I don't know if there is any interest in discussing this at wcr but I feel like we haven't had many new threads recently so I'm sending out a feeler. I was discussing the obesity problem in the United States with some of my friends and we disagreed on a lot of the points about it. I think we are all aware now a significant proportion of the United States population is obese and that the percentage of Americans who are overweight and obese is growing at faster and faster rates. This is obviously a serious problem in terms of health as obesity is linked to basically every chronic disease out there, including most significantly, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Many would argue that treatment for the consequences of obesity is a significant reason for the out of control healthcare costs in America. In addition, despite having the best hospital healthcare in the world, the overall morbidity, length of life, and health of Americans is mediocre compared to other countries. Foreigners who can afford it, fly to America for healthcare treatment, yet the health of people who live here is poor.
Anyways, the point that I wanted to discuss was the proper way to lower the obesity rate in America. My friends brought up the point that in America, due to the political correctness movement or whatever you want to call it, we are too accepting of fat people and normalize all bodies, making fat people less concerned about the health effects of being fat. They argued that we should "fat shame" more in order to increase their motivation to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle. They cited the past smoking shaming movement in America and how that was wildly successful in lowering smoking rates, resulting in decreased morbidity population-wide. On the other hand, there is a lot of research out there that "fat shaming" causes fat people, who are already at increased risk for depression and anxiety, to have a further decrease in self-esteem, resulting in an exacerbation of the problem. Here are a few studies linking fat shaming to decreased weight loss and increased incidence of obesity in people classified as "overweight". This is in addition to the obvious psychiatric problems that can result from fat shaming.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25212272
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0070048
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24997407
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...95666314003560
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21760636
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...22103113002047
So what do you guys think about fat shaming? Do you think fat shaming is different than smoking shaming, or do you think a similar public health movement would be as successful? What do you think is the proper way to reduce obesity rates in America? I'm also curious what you think the role of clinicians is for obese patients. Patients often take their doctor's word as gospel, and so do you think clinicians should be very accepting of fat bodies, with the hopes of increasing self-esteem, or do you think they should have the same interactions with patients as non-clinicians.
Anyways, the point that I wanted to discuss was the proper way to lower the obesity rate in America. My friends brought up the point that in America, due to the political correctness movement or whatever you want to call it, we are too accepting of fat people and normalize all bodies, making fat people less concerned about the health effects of being fat. They argued that we should "fat shame" more in order to increase their motivation to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle. They cited the past smoking shaming movement in America and how that was wildly successful in lowering smoking rates, resulting in decreased morbidity population-wide. On the other hand, there is a lot of research out there that "fat shaming" causes fat people, who are already at increased risk for depression and anxiety, to have a further decrease in self-esteem, resulting in an exacerbation of the problem. Here are a few studies linking fat shaming to decreased weight loss and increased incidence of obesity in people classified as "overweight". This is in addition to the obvious psychiatric problems that can result from fat shaming.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25212272
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0070048
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24997407
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...95666314003560
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21760636
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...22103113002047
So what do you guys think about fat shaming? Do you think fat shaming is different than smoking shaming, or do you think a similar public health movement would be as successful? What do you think is the proper way to reduce obesity rates in America? I'm also curious what you think the role of clinicians is for obese patients. Patients often take their doctor's word as gospel, and so do you think clinicians should be very accepting of fat bodies, with the hopes of increasing self-esteem, or do you think they should have the same interactions with patients as non-clinicians.