Comments for Fat Science

Comment on An Email to Dr. Nicholas Christakis by BoseemoloMamb

BoseemoloMamb — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:48:08 +0000

Stunning, very stunning issue. I’m going to blog about it also!!

Comment on Causation, Correlation, Dogma, Weight, and Health by Miriam Gordon

Miriam Gordon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:49:52 +0000

Lara, thank you so much for sharing your experience. This must be very difficult for you and your son. I think there is great reason to hope that the idea that a calorie is not just a calorie is seeping slowly into the public consciousness. Please see “Plot Thickens on the Healthy Obese Debate” by Sharon Kirkey on canada.com (http://www.canada.com/Health/story.html?id=1398377). You can also find a link to this article on my del.icio.us bookmarks (click the link on the left column). My del.icio.us bookmarks are listed under cactusflower99. Also, please check out the links to the Association for Size Diversity and Health and Health at Every Size under my favorite links (right hand column)as well as LindaBacon.org.

Comment on Causation, Correlation, Dogma, Weight, and Health by Lara Pullen

Lara Pullen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:23:33 +0000

I also thoroughly enjoyed Gary Taubes’ book. It was extremely thoughtful and well-referenced. My son has Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), which is a genetic cause of obesity. I have put my son on a modified Atkins (low carbohydrate) diet and he does not have the hunger or the obesity or the mental retardation associated with the syndrome. Taubes found and cited the original articles on PWS that I had read when deciding how to approach my son’s syndrome. Unfortunately, those articles (published in the 1970’s) are unknown to every endocrinologist and nutritionist who provides advice to me on managing my child’s hunger and obesity. I have specifically asked about the research at every physician and nutritionist meeting and at the national PWS meetings. All I have received is blank looks fallowed by the statement that a calorie is a calorie. The current treatment paradigm for PWS is one third to one half of typical calories (food pyramid) and locked food cabinets (to prevent foraging and hyperphagia). What a sad state of affairs…

Comment on About by Miriam Gordon

Miriam Gordon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:40:36 +0000

Bill, thank you so much, I value your wisdom and friendship and look forward to working with you on these issues so dear to our hearts.

Best, Miriam

Comment on About by Miriam Gordon

Miriam Gordon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:39:44 +0000

Chad, thank you so much for sharing your interest in my interests and sharing your interests with me. Your work sounds very interesting and I look forward to communicating with you further. I believe we can really help eachother out.

Best, Miriam

Comment on About by Chad Stewart

Chad Stewart — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:04:21 +0000

I am a graduate student at the University of Victoria exploring obesity through the lens of political science. I’m unsure at this point the degree to which our work shares parallel trajectories, but ultimately, I believe it must. I have been looking at a series of social development theories, as well as US tort Law in order to understand identify formation etc etc etc. I would love to speak further with you.

With Regards,
Chad

Comment on Health At Every Size (HAES) by Bill Fabrey

Bill Fabrey — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:35:24 +0000

That was an excellent comment you made about to the Times article. Other posts (most of which were nowhere nearly as articulate as yours) are running 50-50 in terms of fat acceptance vs. fat bashing. Your links to Linda Bacon and ASDAH did not show up as links, but at least mention is made of them.

Bill Fabrey
Council on Size & Weight Discrimination
http://www.cswd.org
Mt Marion, NY

Comment on Causation, Correlation, Dogma, Weight, and Health by Bill Fabrey

Bill Fabrey — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:10:10 +0000

Thank you, Miriam–You are onto something. I haven’t read Taubes’ book, so I am grateful for your comments. I no longer subscribe to Keys’ Lipid Hypothesis, and this does impact what I do as a heart patient, having had a quadruple bypass (like Bill Clinton) 3 years ago, and wanting my replacement arteries to last as long as possible, so that I may keep reading this blog!

For starters, I have given up statin drugs, and now must convince my primary care physician AND my cardiologist that I haven’t taken leave of my senses.

If you want to have your socks knocked off, buy or rent the new video “Fat Head”, in part, a rebuttal of the documentary Super Size Me and also Keys’ hypothesis, and the whole preoccupation with weight and dietary fat and cholesterol reduction. And it wasn’t paid for by the Dairy Council. Be prepared for some real laughs, despite the serious nature of the subject. Which means, don’t watch the DVD on the plane. LOL

Comment on About by Bill Fabrey

Bill Fabrey — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:58:12 +0000

Great commentary. Good luck with your blog, and with working toward your many goals. Best of luck making peace with whatever weight at which your body seems to stabilize. It is still probably puzzled about all the stuff you’ve thrown at it to make it thinner.

I hope that your long-term efforts will improve understanding and communication about this controversial topic for both scientists and laypersons.

–Bill Fabrey, Media Director
Council on Size & Weight Discrimination

Comment on Dr. Christakis’ Reply by Bill Fabrey

Bill Fabrey — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:42:23 +0000

This is one of the most intelligent exchanges on this topic between two professionals I have read in a long time–and the more remarkable due to the controversial subject matter. Both participants raised interesting points–Dr. Gordon voicing some of my concerns about jumping to conclusions on the basis of a set of statistics presented by Dr. Christakis, and Dr. C. giving an excellent defense of what he did and what he concluded.

My experience has been that most researchers in the field of obesity are sincere, dedicated scientists who, nonetheless, are inherently biased in their view of fat patients, nearly always accept as a given that obesity is pathological, and are almost always mystified when the media uses their findings, often misquoted, to justify further discrimination against that population. So after Dr. K’s conclusions reached the lay press, headlines around the globe blamed fat people for making other people around them fat, almost as if obesity is a transmissible disease. The exchange of emails between Drs. G and K show that no such conclusions could be drawn from his study.

A little science can be a dangerous thing, in the wrong hands!

–Bill Fabrey, Media Director
Council on Size & Weight Discrimination