Another salvo in the "War on Fat Kids"

I know I've been away a long time- there's a great explaination invovling time poverty, work stress, a chronic illness and a note from my Mum- so I hope you'll give me permission to continue on where I left off.

The Age is running an opinion piece from Melbourne academic Leslie Cannold about Australia's current approach to teen obesity (what I like to call as a teacher- the war on fat kids). She makes some good observations and concludes with my own primary solution to the situation- focus on healthy lifestyle and kids will be healthy, regardless of size.
It's one of the most considered pieces I've seen on the issue- concluding in the idea that a focus on 'health' as opposed to 'weight' is more positive for growing bodies.
Of course the media and government will ignore such sense and logic as it doesn't feed into our western guilt that fat= bad.

Big Fat lies

While I'm around and posting: Courtney Martin has a great article in Alternet.
Hopefully I'll be posting a little more soon, once I get myself and the new site together.

Fat =terror

I awaken from my slumber to ask: Can you believe this? Apparently, we are a bigger threat than the terrorits. Go figure.
via Bigfatblog

Weight allows discrimination

Not much to say on this one, it speaks for tiself- a variety of perspectives, based around infor from the council on size and weight discrimination.

Fat Politics

Slate looks at the size acceptance movement, and the variety of philosophies behind it. A short article, but I don't feel it's that positive, just rambling and unfocused.

Tyra Banks beefs up

It has been reported in various sources that Tyra Banks is sticking on a fat suit to show the plight of degradation and discrimination felt by the obese. What about talking to real fat people, what about a hidden camera and someone who is overweight. Why is it only valid when someone who made a living from promoting unnatural body shapes that people will listen.

Educating kids, not scaring them

Great ideas for educating kids on nutrition and weight control, not forcing them

Obesity Epidemic- Scare mongering or real threat?

The Skeptical Inquirer examines the Obesity Myth and the skewed figures of the CDC. They come to the conclusion: "There is no doubt that many of our concerns about obesity are alarmist and exaggerated, but it is also apparent that there is a real health risk associated with it."
This is a well reasoned analysis of the hype surrounding the obesity epidemic and examines the flaws in the CDC's figures.

Fat and Employment

A couple of recent surveys have found that fat people will be overlooked for a position rather than a thin person with the same qualifications. Overweight people have had anecdotal evidence of this for years. This article looks at the social attitudes behind this phenomenon, another article reports that Wal- mart is "not going to employ fat people". If you look more closely at the information that it is actually reporting, what they are really getting at is making their floor staff do more physical work so they are not sedentary. While they are trying to cover their butts by creating a fitter work force, I don't believe that they are trying to "weed out the fat as the article would have us believe.

Finally some sense

A report on the annual Nasso conference in Canda this week, says that doctors have found that:
As long as people don't smoke, eat healthy foods and get enough exercise, excess weight may not be as much of a health risk as is commonly thought.
Findings by scientists at the US Centres for Disease Control show that being merely "overweight" does not, by itself, increase the risk of disease and death. While obesity remains a major cause of early death, fewer people die because of excess fat than previous research indicated.

Cheeseburger bill

The US senate is passing the Cheeseburger bill to protect corporations from "frivolous obesity lawsuits".

This legislation confuses me. While on one hand there are nanny state laws coming in to protect kids from obesity, but on the other hand, they are promoting personal responsibility in nutrition. Now while I am all for personal responsibility, I also believe there needs to be some corporate responsibility on behalf of the fast food industry: they need to improve the quality of their food, cut out unnecessary fats and calories, and most importantly, advertise responsibly, don't exploit kids with collectible toys, don't over advertise and don't use discount coupons to increase sales.

Sex, TV and Idols

It seems fat stories tend to clump together in the middle of the week, traditionally "slow news days", I guess because there is always some perspective or other to "the obesity epidemic".

This week seems different, there is a diversity of stories on different issues.
First up, NZ Idol. I'm not a Kiwi- but I teach a lot of NZ and Polynesian kids, so the story of Rosita Vai, the now newly crowned NZ Idol being critised as a bad body role model struck a chord with me. I have always been in awe of the size and grace of Polynesian women and Rosita clearly has that poise and inner strength. She is clearly talented- but Sir Howard Morrison criticised her a poor role model and not having the image to make it in the industry. Rosita is now the fourth plus size winner of an Idol competition, following Ruben Studdard (US), Michele McManus (UK) and Casey Donovan (Aust.). If the voting is truly by the viewers (an entry for another time and place)- then what are they saying? Clearly the viewing public has no problem with plus size Idols, so bring it on.

On the other hand, Dianne Holloway looks at the attitude to fat on TV. From the car crash viewing of The biggest Loser to the new sitcom Thick and Thin, it seems issues of size on TV are still about poking fun or being just plain mean.

A couple of sources have examined a new study that found obese people had better sex lives once they lost as little as 10 per cent of their weight. Now over and above the logistical issues, it appears it is all about self confidence and attractiveness. Once they succeed in losing weight they feel better about themselves, and therefore more sexy. Voila- improved sex life! It seems so logical, but why this perception after weight loss, couldn't we work on improving self image while still fat and therefore have great fitness- inducing fat sex.