Fat Chicks Rule

More on the Fat Studies Reader.

There will most likely be no blog post next week as next weekend is moving day and I will be with out home interweb for five whole days.  (*sob*)

Second off, for those in the New York Area, I will be reading my essay in the Fat Studies Reader at Re/Dress along with Kathleen LeBesco, Elena Andrea Escalera and Kelli Dunham will be reading the late and missed Heather MacAllister's essay.  Come shop at the fab store, buy the book, listen to the readings and chat with the authors. 

And check out the article about the Fat Studies Reader in the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Health care for all?

In the US, the House has passed a health care for all bill.  Now it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.  I have some problems with it, namely there is too much promotion of the idea that thin=health.  However, since fat people are particularly vulnerable to the arbitrary loss of health insurance, just due to their weight, I think that making sure everyone has some kind of health care is a good start.

So please let your senators know you want them to pass "Health care for all," but not at the expense of fat people.  NAAFA has done some lobbying and an article in Slate challenges the reasoning and numbers of incentive programs that pressure fat people to be thin.

People must understand that fatness is constantly correlated to things it may not cause.  A recent interview with Glen "ALL FAT PEOPLE GET CANCER" Weldon, Linda Bacon and Marilyn Wann on BBC news where Linda points out that in the pancreatic cancer studies looked at only 4 that had cancer correlations where the rest (19) did not.  Is this how this works?  We make decisions based on crappy data, picking and choosing what we want?

Meanwhile HAES is showing more promise to making people healthy without focusing on weight.  

The Fat Studies Reader

The Fat Studies Reader (in which my essay "Fat Heroines in Chick-Lit: A Gateway of Acceptance in the Mainstream" appears) will be out on Wednesday.  Please buy this book.  Fat Studies will help legitimize fat people who often treated as second class citizens (in health, media, and workplace).

I was also kind enough to lend my voice to NYU Press blog in a post "Tricks, Treats and Shattering Stereotypes." 

Fat Studies, thankfully, has gotten some notice in the press.  A blog from conservative website Campus Reform questions the need to have Fat Studies (or any studies that isn't WASP studies).  Being actually accepted enough to be challenged makes me proud!  It also got a kinder review in Ms Magazine.

Those in the New York Area, join us at Re/Dress on December 4th at 8pm for a reading. (Books will be available.)

How many studies now?

I think we are now up to six studies that show those who have overweight BMI live the longest.  The latest study of German people show those with overweight BMI live the longest and obesity becomes less of an issue as you get older.

This goes back to my post from July about the flawed concept behind BMI.  We really do categorize people in a very narrow range of what is considered healthy without paying attention to history, genetics, or physical characteristics.  Considering that a study just came out that suggests kids born today can live to be 100, it doesn't seem like obesity is putting a dent in life expectancies.  Of course if we include those children in the third world, the ones that die of actually preventable diseases, that life expectancy drops.

Also a recent article about a 2008 study indicates that fat people can be healthy.  I'm perfectly willing to accept gaining weight as a symptom (not a cause) of a disease, just as losing weight can also be one.  What I don't agree with is the arbitrary decision that being at the magical BMI number will make you healthy or that even losing weight will make you healthy.

Repost: Dealing with Doctors

Since it’s going to be a little crazy in the next month and a half as I try to settle my house, I’ve decided that some weeks I will be posting my old Igigi columns.

 

The best of Igigi: Dealing with Doctors

 

We’ve all been to the doctor.  We’ve all had the weight talk.  We want to trust the doctor because they’ve been to medical school and we haven’t.  And by and large, if something I can’t understand is going on in my body, the doctor is the first person I want to ask about it. But the truth is doctors don’t know everything. I know someone with Crohn’s Disease who was misdiagnosed for nearly 20 years as having a nervous stomach and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  So doctors look at your symptoms and make their best guess.  This same thing comes from weight.  Doctors are not immune from the message fat=bad.   So when a fat patient comes in complaining of what is considered a “weight related disease”  (or in some cases, any ailment), they will tell you to lose weight. It’s how they’ve been trained to think and as any competent ad man can tell you, that level of training dies a hard, ugly death.

    That being said, you still need to visit a doctor at least once a year for a physical and blood tests.  Women need to visit a gynecologist yearly as well.  Early detection of a number of maladies can be a lifesaver.  We can’t put it off because we fear the doctor will tell us to lose weight.  So here is some practically advice on dealing with the doctor.  Doctors can be a pain.  I have yet to find a good internist; the one I have is satisfactory and for many of you that might be the best you can hope for.

    The most important thing is to educate the doctor.  There is a difference between an ignorant doctor and a fat-hating one.  An ignorant doctor parrots the diet industry line because he or she doesn’t know better.  A fat-hating one may refuse to touch you or treat you.  That is a good way to gauge the difference. Be wary of a doctor who refuses to treat you until you lose weight. With patience and persistence, an ignorant doctor can be educated.

    If you are seeing a new doctor, be sure to either contact them first or speak with them before they examine you.  Let them know right away that you are quite aware you are fat; you are okay with your size; that you think that “fat” doesn’t mean “unhealthy” and that they are not to bring up your weight without your permission, end of story.  If you do Health at Every Size (HAES), be sure to share it with your doctor.  I did that with my chiropractor when he initially brought up my weight.  I told him I don’t lose weight and told him about HAES.  Not only did he never bring up my weight again, he started reading about HAES on his own.

    Remember the doctor works for you.  You are paying him to make you well.  If you don’t agree with their treatment, it’s fine to ask for another one to get a second opinion.  The doctor shouldn’t belittle you.  If I want to pay money to be insulted, I’ll get front row seats at a comedy club. I do not need that from someone who sees me naked.  Take control of your health.  We shouldn’t let a bully cause us not to enjoy life, and we shouldn’t allow a doctor to ruin our health.

