October 5, 2023 — Two professors yesterday at the EASD meeting engaged in a fierce and collegial debate about the feasibility of lasting remission in type 2 diabetes with very low calorie diets. Professor Kamlesh Khunti brought a polished presentation of objective data. He was unequivocal. Is lasting remission feasible in a real world setting? “It’s a definite no […]
July 16, 2023 — A new essay in the AMA Journal of Ethics raises a surprising question. Should obesity be an unmentionable health condition? Does its diagnosis do more harm than good? Kristen Hardy writes instead about healthcare for fat people. She does not like the diagnosis of obesity because, she writes, “‘excess weight’ is a myth. Fat people […]
February 1, 2023 — After years of having not much to offer people suffering from the health effects of obesity, healthcare providers find themselves climbing a learning curve in obesity medicine. The pressure is here because the options for medical care of obesity have leapt forward recently. Minimally invasive bariatric surgery can offer dramatic improvements in health. Advanced medicines […]
January 27, 2023 — We count on newspapers for coming up with sensational headlines to inflame passions. Opinion pages seldom disappoint. But those flames of passion very often bring more heat than light. Such was the case yesterday when the New York Times published a sensational headline for an opinion article by a HAES activist, Virginia Sole-Smith. She wants […]
December 19, 2022 — Every now and then we have to suppress an eye roll when someone tells us that weight bias is not a relevant concern where they are. If only. We have to suppress an eyeroll and find a gentle way to encourage them to think again about the impact of weight bias in their setting. Two […]
November 22, 2022 — This is a note of gratitude to Julia Belluz. In a guest essay for the New York Times, she writes beautifully and accessibly about a great gap. It is the gap between science and popular culture in the matter of obesity. She does it while reporting on the recent Royal Society meeting about the causes […]
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 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 […]
June 26, 2022 — Health at Every Size® is both an idea and a trademark. The trademark is owned by the Association for Size Diversity and Health. The idea is all about a view of health independent of a person’s weight. So folks who travel in the HAES® orbit take a dim view of the word obesity – even […]
June 24, 2022 — It’s rare to find a robust conversation about medical care for obesity and the bias that gets in the way. But that’s exactly what the 1A podcast delivered yesterday. Fatima Cody Stanford, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and Kamilah Weems joined the show to talk about the perfect storm of bias that gets in the way of good […]
