blends storytelling and social analysis to deftly coax readers into a deeper understanding of how appearance privilege (and stigma) function in everyday life and how the architecture of this social world constrains us. At the same time, she provides a blueprint for how each of us can build a more just social world, one interaction at a time. Includes an afterword by Health at Every Size expert, Linda Bacon.Kimberly Dark is a writer, professor, and raconteur. She has written award-winning plays, and taught and performed for a wide range of audiences in various countries over the past two decades. She is the author of The Daddies, Love and Errors, and co-editor of the anthology Ways of Being in Teaching.

Sie sind dick? Das ist in Ordnung! Dieses Buch nimmt Dicke, wie sie sind, so vielfältig wie sie sind. Jeder hat seine eigene individuelle Lebensgewichtskurve. Dicksein ist genau so kompliziert und vielfältig wie das Leben! Es kann gesund oder ungesund, schön oder weniger schön sein.Was ist es wirklich? Wie fühlt es sich an? Was sagen die Fakten – was die Betroffenen? Und wie reagiert unsere Gesellschaft – und Ihr Umfeld?Und vor allem: Wie können Sie selber am besten damit umgehen. Dieses Buch ist kein weiterer Ratgeber zum Abnehmen, keine Darstellung, was Dicke alles falsch machen, kein Patentrezept für den vermeintlichen Traumkörper. Die Internistin und Diabetologin Veronika Hollenrieder schöpft aus 25 Jahren ärztlicher Praxiserfahrung, lässt die von ihr beratenen Menschen zu Wort kommen, und erklärt die neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse zum Dicksein. Ein ganz neuer Zugang zu einer Körperform, die allzu selten als „Wohlfühlgröße“ wahrgenommen wird.Sie nimmt den Leser mit auf eine Reise:Wo und wie entsteht Übergewicht in einem Menschenleben?Was geht in Kopf und Körper vor?Wie können wir mit den Eigenheiten und Situationen, die sich aus einem „Zuviel an Pfunden“ ergeben, umgehen?Wie können Sie lernen, Ihren Körper zu nehmen, wie er ist, mit seinen Vor- und Nachteilen, sich mit ihm wohlzufühlen, ihn gar gesund pflegen?Weg von Angst und schlechtem Gewissen. Hin zum Dialog mit Dicken, der gleichermaßen Körper und Geist berücksichtigt!Das Ziel der Reise ist nicht der ideale BMI sondern die Entstehung eines neuen Bewusstseins und damit ein Gewinn an Gesundheit, Zufriedenheit und Lebensqualität. Lassen Sie sich mitnehmen auf eine Reise, die neue Perspektiven eröffnet.

This book describes in detail the multidisciplinary management of obesity, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the rationale for a multidisciplinary approach and with the tools required to implement it effectively. The emphasis is on a translational approach, starting from basic concepts and fundamental mechanisms of the pathology and clinical morbidity. Experts in the field discuss the full range of relevant topics, including the significance of physical exercise, psychological issues, nutritional strategies, pharmacological options and bariatric surgery. Put another way, the book covers all aspects from the bench to the bedside. Physicians, scientists and postgraduate students will all find it to be invaluable in understanding the causes and optimal management of obesity, which has rapidly become a major public health problem.

A fictional correspondence with a desperate American soldier leads to a strange new reality in this surreal novel of trauma, healing, and war.One morning, the heroine of this book—a famous Belgian author named Amélie Nothomb—receives an unusual fan letter. Melvin Mapple, an American soldier stationed in Iraq, tells her of the horrors around him. And of his only comfort, eating. He eats and eats until his ever-growing bulk starts to suffocate him. Disgusted with himself, but unable to stop, he labels his excess self Scheherazade as a way to cope.Repulsed yet fascinated by Mapple's story, Nothomb begins exchanging letters with him. She opens up about her artistic process and the challenges of being in the spotlight. Their far-reaching conversation delves into universal questions about humanity and relationships. But their epistolary friendship takes a surprising turn when the novelist discovers bizarre facts lurking behind Mapple's complex personal story.

The gastrointestinal track provides one of the distinct systems where multiple malignancies, including adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, esophagus and colon are each associated with obesity. This unique association is covered in this volume of Energy Balance and Cancer from the epidemiologic, biologic and potential etiologic viewpoint. The focus on possible dietary contribution as well as the role of exercise in prevention and therapy is presented in both animal model and patient based studies. Special focus is provided also on the role of genetic mutations and inflammatory pathways as drivers of these obesity related gastrointestinal malignancies. Overall, this volume on Energy Balance and Gastrointestinal Malignancies should be valuable to Epidemiologists, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists, as well as to students and researchers from multiple disciplines interested in understanding and disrupting the association between obesity and cancer.