Fat Tax

For the next few weeks I will be mostly focusing on house repair and moving, so blog posts will become short and sweet, usually doing headlines.

And this week we have a dozy courtesy of the State of North Carolina who like Alabama is making you  pay extra in health insurance just because you are fat.   Even if there is nothing wrong with you.    

Plans like these who punish you for supposed bad behavior can be a dangerous slippery slope not just with health care coverage but your privacy.   I have said this before.  The media, the government etc always claim being fat isn't healthy, yet do what they can to block fat people from health care and services. 

And the Fat Studies Reader is almost out! And a nice write up in Publisher's Weekly (Scroll down to get to the review). 

Worth repeating: HAES

So what's better for your body? Hating it, eating at near starvation, and over exercising to the point of injury is one possibility. Isn't it better to love it, eating normally of healthful whole foods (and occasional treats) your body agrees with and exercising your body to movement you enjoy?

The former choice is what most diets have to offer.  Most diets (yes even non-diet diets like weight watchers) encourage obsession with what you eat, hard-body exercise and fanatic devotion to the number on the scale.  (At one time during my dieting career, I weight myself every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day). The latter is Health at Every Size that focuses on eating well, moving to what you enjoy and of course healthy self-esteem.

When young women defined self-worth by their BMI, something needs to change. The APA actually has an article about Health at Every Size (HAES) and it's positive. Change is happening and HAES is becoming more accepted.

Oh and Chocolate cures everything.

New blog post next Monday

Sorry for the delay.  I just bought a house!!

Toby apologizes, Jon Stewart makes a bad joke and Bill Maher isn't funny.

Dr. Toby Cosgrove of the Cleveland clinic has apologized for making remarks that he would fire or not hire fat people.  However even though Dr. Cosgrove might have realized he overstepped his bounds, this doesn't make him size friendly, nor will he stop pushing weight loss as the key to good health. 

Meanwhile Jon Stewart made an ass of himself wearing a fat suit on the Daily Show.  Apparently if you eat cheese steaks and shakes for three weeks you can double your body weight.  You also give yourself diabetes. I am really tired of fat suits and jokes.  The jokes are old and have run their course.  Fat jokes are lame and low-brow.  Daily Show has much more high-brow humor and this has put a damper on the show.  Sorry Jon, you lost me as a true believer fan.  I'm not the only one.  In times like this when we have to fight to get better health insurance, the last thing we need is blaming people instead of getting the health care they need! Health insurance companies would love to hear people blame fatties instead of themselves.  I haven't yet found direct email for Jon Stewart, but please post in the Daily Show forum that this is "humor" we don't really need. 

You can also contact them by snail mail:

Comedy Central Studios
The Daily Show
513 W 54 St 
New York, NY 10019

Also apparently Bill Maher criticized nominee Regina Benjamin for her size.  I don't have any details yet.   Thank you anonymous poster for providing me the link to Bill Maher's hateful rant.  Bill, I never really thought you were funny.  Jon Stewart is funny which is why his wearing a fat suit was more hurtful that your ignorant comments.  Even if the obesity stats are right and we are spending 10% of health care costs on it, that still leaves 90%.  What's the 90% from?  Some can be from smoking but it's most likely the cost of taking care of an aging population.  We are getting fatter AND living longer but the longer we live the more it costs.   There are plenty of things to make fun of the teabaggers about but being fat isn't one of them.  We need real health care reform, not blame.  

Health care reform without fat hatred?

As I mentioned before we need real health care reform in this country.  For fat people the public option is very important.  Why?  Because fat people who need to get private insurance on their own are often denied access due to their weight. 

Unfortunately some of the debate is heading toward the position of "If only fat people weren't so fat, we wouldn't need reform."  Former surgeon general Richard Camona and his organization STOP believe so and they are sponsored by Sanofi-Aventis (Creator of the diet drug that even the FDA rejected) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Diabetes drugs with obesity ones in the works).

According to the article, STOP policymakers suggest this.

• Recognize proven clinical interventions. Studies demonstrate, for example, that shedding just 5 percent to 10 percent of body weight can lower the risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions.
• Enhance the use of preventive services. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends obesity screening for all adults, yet studies show height and weight data often is not recorded during an office visit.
• Foster community programs and polices that encourage and support healthy lifestyes. A community might design public spaces that accommodate walkers and bikers, for example, or sponsor a farmer's market to make fresh produce available to local residents.
• Coordinate research efforts to improve the quality of care, show which interventions work in various settings and translate science into practice.

Now what will happen if we remove the first two "policies"?  We get two policies that promote healthy lifestyles and better health care WITHOUT sigma and includes people of all weight and sizes.  Thin does not mean healthy.

And why are we so fat?  Well Michael Pollan (Now a Persona-non-grata on this blog) thinks that fatties should just lay off big food.  "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases.” Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many, if not most, of them are," says Pollan.  Yet despite the fact that smoking is linked to cancers and heart disease, we don't assume everyone with heart disease and cancer are all smokers.  I am also annoyed as I mentioned in earlier blog posts, anything bad associated with being fat is accepted as is (i.e. the flawed Health Affairs' study) and anything that says that maybe being fat is not a death sentence (i.e. the five studies proving those in the Overweight BMI category live the longest) are oftened dismissed or ignored.  Meanwhile we are living longer. 

An article from Connie Schultz is more pleasant, at least putting faces to headless fatties and chastising Cleveland Clinic Toby Cosgrove who thinks all fatties should be fired (Yeah, here come the unemployement checks!) but still shares the questionable $147 billion obesity price tag.  In the end instead of making us villains, we are victims. Some choice, huh?

Fatties are neither.  We are just people who don't need or want to be blamed, victimized or our rights removed.