Increasing obesity levels are currently big news but do we think carefully enough about what this trend actually means? Everybody – including doctors, parents, teachers, sports clubs, businesses and governments – has a role to play in the ‘war on obesity’. But is talk of an obesity ‘crisis’ justified? Is it the product of measured scientific reasoning or age-old ‘habits of mind’? Why is it happening now? And are there potential risks associated with talking about obesity as an ‘epidemic’? The Obesity Epidemic proposes that obesity science and the popular media present a complex mix of ambiguous knowledge, familiar (yet unstated) moral agendas and ideological assumptions.

We want to be slim more than anything else in the world, so why do we have an obesity epidemic? If the solution is as simple as ‘eat less and do more’, why are 90% of today’s children facing a fat future? What if the current diet advice is not right? What if trying to eat less is making us fatter? What if everything we thought we knew about dieting is wrong? This is, in fact, the case. This book will de-bunk every diet myth there is and change the course of The Obesity Epidemic. This is going to be a ground breaking journey, shattering every preconception about dieting and turning current advice upside down. Did you know that we did a U-Turn in our diet advice thirty years ago? Obesity has increased ten fold since – coincidence or cause? Discover why we changed our advice and what is stopping us changing it back; discover the involvement of the food industry in our weight loss advice; discover how long we have known that eating less and doing more can never work and discover what will work instead. There is a way to lose weight and keep it off, but the first thing you must do is to throw away everything you think you know about dieting. Because everything you think you know is actually wrong. The diet advice we are being given, far from being the cure of the obesity epidemic, is, in fact, the cause.

Explores the causes of obesity, how its patterns develop in childhood, why it is a worldwide problem, and how programs have been developed to combat it.

This book addresses the obesity epidemic from a political, economic and social perspective. Examining the populations that suffer the greatest from political and economic decision-making associated with obesity prevalence, this book utilizes a contemporary framework to discuss obesity. While it does examine the behavioral risks associated with rising obesity rates, it also explores the political level, by evaluating theories in social justice and the political economy that foster or restrict at-risk behaviors. It considers the economic context through rising income inequality levels in the US. It also critiques the actions of higher institutions, including transnational corporations, as social contributors to this epidemic. Finally, it compares global and national challenges of the epidemic.

Drawing on the latest research and twenty years of working with overweight patients, this short and punchy book dispels myths and tells the tough truths about our obesity epidemic. Toomath shows how our modern world is making us fat. And while governments and individuals keep trying things that science shows do not work, she outlines what just might make a difference in ending the obesity epidemic.

Despite apocalyptic predictions from a vocal alliance of health professionals, politicians and social commentators that rising obesity levels would lead to a global health crisis, the crisis has not materialised. Offering a road map through the maze of claims and counter-claims, while still holding to a sceptical standpoint, The End of the Obesity Epidemic provides an unparalleled anatomy of obesity as a scientific, political and cultural issue. It is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the science or sociology of health and lifestyle.

Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ is the first edited collection of critical perspectives on the 'obesity epidemic.' The volume provides a comprehensive discussion of current issues in the critical analysis of health, obesity and society, and the impact of obesity discourses on different individuals, social groups and institutions. Contributors from the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia provide original, accessible, and engaging chapters on issues such as the effects on individuals, families, youths and schools. The timely contributions offered by Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ to this highly topical area will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including teachers, education professionals, community health and allied professionals, and academics in areas such as education, health, youth studies, social work and psychology.

Obesity prevalence in North America is the highest in the developed world, a situation that calls for a deeper understanding of this complex phenomenon. Brief yet comprehensive, The Obesity Epidemic in North America offers a much-needed examination of the effects of human evolution, environmental changes, human variation, poverty, and culture. An ideal supplement in nutritional anthropology or medical anthropology classes, the books rare biocultural perspective helps readers grasp the root causes of obesity. As Bellisari sees it, the medical and nutrition-science fields are fully engaged in developing strategies to address the obesity problem. It is institutions, such as political and economic organizations, as well as society itself, that need to become more proactive in improving obesity-related public health. This text provides a giant first step toward that end.