Archive for 2013
Fall 2013: Naropa Magazine, Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, by Lisa Birman.
Linda Bacon is also working to shift the focus from weight to health. Through a clinical research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Linda established the Health At Every Size (HAES) program. Her bestseller Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, presents the findings of that study. Linda explains, “The results were not surprising: the program that was about body respect…led to all that we hoped: increased enjoyment in all realms, and improved emotional and physiologic health. This was in sharp contrast to the diet program, which took participants on a roller coaster of initial weight loss and health improvements, and then back to baseline or worse at the end of two years, with significantly reduced self-esteem.”
Read more9/24/13: Psychology Today, For Students, Perils of Weight Bias, Anti-Obesity Programs, by Nancy Matsumoto.
…When students come into her courses, Bacon says they’re full of typical societal judgments about eating, shape and size: Thinner is better, thinner is healthier, thinner is morally superior. “This is just ‘reality’ to them,” she notes, “they don’t even see this as bias.” Her first job is to make student become aware of the weight bias they’ve absorbed from our culture, to show that “everybody has got their bias, their belief system, and if they’re not seeing bias in a teacher or textbook, that means that the teacher or textbook is expressing views of the status quo—which in itself is a bias.” Once students begin to recognize weight bias, they can help those who are its victims by telling the bullied child or teen that losing weight is not the solution to the problem, “show compassion for her situation,” and reinforce that it was the bullying, not the fatness, that was not okay.
Read more9/15/13: Helping people access Health at Every Size, Interview with Linda Bacon, by Elyse Wagner.
“We can learn to see our bodies through different eyes, to find its magnificence.” (Linda Bacon)
Listen
9/16/13: National Public Radio, Calling Obesity A Disease May Make It Easier To Get Help, by Patti Neighmond.
“But not everybody thinks calling obesity a disease will help make people healthier. Classifying obesity as a disease “sets people who are heavier up to believe there’s something wrong with them and they’re going to get sick unless they do something about it,” according to , a professor of nutrition at City College of San Francisco and the author of the book Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. That then is “used as justification for surgery to ward off the potential of future disease,” she says, “but that future disease may never exist.” Indeed, research has shown that some people can be overweight or even obese and still fit, whereas their more slender counterparts may be at greater risk for heart disease.” Read more
7/3/13: Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Are You Spiritually Fat?, by Marc David.
“Do yourself a favor and go Google the term “health at every size.” What you’ll find is a growing movement and a body of research that is quite clear and unequivocal around the following conclusion: other than intense extremes, humans can be quite healthy at just about any size or weight. One can be overweight and be healthy and long-lived. One can have the “perfect” size, shape, and weight and be unwell or dis-eased. An amazing woman, Dr. Linda Bacon, wrote a brilliant book with this very title – Health at Every Size – that details the compelling and unmistakable research that bears this out.”
Read more7/16/13: the 2×2 project, The Appearance Of A Disease: Debating the AMA’s vote on obesity, by Kathleen Bachynski.
“Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size, told the Orlando Sentinel, “The AMA just determined that some people are sick based on how they look.” Bacon argues that BMI “defines someone’s physical appearance, not their health.” The essence of Bacon’s arguments is that the AMA’s decision focuses on the appearance of health, rather than health itself. The AMA’s decision uses a potentially inaccurate measure of individual health status and gives people with a high BMI a new and potentially stigmatizing label of disease. In so doing, is the AMA’s vote and the subsequent debate distracting from broader strategies to promote healthy lifestyles?”
Read more7/15/13: The Gazette, One size does not fit all, by June Thompson.
Sadly, we live in a society that says thin is good, fat is bad. We are besieged with images of what we are supposed to look like, when in fact, we are all very different. As Bacon writes in her book: “Our diversity is what makes the world such an exciting place! We can celebrate size diversity in much the same way we are learning to celebrate cultural diversity.”
Read more6/26/13: SF Chronicle, Debate grows over whether obesity is a disease, by Kristen V. Brown.
“”I’m concerned about the health ramifications of this decision. Weight bias is much more health-damaging than carrying a lot of body fat,” said Linda Bacon, a professor of nutrition at City College of San Francisco and author of the book “Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.” “Extensive research establishes that some people in the ‘obese’ category live long, healthy, disease-free lives – proving that ‘obesity’ itself is not a sole determinant of disease,” she said.”
Read more6/22/13: Orlando Sentinal, In labeling obesity a disease, AMA creates controversy, by Marni Jamison.
“Linda Bacon, a nutritionist at University of California, Davis, said, “I’m appalled that the AMA chose to ignore science and name obesity a disease.” Bacon, author of “Health at Every Size,” joins other critics in noting that the definition of obesity — basically how one’s weight and height ratio stacks up on a BMI chart — is imprecise, and only defines size not health. “The AMA just determined that some people are sick based on how they look,” said Bacon. “What’s next? Will they pronounce being black as a disease because there are higher rates of cardiovascular disease in black communities?””
Read more here (free registration required)5/16/13: HuffPo Live, My Doctor Fat Shamed Me, by Nancy Redd.
Patient: “I have the flu.” DR.: “Try losing weight.” Patient: “What does that have to do with my flu?” New studies show that regardless of the symptoms being treated, “overweight” patients are treated differently due to their weight. Linda Bacon, Shannon Russell, Angela Meadows, and Shaunta Grimes, speak out.
Listen here