Follow the accumulating evidence and observations that shape our view of health policy and obesity
August 19, 2022 — More and more, people are coming around to the understanding that obesity is a complex, chronic disease. Not a lifestyle choice. Even the American Heart Association has finally begun to change its implicit bias about this. Yet we’re still falling short on the important task of building better access to care for real obesity care. […]
August 18, 2022 — The tension between science and policy at CDC is inevitable. But that tension has never been in plain view more than during the COVID-19 pandemic. And so, citing a “botched” response to the pandemic, CDC director Rochelle Walensky says that she will launch a sweeping reorganization of the agency. Her announcement was thin on specifics. […]
August 17, 2022 — For a very long time, a basic question about the rising rate of obesity has seemed to frustrate people. Why is it relentlessly rising? Some pundits seem to think people have become stupid, lazy, or undisciplined over the last several decades. “You think cake wasn’t delicious iu 1969?” quipped one self-appointed expert recently. Others are […]
August 16, 2022 — An article of faith in the fat acceptance community is the idea that weight stigma causes more harm than obesity itself. In the extreme, there’s a belief that we should do away will any reference to obesity. People hold this belief because they think the health harm ascribed to obesity actually comes from weight stigma. […]
August 15, 2022 — Obesity is a slow burn. It erodes a person’s health over time, causing other diseases and an earlier death. In contrast, the harm of weight bias and stigma is immediate. First, there is the everyday onslaught of dehumanizing treatment one receives. A constant barrage of insults and slights creates stress that chips away at both […]
August 14, 2022 — Last week, when Bill Maher aired a rant about people living with obesity, he put a spotlight his own arrogant beliefs about people living with obesity. We have “gone from fat acceptance to fat celebration,” he said. Somehow, he believes that “to view yourself letting go as a point of pride” is the norm for […]
August 13, 2022 — Two new studies in Pediatric Obesity point to a common theme. It seems that healthcare providers, parents, and youth all, for various reasons, may be avoiding the subject of adolescent obesity. It is a difficult subject for all three groups – largely because of concerns about emotional well-being. Whether parents and youth talk about or […]
August 12, 2022 — An interesting conversation popped up in a recent session to prepare for the upcoming White House Conference on Hunger Nutrition and Health. It was about obesity drug prices, utilization, and ultimately, access to care. Darius Mozaffarian was a key speaker at this session organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center. He offered his opinion that you […]
August 11, 2022 — Weight bias in healthcare is getting in the way of meeting the primary mission of healthcare providers – improving the health of people seeking care. In fact, for people with severe obesity, there’s good reason to believe that weight bias in healthcare does more immediate harm that obesity itself. A brilliant new narrative synthesis in […]
August 10, 2022 — Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we could find lots of talk about the potential of telehealth – and see its potential for extending the reach of obesity care. Translation into action and care delivery, though, was very slow. When the pandemic became a constraint for face to face care delivery, that changed overnight. Telehealth care for […]
