Health At Every Size show on Radio Free Nashville with Peggy Elam, Ph.D. & Pat Ballard, Queen of Rubenesque Romances

"Biggest Loser" finalist reveals the truth about the show and her weight-loss ordeal

The following is a press release from Golda Poretsky, HHC, of Body Love Wellness.

"Biggest Loser" Finalist Discusses Her Weight-Loss Ordeal with Fat Acceptance Blogger

NEW YORK, NY -- Biggest Loser finalist Kai Hibbard recently shared the highlights of her traumatic weight-loss experience with the St. Petersburg Times. Today, fat activist, blogger, and fat acceptance counselor Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. of Body Love Wellness will post the first segment of a lengthy three-part interview with Hibbard that reveals new and surprising details about her experience at the Biggest Loser compound.

In her interview with Poretsky, Hibbard shared her experience from the audition process ("My feet were bleeding," says Hibbard, "I was covered in bruises, I was beat up, but boy, I kept hearing about how lucky I was to be there.") to the weeks leading up to the finale ("I was only eating about 1,000 calories a day and I was working out between 5 and 8 hours a day," explains Hibbard, "and I was only sleeping about 3 hours a night.")

Still in the running to be the winner of Biggest Loser, and under massive pressure from the show's producers, Hibbard left the ranch and found herself plunging headlong into a massive eating disorder -- a disorder that she continues to battle today. While few Biggest Loser contestants have spoken out about the show, Hibbard couldn't bear the thought of keeping her story under wraps: "I feel like I have a responsibility to counteract some of the harm that that show does....I feel a responsibility to get out there and go: I didn't lose 12 pounds in a week."

The story will appear in 3 parts on successive Wednesdays at Poretsky's blog: www.bodylovewellness.com.

About Golda Poretsky:

Golda Poretsky is an outspoken advocate for anti-discrimination laws for people of size. She is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness. She counsels women and men throughout the country on how to get off the dieting roller coaster, give their bodies what they really crave, and love their bodies and themselves. Golda's counseling and activism work have been featured on CBS's The Early Show, ABC's Nightline and Time Out New York. Golda is based in Astoria, NY and is available for print, radio, and broadcast interviews.

CONTACT:

To schedule an interview with Gold Poretsky, contact: girthfulgirlPR@gmail.com.

NAAFA challenges the First Lady's "childhood obesity prevention" initiative

The following is a press release issued by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) on January 29, 2010.

NAAFA Challenges the First Lady

OAKLAND, CA -- First lady Michelle Obama has recently announced her intention to focus on childhood obesity prevention. NAAFA encourages the First Lady to consider all the research before taking action and supporting any program that may do more harm than good.

Mrs. Obama, please explore and consider the following:

• When important figures such as parents, teachers and peers in children's social environment endorse a preference for thinness and place an importance on weight control, this can contribute to body dissatisfaction, dieting, low self-esteem and weight bias among children and adolescents (Davison & Birch, 2001; Davison & Birch, 2004; Dohnt & Tiggermann, 2006; Smolak, Levine, & Schermer, 1999).
• The stigmatization of large children has increased by 40% over the last 30 years (Latner & Stunkard, 2003).
• Many drugs presenting being prescribed to children cause weight gain. There was a 40-fold increase in bipolar diagnoses in children between 1994 and 2003. 90.6 % of youth received a psychotropic medication during bipolar disorder visits. For many, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants were also prescribed (Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2007).
• Prescribing dieting is, in effect, prescribing weight cycling, and many people will be fatter in the long run (Mann, 2007).
• Weight-control practices among young people reliably predict greater weight gain, regardless of baseline weight, than that of adolescents who do not engage in such practices (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2006).
• Based on results from a population-based, longitudinal study with 2,500 teens, Neumark-Sztainer and colleagues at the University of Minnesota (2006) concluded that to prevent obesity and eating disorders, the focus needs to be on health much more than weight. The more weight per se is talked about, the more likely teens are to adopt dangerous dieting behaviors.
• A 2006 study from UCLA suggests our media and cultural obsession with achieving a certain weight does little or no good and may actually undermine motivation to adopt exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits.
• The National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated in 2008 that childhood obesity has leveled off.

NAAFA urges the First Lady to:

• Partner with us and our many resources in the scientific and healthcare communities to examine this issue. Fat children are already the targets of merciless bullying. NAAFA urges Mrs. Obama not to support any programs that would create a pervasive bias against fat children.
• Consider Guidelines for Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs found at: http://www.aedweb.org/media/Guidelines.cfm, Childhood School Plans at http://www.healthyweight.net/schools.htm and Guidelines for Children at http://www.healthyweight.net/children.htm .
• Support the Health At Every Size (HAES) tenets which state that healthy habits are good for EVERYONE, no matterwhat their size. Eat healthy, nutritious foods and enjoy occasional treats. Pay attention to your natural hunger and satiety cues. Move your body in ways that feel good rather than exercise focused solely on weight loss.

"Obesity has a strong genetic component that is expressed in environments that foster sedentary activity and eating an energy dense diet," stated Joanna Ikeda, Nutritionist Emeritus, University of California Berkeley. "Therefore, we encourage First Lady Michelle Obama to promote environmental changes in school settings that support enjoyable physical activity and consumption of a wide variety of nutritious, appetizing foods."

