Friday, February 08, 2013

VERITAS w/ Mel Fabregas: 'Food Addict' Label May Worsen Fat Stigma

VERITAS w/ Mel Fabregas: 'Food Addict' Label May Worsen Fat Stigma

My response:


We can only hope that the more information about food addiction that becomes available, the more compassion people will have for the obese.  How much were these people told about the addiction?  If you read Pam Peeke The Hunger Fix or any of the other half dozen laymen's science on the subject, you'll know food can literally scar the brain.  Obesity is not a choice, it's an unavoidable consequence of the dopamine system gone awry. You have to be pretty odd to wake up one day and decide, "I think I'll gain 200 pounds, have a hard time moving, difficulty sleeping, have to ask for a seat belt extender and endure disapproval every time I encounter another human being."

Perhaps the people in the study feel fat women are like Bowery drunks.  Perhaps compassion is a disappearing quality.  Perhaps they will one day wake up on the wrong side of the number on the scale and will have to re-think their prejudices.  The latter is the most likely scenario of all.

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