The study Natalie mentioned is here, and the thing that has me apoplectic with rage is this tidbit (emphasis mine):
In this study, we will compare the effects of three months of a ketogenic diet (as promoted by Dr. Robert Atkins) with three months of a weight loss diet that conforms to the American Heart Association dietary guidelines in a group of 100 otherwise healthy obese subjects.
So… I guess you’re saying that if we didn’t define obesity as a disease, these people would just be… people?
I have to wonder: how hard was it to find these people? What did they look like along racial, ability, and class lines? (I include ability because the researchers included “active medical or mental illness requiring treatment” as exclusion criteria; I’m sure there are some relatively permanent mobility restrictions that don’t require active treatment.)
At the very least, accessing diets is a class privilege (albeit a pretty revolting one). Having the time, skills, and education to critically examine what you eat in terms of calorie, carbohydrate and fat content is a class privilege. Having the money to find or prepare foods that meet the criteria for the diet you have been put on is a class privilege as well as a privilege of the abled. So is having the time/transportation/money to make it in to the research center.
The Wikipedia article on obesity says that public health officials view obesity as one of the great crises of our time and blah blah blah. Whether obesity qualifies as an actual disease as opposed to a risk factor for other diseases is obviously up for debate. Regardless of whether DIET AND EXERCISE!!! can really make a dent in obesity on an individual level, we live in a society where those things are inaccessible to individuals on a systemic level. People don’t have a grocery store where they can buy fresh fruits and vegetables within a reasonable distance, or the money/ability to buy them, or the time/ability to cook them. Shaming will not change that.
Shaming also will not reverse the weight gain caused by antidepressants and other medications, or thyroid issues, or disordered eating. Because some fatties do have eating disorders as a result of growing up in a society with such fucked-up attitudes about weight and food. But that is for another time, since this has already become kind of a screed.
I think my new life plan might be: get a masters of public health; infiltrate government public health organizations; reframe the discussion around obesity. Thoughts?
I share your apoplexy. I am kind of beside myself because my sister, my thin eating disordered sister, is going on a ketosis diet hence my internet researching. I really don’t know what to do, I feel so bloody helpless.