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LeBesco and Guthman Readings - Coggle Diagram
LeBesco and Guthman Readings
Main points
Guthman
Using BMI as the singular tool for assesing the health of "fat"/overweight individuals is not accurate and is rooted in systemic stigma and a social construct of health and what is fat
Policies and providers should incorporate a variety of measure to asses health and weight that aren't rooted in western ideas of thinness
Examples would e adopting a HaES approach
LeBasco
Neo-liberal ideology in the U.S may contribute to weight stigma and may be working against efforts to reduce obesity
Being "fat" has/still is considered a moral/individual failure that the individual has to take responsibility for
This kind fo thinking is generally very abstract and ignores several systemic barriers people face to being "healthy"/thin
Policies that are centered around weight are more paternalistic and somewhat go against general public health ideas regarding individual health; i.e the state should not enforce paternalistic practices that limit the publics autonomy or force them to do things they don't want
Purpose
Guthman
the obesity Epidemic is a multifaceted issue and when assessing weight multiple tools should be used and various forms of intervention should be used such as using other methods to measure and asses weight outside of BMI and interventions should use a more HaES approach
LeBasco
Talks about how neo-liberal policies, laws, and practices center weight and fatness as a moral failure creating an otherness to "fat" people and ignore the systemic barriers to "healthy" lifestyles. The author talks about how
Connection to other readings
Michal Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" talks about how policies discussed in the LeBasco article are implemented in the world with Japan being an example, as well as how the obesity epidemic is not the result of just laziness but also systemic barriers to healthy eating options and exercise as well as how its a result of neo-colonialism
I can't recall the exact study but I remember reading a study that looked at how food is racialized and how that can contribute to negative stigmas around food from certain racial/ethinic groups and promote racism and how it can also contribute to fatphobia, an example that was prominently noted in the study was Black American food
I remember a podcast called Sawbones I'm a fan of and they talked about fatphobia in the U.S and how it can be traced all the way back to the early Quakers and religious feelings held towards food/weight and how the earliest form of diet culture in the U.S was started by a famous Quaker Thomas Kellogg