January 9, 2017 — With nearly two dozen of the brightest people in obesity care and advocacy, we just spent the weekend sorting out opportunities that lie ahead for the Obesity Action Coalition. OAC Chair Amber Huett-Garcia summarized what motivates her to commit her energies to this cause for respect and care: The OAC gets better every year. The […]
December 15, 2016 — Writing in the Washington Post this week, Courtland Milloy went looking for answers. How can it be that black women are defying a trend of declining life expectancy? Among other things, obesity challenges the health of black women more than almost any other demographic group. So why is it that while life expectancy for all Americans […]
December 13, 2016 — Obesity is a harsh chronic disease made worse by even harsher weight bias against people who have it. Parents, teachers, and peers make life miserable for kids growing up with obesity. Employers discriminate in hiring, pay, and promotion. Health plans and providers limit access to care that’s needed to overcome the disease. Policymakers throw money […]
November 2, 2016 — New research to be presented at ObesityWeek 2016 indicates that weight shaming may be easing a bit. At the same time, the public increasingly understands that obesity is a medical condition. Between 2013 and 2016, public perception of obesity as a “personal problem of bad choices” has dropped from 44% to 34%. On top of that, […]
September 29, 2016 — When a small group of international advocates for people living with obesity gathered in Copenhagen this week, we noted a huge gap. In HIV, cancer, and diabetes, for example, patients are at the center of policymaking. In obesity, we are often shunned or ignored. It takes courage to advocate in this realm. Support for change […]
September 10, 2016 — The Obesity Action Coalition stepped forward this week to provide a better picture of living with obesity, free from bias and stigma. The OAC Image Gallery launched with 500 respectful images that can be used freely in news, social media, and educational media. By 2017, the gallery will expand to more than 4,000 images, making […]
August 31, 2016 — On the closing evening of the OAC YWM2016 convention in Washington, an impressive group of our heroes won well-deserved recognition. The highest honor went to Nikki Massie, who earned recognition as the OAC Member of the Year. Famous as the Bariatric Foodie, she has built an amazing following through her blog, her books, and most of all through her […]
August 28, 2016 — For decades, the common dogma of energy balance stated that weight gain or loss is a simple matter of “calories in and calories out.” On the second day of YWM2016, Steve Blair called for a rethinking of “nonsense presented repeatedly without any data to back it up.” At the top of his list for such nonsense, he […]
August 26, 2016 — Faith – defined as an enduring belief in something that cannot be directly observed or proven – has played an undeniable role in human history that continues to this day. In the face of uncertainty or incomplete answers, we instinctively fall back on ideas that provide meaning and direction as we search for truth. And so it is that […]
August 25, 2016 — Patient-centered puffery rules the day in health policy jargon right now. Patient-centered medical homes are all the rage. But they’re falling short of delivering a panacea for primary care. Consumer-driven health plans are popular with many employers as a means to bring consumers into healthcare decision making. The reality has involved a lot of cost shifting and […]
