August 8, 2024 — New survey research from YouGov serves up a timely reminder of the problem with weight bias in healthcare. The research, fielded in late June, found that most American adults (53%) have an unfavorable view of the U.S. healthcare system. About one in three persons report negative treatment because of their identity. And weight is the […]
March 25, 2024 — Weight neutral approaches to health and healthcare are the subject of well-deserved attention. The World Obesity Federation recently published a position statement on recognizing and reducing weight stigma. One of nine recommendations was to “engage in weight-neutral health promotion.” But what does this really mean? How should a healthcare provider respond to a patient’s concern […]
February 1, 2023 — “I would tell them to look beyond the weight and accept me.” These words of a 17-year-boy point to twisted ideas about body weight that surface in the relationships among parents and teens. The words come from a mixed-methods study just published in Body Image by Samantha Lawrence and colleagues. Why is this such an […]
January 8, 2023 — It’s over. Our decorations for the holidays are down and most everyone, if they weren’t back into normal routines last week, will surely be back on Monday. In many ways, this resumption of normality offers a degree of comfort. But it also leads us into a month of challenges for many people. A time when […]
November 23, 2022 — Whether or not it’s by intention, when and if parents try to talk with their children about body weight, it comes across as finger wagging. In fact, research published earlier this year tells us many youth never want their parents to talk about their weight – especially not their fathers. Parents might want to offer […]
July 5, 2022 — It would be hard to find a sharper contrast of scientific views. On one hand, weight gain during pregnancy “is not modifiable via diet and lifestyle change,” write Jodie Dodd and colleagues. But then again, Helena Teede and colleagues found “level 1 evidence” that diet and physical activity interventions help with less excessive weight gain […]
