I [heart] Paul Campos

[firecat]

I asked a very prominent epidemiologist at the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] about the latest study that came out in March, claiming that 400,000 deaths a year are a result of poor diet and a lack of activity level. I asked her how accurate that number was, and off the record -- because she wants to keep her job -- she said, "I think it's pretty accurate with a margin of error plus or minus 400,000 deaths a year."

From an article by Paul Campos, the author of The Obesity Myth, on salon.com. You have to view an ad to see the article (one of today's ads is from the ACLU), or you could check out http://bugmenot.com to see if they have any registration info for Salon.

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

woo!

thanks for posting the link; i subscribe, but i missed the article somehow.

[snippy]

Nice. I especially appreciate how he repeatedly says there's no or at best weak scientific evidence for most hysteria about weight, and that the *scientists* who are hysteric about it have eating disorder ideation.

Changing the emphasis to fitness would be so beneficial for so many people. Not only is it more achievable, being fitter would actually make a difference in their health and lifespan.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Paul can totally be my new boyfriend. ;) Thanks for posting that. Now I can get people to read that article to convince them they want to buy his book. Have you read the book? I think it's what the size acceptance movement needed to convince people in the middle (minus, possibly, the Bill-Monica chapter).

[firecat]

I've started the book, but I got distracted and haven't gotten very far. But he's been posting a lot on a mailing list I read (showmethedata, a yahoo group). So I probably know a lot of what's in the book. If that's anything to go on, I highly recommend it.

The book idea began with an article in The Atlantic that received more comments than any article in The Atlantic ever.

I hope you're right about convincing people in the middle.

[leback.livejournal.com]

That's a great article--thanks!

I liked the ad, too--I'm glad you noted the source, as it meant I actually paid attention for once. :-)

[firecat]

Yes, when I noticed it was from the ACLU I actually paid attention too.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I end up going through the ads for Salon pretty much every day. I'd consider getting a subscription, but most of the time I just click for the free day pass and read stuff in another tab. By the time I'm ready to switch back, the ad is done. :)

I think that as important as changing the way people think about the hysteria is changing the incredibly solid links people have managed to acquire over the last while between "fat" and "poor diet and lack of activity level." They don't always go hand-in-hand.

[firecat]

Exactly. The worst part of that is when not-fat people think they don't need to exercise because they are not fat, and when fat people think that if they don't lose weight when they exercise, exercising isn't worthwhile.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Even I fall prey to the latter one often, which is silly and ridiculous. Lately I've been fighting a lot of self-image problems, mostly surrounding my body image, and because I'm bigger than I was a couple of years ago and remain that way even when I exercise regularly, I do let it get to me sometimes, and I'll get discouraged and exercise less. The silliest part of it is that when I felt best, fitness wise, is when I was cycling just for the joy of cycling and not for any weight loss idea or any other side benefit. I want to get back into that state of mind, but I've just been on a body-image downer for a while, and every time I get dressed for work and my work shirts are tighter and less comfortable (they still fit, because I was the same size as I am now when I bought them, but I was about sixty pounds lighter for about a year and I was swimming in my clothes) than I'm used to, it's a reminder. I saw the trailer for Garden State the other day, and there's a point where the guy is wearing this lovely charcoal grey oriental embroidered shirt. I thought, "I have that shirt (only in burgundy)!" Then I remembered that I got in in Hawaii when I was much thinner than I am now, and it was such a tight fit then that I took all kinds of extreme measures to get into it. (It was part of a wedding party outfit.) When I realized that I might never get to wear it again, I was completely bummed out all night. (The experience of wearing it at the time was trying in and of itself -- I didn't get to try it on until the day before, so I was continually stressed that it wouldn't fit. It was the very largest size the company would make, and I *BARELY* got myself into it, and the antics that went into that were rather extreme. All the other people in the wedding party were professional models and such. I was probably close to three times many of their weights)

[firecat]

All that self-talk sounds really, really familiar, and sadly I also recognize the feeling of humiliation of trying to squeeze into clothes that aren't big enough because you are trying to please someone and they have set things up without any regard for your size.

I hope you find your way back to cycling for the joy of it.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Even I fall prey to the latter one often, which is silly and ridiculous. Lately I've been fighting a lot of self-image problems, mostly surrounding my body image, and because I'm bigger than I was a couple of years ago and remain that way even when I exercise regularly, I do let it get to me sometimes, and I'll get discouraged and exercise less. The silliest part of it is that when I felt best, fitness wise, is when I was cycling just for the joy of cycling and not for any weight loss idea or any other side benefit. I want to get back into that state of mind, but I've just been on a body-image downer for a while, and every time I get dressed for work and my work shirts are tighter and less comfortable (they still fit, because I was the same size as I am now when I bought them, but I was about sixty pounds lighter for about a year and I was swimming in my clothes) than I'm used to, it's a reminder. I saw the trailer for Garden State the other day, and there's a point where the guy is wearing this lovely charcoal grey oriental embroidered shirt. I thought, "I have that shirt (only in burgundy)!" Then I remembered that I got in in Hawaii when I was much thinner than I am now, and it was such a tight fit then that I took all kinds of extreme measures to get into it. (It was part of a wedding party outfit.) When I realized that I might never get to wear it again, I was completely bummed out all night. (The experience of wearing it at the time was trying in and of itself -- I didn't get to try it on until the day before, so I was continually stressed that it wouldn't fit. It was the very largest size the company would make, and I *BARELY* got myself into it, and the antics that went into that were rather extreme. All the other people in the wedding party were professional models and such. I was probably close to three times many of their weights.)

I also heart Paul Campos

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Overconsumption in America is closely equated with class: The higher up you go the more you consume. The only area in which consumption is inversely related to class is caloric overconsumption. So the American elite project anxiety about the fact that they're massively overconsuming economically and materially through a disgust for fat, lower-class people. --- Paul Campos

Great minds read some of the same feeds?

Re: I also heart Paul Campos

[firecat]

Yes, exactly.