On The Whole

Yours truly on WZTV Fox 17 Nashville: "Fat is Not Always Unhealthy"

A few weeks ago Nick Paranjape of WZTV came out to the Radio Free Nashville studio and interviewed me before, during and after the Health At Every Size show I co-host with Pat Ballard. The story aired last night on the 9 p.m. Fox 17 News broadcast, and again today on Tennessee Mornings.

The Tennessee Mornings segment can be viewed online at http://bit.ly/Dr_Peggy_Elam_on_WZTV_Fox_17.

I enjoyed talking with Nick and sharing some "fat facts" with him. I do want to clarify, though, that as a youth I did not actually develop a full-fledged eating disorder, but what might be called a "subclinical" eating disorder. Dieting and obsessing about my weight definitely did affect my emotional and physical well-being.

The clip contains the usual headless/faceless/frontless fat people background shots, and afterward a bariatric surgeon was asked to comment and -- surprise -- disagreed with me. Overall, though, the segment was pretty positive.

And perhaps it has already introduced some people -- of all sizes -- to fat acceptance and Health At Every Size. I was tickled when a waiter at my and Pat's usual post-show lunching spot recognized me from the broadcast and announced, "You have a radio show!" Which prompted our own waiter (who hadn't seen the segment) to ask about it.

I told her about Health At Every Size, which she immediately "got." She agreed with the importance of focusing on behaviors rather than body size, volunteering that she has high cholesterol even though slender, and has just tried to eat "more beans, less bacon." After our lunch I left her an Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) business card featuring the Principles of Health At Every Size on the back.

ASDAH calls for Health At Every Size & discrimination against none

Association for Size Diversity and Health calls for health for all,
discrimination against none

Capitol Hill visit and media interviews cap recent conference

REDWOOD CITY, CA-- "Health at Every Size and discrimination against no one" was the rallying cry when members of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) met with legislators and government staffers on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.     

Their message was well received by more than 30 U.S. representatives and senators as well as USDA officials. During ASDAH’s weekend conference ASDAH researchers Linda Bacon, Ph.D. and Deb Burgard, Ph.D. also spoke with journalists for CNN and NPR about the current disturbing trend to blame larger people for the rising costs of health care.    

Bacon expressed concern that many of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s policies perpetuate discrimination and create barriers to health care for larger people by focusing  on ‘obesity’ rather than directly on health. The CDC’s William Dietz, M.D. agreed during the NPR interview that it was “important to focus on health at any weight.”

Newly elected president of ASDAH Deb Lemire was proud of the inroads made during the July 31-Aug. 3, 2009 conference weekend, but cautions that “we must be vigilant in followup with our leaders. Many were simply not aware of the discrimination and lack of comprehensive health policies for people of all sizes, large and small.”

The August 3^rd legislative visits were part of an ASDAH weekend conference that included guest speaker Susie Orbach, UK psychotherapist, scholar and author of the 2009 book Bodies as well as Fat Is A Feminist Issue. Orbach proved to be a powerful ally in ASDAH’s work to embrace all body sizes and shapes, emphasizing the importance of language used to discuss health and acknowledging weight discrimination as both a personal and a civil rights issue.

ASDAH is an international organization composed of health professionals, scientists and activists committed to promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes. ASDAH promotes the weight-neutral movement known as Health At Every Size, which calls for size acceptance, an end to weight discrimination, and lessening of the cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness. For more information or to join, visit their website at  www.sizediversityandhealth.org.

Plus Model Magazine Q & A on Health At Every Size and Pearlsong Press

Lovely Jennifer Jonassen interviewed me for an article in Plus Model Magazine's August issue. Check it out here.

(Thanks to Nancy McMorrow for the photos of me and my dog, Zelda. We had fun that day!)

The New York Times on fat acceptance & Health At Every Size

Robin Marantz Henig of the New York Times has an excellent article in today's Times magazine section on "Losing the Weight Stigma."

The article critiques the "no-holds-barred war on obesity" that is the "public-health crusade of the moment." It even points out that fat acceptance activists "deliberately use the word 'fat' as a way to reclaim it, much the way some gay rights activists use the word 'queer.'"

(I like to encourage people -- a little tongue-in-cheek -- to count the letters in "FAT" so they can see it's not a four-letter word. The word "obesity" is the real obscenity -- especially in the way it's used in contemporary medicine -- because it pathologizes people simply because of their weight, size or body composition. The Latin root of "obesity" also implies "excessive" eating, which is not the case in all fat people AND is true of some lean people.)

Henig mentions the recent Archives of Internal Medicine study reporting that half of "overweight" and one-third of "obese" adults had normal blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar. She also gives a heads-up to Linda Bacon's new book Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, as well as Bacon's research supporting HAES.

Henig even understands that mainstream programs like Weight Watchers are co-opting Health At Every Size & size acceptance terminology without walking the talk -- while Weight Watchers, for instance, claims it isn't a diet (Oh, really? Since when?), "it still tracks weight loss down to the decimal point."

There's more, so by all means check it out yourself here.