Fat Links

The science around body fat is constantly evolving, so I had to throw out a bunch of links from like 2015. (Dang, links accumulate worse than books.) The conclusion I draw from what I'm reading is this. Go anywhere online, and it won't be long before you come across someone robotically reciting "calories in, calories out" and simplistically labelling foods "healthy" or "unhealthy". But the actual explanation for why an individual is fat, and why a large (ha ha) majority of Westerners are fat, involves sleep, medications, processed foods, advertising, food availability, which microbes are living in your gut, genetics, viruses, what you ate as a child -- and how these factors interact with one another. And, of course, the inescapable bullying, propaganda, and prejudice: it's critical for the food industry to keep the focus away from themselves and on individual consumers. And we all need someone to feel better than.

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong (HuffPost, 2018). Comprehensive and enraging.

One bad night's sleep can make you put on fat and lose muscle mass (New Scientist, 2018)

Today’s Obesity Epidemic May Have Been Caused by Childhood Sugar Intake Decades Ago (University of Tennessee, 2019)

Viral Infection and Obesity: Current Status and Future Prospective (Current Drug Metabolism, 2017)

How anti-obesity bias hinders patients' lifestyle change efforts (AMA)

A fascinating Twitter thread about overcoming the body's flaws as a route to salvation, disability, and fat. We're constantly sold the lie that we have complete control over our bodies, if only we buy the right products, so anyone whose body is not rigidly controlled is immoral. (Cf also our duty to be conventionally sexually attractive, enforced especially harshly for girls.) | When You Talk About Donald Trump’s Body, Every Fat Person You Know Hears You (Huffpost, 2020)

Stop the guilt and live healthily, lose weight (Diabetes Australia)

The really old, racist and non-medical origins of the BMI (ABC, January 2022)

The history of dieting by calorie counting shows why it should stay in the past, experts say (ABC, February 2022)

Why we should forget losing weight and focus on healthy habits (ABC, 2018). I also focus on other measures of my health, such as blood sugar and cholesterol, which can be improved whether or not you lose weight.

A healthy diet is more important than your weight when it comes to risk of death, study finds (ABC, 2020)

In Obesity Research, Fatphobia Is Always the X Factor (SA, March 2021). "Contrary to what you’ve undoubtedly been told, you can be fat and fit at the same time."

What are ultra-processed foods and are they bad for our health? (Harvard Health Blog, 2020). Part of the puzzle.

The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers (Nature, 2023). "The ability to melt weight away by tweaking biology gives credence to the idea that obesity is a disease. In the past, scientists and the public often thought that those with obesity simply lacked the willpower to lose weight. But evidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change. “The body will defend its weight,” says Richard DiMarchi, a chemist at Indiana University Bloomington."

Wisdom from, of all places, Reddit: "With women in particular, a huge amount of social worth comes down to performing femininity well. For fat women, the hyper performance of femininity is seen as "making up" for the crime of letting herself get fat."

What's Wrong With Fat Shaming? (PT, 2015). Perhaps most importantly: it doesn't work.