Fat City article - Why obesity is not your doctor’s problem

CristinaL1983

Incredibly powerful article by Karen Hitchcock an Australian doctor and writer on the obesity epidemic. If this doesn't make you want to lose weight then nothing will.

http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/march/1361848247/karen-hitchcock/fat-city


The choice is in your hands. Are you going to eat it?

Quoting for later reference.

Awesome article! Thanks for sharing!

anemoneprose

Yes, she has limits as a doctor. Absolutely, social policy would help, and she poo poos it too quickly. Having an honest conversation about the causes of obesity within the public sphere would increase acceptance of policies. If this article furthers that, that's a good thing I guess, but there's a level of aggression in there - and yeah, disgust - that verges on cruelty. I get that it's probably because she's fed up, but still. If she really understood the social determinants of health, she couldn't have written that piece.

Sounds like you just read the first couple of paragraphs and maybe the last one.

Read the whole thing.

I read every word. She's putting the onus entirely on the individual. Which seems empowering, except, that individual is fighting now-permanent metabolic changes to his/her body in addition to the psychological stuff, in addition to the structural stuff, and so is effectively handicapped.

Author is pessimistic about policy, but keen on people with food addictions all of a sudden 'making up their minds', contrary to very strong determinants.

anemoneprose

Yes, she has limits as a doctor. Absolutely, social policy would help, and she poo poos it too quickly. Having an honest conversation about the causes of obesity within the public sphere would increase acceptance of policies. If this article furthers that, that's a good thing I guess, but there's a level of aggression in there - and yeah, disgust - that verges on cruelty. I get that it's probably because she's fed up, but still. If she really understood the social determinants of health, she couldn't have written that piece.

Interesting view. I didn't pick up any level of agression and found the honesty of the article quite refreshing. I think what came through for me was the level of frustration and feeling powerlessness with her inability to be able to help these individuals, their inability to help themselves and the society's failure to do anything effective to combat the problem. A Doctor's role in treating obesity-related diseases is such a bandaid solution to what is (in theory only as the article points out) a simple problem, over consumption.

A doctor could also work with others in a multidisciplinary effort to address the multiple factors underlying any individual's obesity. I'm sure there are non-surgical treatment models that have yet to be explored. [this for the individual; above for prevention] And yes, are expensive, so definitely not within the reach of (for example) the ordinary American (though I know this was written by/for Aussies). But not beyond the grasp of creative politics.

anemoneprose

Thanks for sharing! A little long but definitely worth reading.

From the article: "Why not plaster packets of chips and chocolate with full-colour photographs of the rot that grows under an apron of fat, or a gangrenous foot caused by diabetes? ... Any public-health campaign to curb obesity would need to be graphic, to make real the unpleasant consequences of pleasurable excess eating." Sounds like a great idea to me. I just grossed myself out looking at photos of gangrene, clogged arteries, etc. and now I feel (at least temporarily) disgusted by junk food.

Great Article. Yes a bit long but still had to read it.
Agree on her statements of - "Any public-health campaign to curb obesity would need to be graphic, to make real the unpleasant consequences of pleasurable excess eating." - I think it is not a bad idea.

In the US, we need to quit subsidizing so much food that is used to make the Junk Food. I think the subsidies make the junk food cheaper hence why we eat more of it. Subsidize the Healthier choices.. I like the idea of making Junk Food more expensive. Yes, sucks for the companies who make it, but maybe they should consider getting into a different kind of business. We can still enjoy chips, a cookie, or soda but just in moderation.

Worth the read on this article..

In that case, we need to make a policy change to stop subsidizing things like corn which in turn makes junk food so cheap. Blaming the public for eating cheap junky food when we deliberately make it so is just insane.

Heartily agree!