Obesity is a rising global health problem. On the one hand a clearly defined medical condition, it is at the same time a corporeal state embedded in the social and cultural perception of fatness, body shape and size. Focusing specifically on the maternal body, contributors to the volume examine how the language and notions of obesity connect with, or stand apart from, wider societal values and moralities to do with the body, fatness, reproduction and what is considered ‘natural'. A focus on fatness in the context of human reproduction and motherhood offers instructive insights into the global circulation and authority of biomedical facts on fatness (as ‘risky'anti-fit, for example). As with other social and cultural studies critical of health policy discourse, this volume challenges the spontaneous connection being made in scientific and popular understanding between fatness and ill health.

Obesity is a major public health challenge. More than one-third of the U.S. adult population is considered obese, a figure that has more than doubled since the mid-1970s. Among children, obesity rates have more than tripled over the same period. Not only is obesity associated with numerous medical complications, but it incurs significant economic cost. At its simplest, obesity is a result of an energy imbalance, with obese (and overweight) people consuming more energy (calories) than they are expending. During the last 10-20 years, behavioral scientists have made significant progress toward building an evidence base for understanding what drives energy imbalance in overweight and obese individuals. Meanwhile, food scientists have been tapping into this growing evidence base to improve existing technologies and create new technologies that can be applied to alter the food supply in ways that reduce the obesity burden on the American population. Leveraging Food Technology for Obesity Prevention and Reduction Effort examines the complexity of human eating behavior and explores ways in which the food industry can continue to leverage modern food processing technologies to influence energy intake. The report also examines the opportunities and challenges of altering the food supply—both at home and outside the home—and outlines lessons learned, best practices, and next steps.

Healthcare professionals working at the coal face of primary care are now faced daily with the challenge of both preventing and treating obesity. Fast Facts: Obesity, written by leading experts in the field, provides a comprehensive overview of the causes and implications of obesity, and is packed with practical advice on the assessment and management of the obese patient. It explains clearly how to achieve the seemingly simple objective of a negative energy balance, through caloric restriction and increased physical activity, and the importance of changing patients'habits and attitudes through behavioral therapy. The book provides the latest information on adjunctive pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery, the latter being a vital and cost-effective means of improving health and quality of life in some individuals. The authors also explore issues specific to the management of obesity in children, pregnant women and the elderly. As well as being a disease in its own right, obesity is a key risk factor for serious chronic conditions - type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many cancers - and also leads to a plethora of non-fatal but debilitating health problems, including musculoskeletal problems (e.g. osteoarthritis), respiratory problems and obstructive sleep apnea. This exciting new title in the Fast Facts library is complementary to the recently updated Fast Facts: Diabetes Mellitus as well as Fast Facts titles covering the numerous conditions associated with obesity (e.g. hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea). It is an invaluable resource for any healthcare professional who wants to understand and manage this major threat to human health.

Winner of the 2010 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in PsychologyWinner of the 2010 Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women's Studies from the Popular Culture AssociationA milestone anthology of fifty-three voices on the burgeoning scholarly movement—fat studiesWe have all seen the segments on television news shows: A fat person walking on the sidewalk, her face out of frame so she can't be identified, as some disconcerting findings about the'obesity epidemic'stalking the nation are read by a disembodied voice. And we have seen the movies—their obvious lack of large leading actors silently speaking volumes. From the government, health industry, diet industry, news media, and popular culture we hear that we should all be focused on our weight. But is this national obsession with weight and thinness good for us? Or is it just another form of prejudice—one with especially dire consequences for many already disenfranchised groups?For decades a growing cadre of scholars has been examining the role of body weight in society, critiquing the underlying assumptions, prejudices, and effects of how people perceive and relate to fatness. This burgeoning movement, known as fat studies, includes scholars from every field, as well as activists, artists, and intellectuals. The Fat Studies Reader is a milestone achievement, bringing together fifty-three diverse voices to explore a wide range of topics related to body weight. From the historical construction of fatness to public health policy, from job discrimination to social class disparities, from chick-lit to airline seats, this collection covers it all.Edited by two leaders in the field, The Fat Studies Reader is an invaluable resource that provides a historical overview of fat studies, an in-depth examination of the movement's fundamental concerns, and an up-to-date look at its innovative research.

Eating disorders refer to a range of problems characterized by abnormal eating behaviours and beliefs about eating, weight, and shape. Eating disorders, which are classified as psychiatric problems, and obesity, which is classified as a general medical condition, reflect a diverse and perplexing array of biological, social, and psychological phenomena. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of eating and weight disorders, this volume also covers: anorexia nervosa bulimia nervosa atypical eating disorders and binge eating disorders obesity. Including the most up-to-date research, Carlos Grilo provides a balanced and authoritative overview of current thinking in the fields of eating disorders and obesity with broad yet in-depth coverage of the areas. This highly readable book is an indispensable resource to students and professionals in clinical psychology, health psychology, and psychiatry.

Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking development—an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century. Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

This book presents an up-to-date overview of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, their medium- and long-term adverse effects, and their implications for planning public health actions. It also analyzes the characteristics specific to these countries in the worldwide process of nutritional transition, which is in turn related to the processes of demographic and epidemiological transition.