Turning the Page on an Unhelpful “Food Fight”

We do admire folks who are willing to go out on a limb and put work into a subject as tough as the tensions between care for eating disorders and obesity. In a thoughtful new book, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Natasha Schvey, Robyn Pashby, and Natasha Burke are turning the page on an unhelpful “food fight.” Though ConscienHealth doesn’t do endorsements or product placements, we’re not shy about sharing opinions.

So we’re here to tell you their new book is very much worth your attention.

A False Dichotomy

For some time we have watched differences simmer between people focused on eating disorders and others concerned about obesity. At one extreme, we have seen explicit fat shaming in popular culture promoting unrealistic diets and punishing fitness routines. The Biggest Loser reality show was a noxious and unreal example.

The four authors of this book saw the consequences of such noxious influences in popular culture up close. They have careers of helping people with both obesity and eating disorders. But as they note in their preface, they saw a shift that came with rising obesity prevalence and public attention to its health consequences. Clinicians and advocates became less united. “We began pointing fingers at one another,” they write.

What emerged was the suggestion that treating obesity contributes to rising problems with eating disorders. Some people began to construct a false dichotomy in which one must choose which condition to care about: disordered eating or obesity.

Health at Many Sizes

In their book, Tanofsky-Kraff et al reject this dichotomous thinking:

“Fat Acceptance groups have propelled positive and needed changes in research, practice, and policy. But the discourse between the eating disorders and obesity disciplines became more and more fraught.

“By embracing a ‘heath at many sizes’ perspective, respecting client autonomy, and working to dismantle fat phobia and the pathologization of large bodies, we may begin to take a much-needed step forward. Do we have a long road ahead of us? Certainly.”

Obesity is real. It does real harm to health. Disordered eating and its harm is very real, too. Some people experience great harms from one or the other condition. Sometimes people find themselves facing both conditions. In any case, people deserve real, effective, and empathetic care.

The call for this in The New Food Fight is something we support wholeheartedly.

Click here for more about this fine book from Oxford Academic and here to get the book from Amazon.

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July 5, 2025

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