September 14, 2022 — A diverse group of folks with unusual expertise gathered in Charlotte last night with a small audience of about a hundred people. They brought questions and curiosity about the chronic disease of obesity. They also brought lifetimes of experience with this disease – either in themselves or through loved ones. It was an evening for […]
September 13, 2022 — Today we are grateful to Sarah Le Brocq for offering her personal story of the reality of living with obesity. Originally appearing in Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine here under a Creative Commons license, we thank Le Brocq for making it possible for us to share it on ConscienHealth. I grew up on a little Island in the […]
July 25, 2022 — “We’ve been working at this for so many years and nothing has changed!” These words came from a frustrated advocate for reforming obesity policy and care at a recent strategic planning meeting. He had a point. Progress is maddeningly slow on obesity. But major changes are happening – even if they aren’t obvious at a […]
July 24, 2022 — Institutions of public health are in a tough spot right now. COVID has so battered public trust in the CDC that it has put us into the figure-it-out-yourself phase of this pandemic. Likewise, the public health response to obesity has long been one of both moral panic and ineffective policy prescriptions. Decades of exhortations to […]
July 17, 2022 — While Friday at YWM Engage focused on knowledge, yesterday was all about equipping people for fearless advocacy. It was a steady stream of very real, very personal perspectives on the change that is possible when people step forward to put a face on their own lived experience with obesity. Pie Charts Don’t Inspire Marches on […]
June 29, 2022 — Today in New York, the Media Empathy Foundation is unveiling an unusual report and, hopefully, starting a conversation. Both the report and the conversation are all about weight stigma in popular media. Because popular media has a way of shaping popular culture and right now, weight stigma is pervasive in all media channels: news, entertainment, […]
June 3, 2022 — We are coming up on what might be the most critical advocacy event in years for obesity – YWM Engage. So much has changed. We’re seeing progress with better options for obesity care. More healthcare providers are getting advanced training in obesity care. Better drugs mean more options for people living with obesity. These are […]
May 1, 2022 — For the last two days, the national board of the Obesity Action Coalition has been thinking deeply about its strategic direction for the next five years. It was an occasion for two very different mindsets. On one hand, we see that much has changed in just the last few years with regard to the problems […]
April 3, 2022 — Policies to address obesity across the whole population often make perfect sense to the people who are promoting them. But often, they run into resistance from people looking at obesity from a very different place. Writing in the Guardian, Clare Finney offers a case in point: “For the 1.25 million men and women with eating […]
March 29, 2022 — For decades now, health policy advocates have been pursuing a solution to the growing effects of obesity on public health. The banners shift over time, but the goal is pretty consistent. It’s better diets and more physical activity across the population to reverse the trend in obesity prevalence. Low fat everything! Let’s Move! Tax and […]
