Category: News
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NYT: Comparing Fatness and Shortness
10 comments on NYT: Comparing Fatness and ShortnessDaniel Engber asks in the New York Times Sunday Magazine why the “reduce obesity” drumbeat doesn’t also spawn a “reduce shortness” drumbeat. We’ve long known that stature can serve as a crude measure of public health. If everyone came from a perfect home, the average height across the population would be a function of our genes alone. (There would still be tall people and short people, but…
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Health At Every Size “whether you’re 100lbs or 500lbs”
The LA Times ran a couple articles on Health At Every Size this weekend. Diets? Not for these folks Do extra pounds always equal extra risk? One bit that from the second article gave me a smile: “You can’t know just based on a person’s size whether that person has good or poor health habits,” says Linda Bacon, a professor of nutrition at City College of San…
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Things That Make Me Go “Hm”
With the fall TV season starting, it might be good to think about which TV shows you actually want to watch. Kate and Marianne point out in Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere that watching TV encourages you to compare your body to the people on TV – who with very few exceptions are underweight and fat-shaming, or fat-shaming commercials. I’m not saying you should give up something…
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Weight-Loss Drugs Are About Health! Really!
Sort of. Reuters summarized the results of Vivus’ new weight-loss drug study as follows: Vivus, whose shares shot up nearly 80 percent on the news, combined phentermine with the epilepsy drug topiramate, available generically [and as] Topamax. […] Phentermine takes an old-fashioned and logical approach to weight loss — it is a stimulant that speeds up the metabolism. Topiramate, an anti-convulsant, has been shown to interfere with binge eating…
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Death, not Evacuation
This is painful. I am grateful that my ARNP found my vitamin deficiencies and that I can treat them, for the surgeries and drugs that have given family members longer lives. But right now I feel I could never leave anyone I loved alone in a hospital.
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Alzheimers, Brain Size, and Fat
Have you seen the story that older fat people have smaller brains than thinner ones, which has been previously linked with Alzheimer’s disease? Yeah. There may be a correlation there, yes. Future studies may bear this out. Has a link been noticed between weight and Alzheimer’s anywhere else? The Alzheimer’s Association does list weight as a risk factor. Sort of. It starts with the fact that age…
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Another Logic Question
I’ve read several stories on the new US life expectancy data. The quick story? Life expectancy for white females born in 2007: 80.7 years Life expectancy for white males born in 2007: 75.8 years Life expectancy for black females born in 2007: 77 years Life expectancy for black males born in 2007: 70.2 years Overall life expectancy for babies born in 2007: 77.9 years Now, what…
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On Cooking
Two trend stories that are pretty different: In the NY Times Magazine, Michael Pollan cites research on how “cooking from scratch” has decreased over the last century, especially since the 60s. In the local paper, grocery chains on recent changes in sales. In: flour, sugar, store brands, plants, hamburger helper, wines below $15/bottle. Out: cut flowers, pop, artisan breads, wine above $25/bottle. Pollan’s argument is that Americans as a…
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Things To Read
First: Unapologetically Fat spotted “Obesity Police’s Shaky Science” in The Baltimore Sun, which starts with: Why is a thin, male smoker considered a physical role model as president but a full-figured African-American woman is considered an embarrassment as his nominee for surgeon general? …and moves on to discuss the recent obesity research that finds that overweight people live longer than those in the “normal weight” category. It…
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Science Reporting vs Reality
It’s not uncommon to see health stories that turn out not to be valid. Sometimes one study is later contradicted by others, which is a lot of what science is about. Sometimes the science news cycle / game of telephone adds confusion. Sometimes a computer model invents something wonky, but with an appealing hook. And then there’s things like Ars Technica noted today: Reports appeared in The…
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NYTimes on Fat Acceptance (Again)
“Throwing out the diet and embracing the fat” is not a perfect description of fat acceptance, but very, very good to see in mainstream media. Many fat blogs are named and linked to; four or five books are mentioned; and the obligatory “but people are healthier if they’re thinner” doesn’t get the last word — it’s immediately followed by: What remains undisputed is that no clinical trial…
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Calorie Restriction has Downsides?
You’ve likely seen the headlines on calorie restriction, or a “permanent diet“, increasing the lifespan of monkeys. Turns out some research is being done on human volunteers, too — and it’s not without problems: [I]t has potential downsides, including constant hunger, sensitivity to cold, weakened immune function and sour mood, says Susan Roberts, professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University, where she is leading a study…
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Things to Read
I liked this article on solitude vs loneliness. I lived alone, or with a cat, for most of 9 years. I learned a lot about self-reliance during that time, and also about how often the difference between solitude and loneliness is attitude. I worked on alleviating loneliness with friends, my cat, and activities — and enjoyed the solitude. Now I don’t live alone. Avoiding loneliness…
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Why Are My Eyes Rolling?
If you want to join the eyeroll, read along. If you’re had your fill of stupidity lately, feel free to pass…
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Today’s Logic Puzzle
In 2005, sources reported that: 3% to 5% of US adults were morbidly obese (BMI > 40) 25% of US adults were obese (BMI > 30) 66% of US adults were overweight OR obese (BMI > 25) Yet newspapers and television tend to illustrate articles about the “OMG Obesity Panic!!1!! Most Americans are fat!!!” with images of extremely fat people like myself. Are they perhaps afraid that MOST…
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Family, Fat, and Duh
I’m glancing through a study (The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update) (PDF) that Kate tweeted about this morning. It’s pretty dense in a “lot of good information” way and I’m pretty sure I’ll be going back to it later when I can really focus. I skim through sections on employment, health care, education, and interpersonal relationships. This grabs me by the eyeballs: In a recent study,…
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Fat Yoga in the News
I was surprised to see an article on yoga classes that target fat people in a mainstream newspaper (in this case The New York Times). Overall it’s a good article. The main thrust is that different body types can result in needing to adapt poses. Poses considered standard for those who are fit or slim — standing with the feet together in mountain pose, kneeling with the…
Living ~400lbs 