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

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gmallan
gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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?
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Replies

  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    This was an extremely interesting article. Thank you for posting.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    This was an extremely interesting article. Thank you for posting.

    No worries, I started reading it and just couldn't stop. I hadn't seen it floating around the forums and just had to share
  • misskate1987
    misskate1987 Posts: 54
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    Wow, what a great and thought-provoking article.

    Thanks for sharing!
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    Thanks for posting. That blew my mind at least 3 times!
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    Thanks, I enjoyed that.

    The Monthly is well worth subscribing to IMO.
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,292 Member
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    who else googled "what i ate when i was fat"?

    i should just print this and hang it on my fridge.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
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    bump
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    Wow, what an impressive article.
    Thanks for posting.
  • jenslife82
    jenslife82 Posts: 229
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    Thank you! It was very interesting.
  • jenslife82
    jenslife82 Posts: 229
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    who else googled "what i ate when i was fat"?

    i should just print this and hang it on my fridge.

    I did!
  • goldmay
    goldmay Posts: 258 Member
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    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.
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
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    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.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    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.
  • Sqeekyjojo
    Sqeekyjojo Posts: 704 Member
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    What I got from the article was 'doctors can't fix this. It's up to YOU'.

    Which sounds reasonable enough.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    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.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    saving for later. :)
  • sweetnlow30
    sweetnlow30 Posts: 497 Member
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    Very thought provoking! I had a discussion with my husband over the key points. It really puts things into perspective and makes you think.
    What I got from the article was 'doctors can't fix this. It's up to YOU'.

    Which sounds reasonable enough.

    I took that from the article too.
  • pwnderosa
    pwnderosa Posts: 280 Member
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    In to read tonight :)
  • mrslcoop
    mrslcoop Posts: 317 Member
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    What a thought provoking article. Thanks for sharing. I tried to go back to work after reading half, but I couldn't stop.
  • Striving4Fit_MrsOrtiz
    Striving4Fit_MrsOrtiz Posts: 410 Member
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    Wow thank u! I definitely needed that wake up call!

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