September 20, 2021 — The concept of food addiction holds strong sway in popular culture. You can find tips for overcoming it. WebMD will tell you how to diagnose and treat it. Psychiatrist Anna Lembke has a book to sell you. In Dopamine Nation, she describes the source of addictive behaviors linked to food, phones, and sex. It was […]
September 17, 2021 — For some time, it’s been clear to mental health professionals that social media could be a problem for teens. Facebook, which owns Instagram, has long minimized the issue. But reporting this week from the Wall Street Journal tells suggests that Facebook knows from its own research that Instagram promotes self-stigma for teenage girls. Slides from […]
August 1, 2021 — Most of us have this voice within us – our inner critic. For a few people, that voice might be missing. But for people living with obesity, it can loom large. This is how self-stigma works. The world is full of implicit bias about larger bodies. The bias is that size is an indication of […]
July 28, 2021 — Is it helpful to use shame for health promotion? The impulse is certainly strong. Shame and blame have been consistent threads through years of grappling with the health impact of obesity. Along the same line, we’re seeing shame and blame trotted out for the unvaccinated in the U.S. as a the Delta variant produces a […]
July 2, 2021 — Federal oversight of dietary supplements is modest and insufficient. This gentle understatement summarizes a new perspective from the Obesity Society on dietary supplements and alternative therapies for obesity. It comes with a systematic review of the evidence – or lack of it – for these products. Nonetheless, people keep selling this bunk for weight loss […]
July 15, 2019 — New research from Rebecca Pearl and colleagues on self-stigma raises important questions for self-care. In obesity, self-care is the most common approach. “I ought to be able to do this myself” is a common thought we hear. WW (formerly Weight Watchers) has many millions of members. Diet, exercise, and weight loss books top the charts […]
January 12, 2019 — In a most compelling way, Tommy Tomlinson describes his lifetime of experiences facing obesity: Losing weight is a f***ing rock fight. The enemies come from all sides: The deluge of marketing telling us to eat worse and eat more. The culture that has turned food into one of the last acceptable vices. Our families and […]
July 22, 2018 — YWM2018 offered two days of feasting on some of the best science, personal insight, and inspiration anywhere. But among all that great content, Rebecca Pearl managed to stand out. She really made us think about the burden of internal stigma. Attendee Faith Anne Newsome captured what many were thinking in a tweet: Dr. Rebecca Pearl’s […]
