The Fat Trap (NYT pop review): Overweight individuals in Western nations (
and, increasingly, beyond) face interpersonal and
institutional stigma for their bodies*. Oftentimes, these stigmas are predicated on the belief that being overweight is a
moral failure, that being overweight is usually a result of laziness, decadence, and/or characterlogical poor impulse control. However, an emerging consensus among obesity researchers points toward
strong, common physiological and individual genetic factors as causative for heightened BMIs in the modern world and the general failure of dieting to produce BMI outcomes.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (paywalled) adds to this body of evidence, suggesting that chemical messengers held to contribute to altered "efficient" metabolism and increased hunger in the wake of low-calorie dieting are (on average) significantly elevated up to a full year (if not longer) following a substantial drop in weight from dieting.
[more inside]
posted by Keter
on Dec 28, 2011 -
173 comments
"Tammy Wynette was quite wrong when she sang 'Sometimes it's hard to be a woman'. It's not. It's always hard to be a woman. Especially if you're a man." Hard-hitting journalism from
The Daily Mail. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster
on Sep 20, 2007 -
55 comments
Are you HUNGRY or do you just crave the
flavor?
(my favorite is that Mustard is under the heading Exotic.)
posted by Phantast
on Aug 17, 2005 -
29 comments
Sick of all those fad diets? The No S Diet consists of fourteen words: No snacks, no sweets, no seconds except (sometimes) on days that start with 's'. It's sound advice and fairly easy to stick to. And what would a diet be without
some exercise?
posted by bbrown
on Jun 5, 2005 -
38 comments
US and Big Sugar challenge WHO Obesity Plan William Steiger, of the US Department of Health and Human Services sent a 28-page letter to the World Health Organization on January 5th. On behalf of the Bush Administration, he writes "rigorous scientific studies do not clearly show that marketing fast foods or high calorie foods to consumers increases their risk of becoming obese. Nor do scientific studies definitively link particular foods, such as soft drinks or juices, or foods high in fat or sugar, to a higher risk of obesity." Attacking the science, protecting the status quo, it's a familiar tactic.
The WHO's efforts to combat worldwide obesity, and the reactions of US Sugar and Food Manufacturers were already discussed
here last year. Now that the plan is outlined, after 3 years of work, it recommends "advising people to limit sugar and refined foods, restricting junk food marketing, improving food labeling and raising prices on unhealthy foods". The US, however, is demanding strong changes before it signs off.
posted by kokogiak
on Jan 21, 2004 -
62 comments
This is the true story of what happens... when seven strangers... are picked to live in a house and have their lives taped... to see what happens when people stop being polite fat and start being real skinny. America's obsession with weight loss
continues on ABC. It's the anti-
Fat Project.
posted by hijinx
on Oct 31, 2000 -
7 comments
The Hacker's Diet has been around for a while (since 1991), created by
John Walker, one of the founders of Autodesk. There's no major gimmick, just eat less than you burn. What it does offer, though, is a handy way of keeping track of your true weight using a weighted moving average, that helps dampen the oscillations of your daily water input & output. The author made Excel charts at first, but now he offers
a version for the Palm. Happily, it works on even my ancient, wussy little Palm Pilot Personal edition (512K memory). I've been using it for about a month, and lost about ten pounds so far. Your mileage will almost undoubtedly vary.
posted by beth
on Jul 17, 2000 -
4 comments
