Could the Western med-consensus around weight be changing?

[drwex]

Two long-form pieces on the topic happened to intersect in my streams today. Some of my friends (particularly women) have been fat-shamed and received less-than-proper care due to their weight or appearance of fatness. These pieces may give some rays of hope:

http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes.html
Dr Peter Attia gives a passionate and personal look to the question of whether we may have our arrow of causation pointing in the wrong direction when we talk about weight and diabetes. Recommend watching to the end.

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/david-berreby-obesity-era/
Science writer David Berreby argues forcefully that moral panic and blame assignment in relation to weight are no longer defensible as more scientific evidence emerges.

Nobody is arguing that sensible eating and healthy exercise are going out of fashion; what I see in common here is the idea that personal psychological issues such as (lack of) willpower - and the associated notions of blaming and shaming - ought not to take center stage any more in our discussion of obesity/weight.

Comments

[gentlescholar.livejournal.com]

I thought I saw on TV the other day (in a diner) that the AMA had just declared obesity to be a disease, as if things are trending the other way.

[sariel-t.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed both. Thank you for sharing.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links!

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

Holy cow, that article is a great read. I like that it points out that, yes, there are certain personal choices that affect weight but there are all these environmental factors as well.

Hmmm. Maybe we'll try living without AC this summer. Heaven knows I used to do it before, when I was in DC (and, interestingly, much thinner).

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! Thanks so much for the great links.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Reading Gary Taubes's book Good Calories, Bad Calories, three and a half years ago, changed my life. I wasn't carrying much extra weight (though I dropped over twenty pounds by cutting grains and sugar), but the low-fat, "healthywholegrains" diet I lived by was killing me. Getting rid of the starch got rid of a host of chronic health problems too.

Attia and Taubes have since founded a research foundation, nusi.org, and I've been following their work with great interest. I'm delighted to see Attia getting more publicity.