This issue is about the critical need to create environments in which children and adolescents do not feel shame or guilt about their bodies but, rather, are motivated to enjoy healthful eating and active living habits regardless of their body size or shape."

Founded in 1969, NAAFA is a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.

On the web:
http://www.naafa.org

For more information contact:
Peggy Howell, Public Relations Director, NAAFA
email: naafa_pr@yahoo.com

2009 NAAFA Convention Wrap-up

[Note: The following is a NAAFA news release issued August 11, 2009]

NAAFA calls for healthcare reform and an end to discrimination against people of size

Oakland, CA -- NAAFA celebrated our 40th anniversary at an annual fund raising convention July 31-August 3 in Washington, D.C. The convention ended on a high note as NAAFA and ASDAH sent teams to visit more than 30 U.S. Senators and Representatives, as well as the USDA, delivering the message that healthcare reform legislation must eliminate weight loss as a measure of success in healthcare and wellness programs and that we must put an end to discrimination against people of size.

The 2009 NAAFA Convention commenced with a tribute to the past as members shared photos and stories of NAAFA's beginnings as well as the growth and progress experienced during the past 40 years. NAAFA founder Bill Fabrey shared that he never imagined the organization would still be going strong all these many years later, but that he was proud of all of its accomplishments and looked forward to the next 40 years.

During the Annual General Meeting on Friday morning, co-chair Jason Docherty highlighted the accomplishments of the past year such as the creation and distribution of the NAAFA Size Diversity Toolkit to over 96% of the Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. He continued by sharing some of our strategic plans for the coming years.

During Saturday's Size Diversity Super Workshop, Dr. Linda Bacon opened our eyes to the concept of "thin privilege", which she defines as "unjust advantages at the cost of others." So many conclusions are drawn about one's health, habits and capabilities based solely on the size/physical appearance of our bodies. These assumptions lead to discrimination in employment, compensation, promotion, healthcare, housing, public accommodation and more. Dr. Bacon encourages people of all sizes to work to end this discrimination because "it's the right thing to do."

Sondra Solovay, Esq., discussed fighting size discrimination in the work place from a legal perspective and highlighted best practices in Human Resources in regards to size discrimination. Sondra encouraged employers to take advantage of NAAFA's Size Diversity Toolkit and not make costly HR mistakes. Sondra concluded by reminding us of a lesson she learned on how to ride a motorcycle, "Don't look where you are, look where you are going." This advice will serve us well when the battle begins to feel overwhelming.

At the Saturday night Awards Dinner and Masquerade Ball, NAAFA honored key individuals that have made major strides for the movement over the past 40 years:

• The Legislative Pioneer Award was presented to Mr. Sterling Tucker who was responsible for adding height and weight to the anti-discrimination laws of Washington, D.C. in 1977.

• The Size Acceptance Vanguard Award went to our own Bill Fabrey for being the founding father of NAAFA in 1969.

• Dr. Linda Bacon was the recipient of the Trend-Breaking Research Award for her work in Health At Every Size.

• Dr. Lily O'Hara received the International Size Acceptance Trailblazer Award for her work in a country that has no size acceptance movement. [Note: Dr. O'Hara lives and works in Australia.]

"Obesity causes $147 billion per year in extra medical costs in US" hit the headlines during the NAAFA convention and reporters began calling and writing, asking for NAAFA's opinion of this announcement. NAAFA members Dr. Deb Burgard and Dr. Linda Bacon agreed to field interviews with NPR and CNN and our position on this important issue was clearly stated in a most timely manner. Dr. Bacon's interview followed one given by the CDC's Dr. William Dietz who agreed during the NPR interview that "people can be healthy at any size!"

Brandon Macsata, founder and president of the Association for Airline Passenger Rights (AAPR) with whom NAAFA has recently formed a strategic alliance, joined us for breakfast on Sunday as we began our day of training for the all so important visit to The Hill on Monday. Mr. Macsata shared tips for improving the quality of our travel experience and reinforced his commitment to fighting discrimination.

Joslyn Smith and Noreen Banks, activists and lobbyists teamed up with representatives from NAAFA and ASDAH to organize and coordinate advocacy training on Sunday afternoon and schedule our appointments with key players in the health care debate on Monday. The entire Advocacy Team invested many hours in research, planning, appointment setting, preparation of materials, and training which resulted in a truly historic visit to The Hill on Monday.

But these visits are only the beginning. We must continue to follow up with our legislators and provide them with more information to reinforce our commitment to size equality. NAAFA encourages you to email or call your legislators today. If you aren't sure what to say, contact NAAFA and we'll be happy to assist you with important speaking points. We must provide a unified message. We come in all sizes. Understand it, support it, accept it!

Founded in 1969, NAAFA is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.

On the web: http://www.naafa.org

For more information contact:
Peggy Howell, Public Relations Director, NAAFA
email: naafa_pr@yahoo.com

ASDAH calls for Health At Every Size & discrimination against none

Association for Size Diversity and Health calls for health for all,
discrimination against none

Capitol Hill visit and media interviews cap recent conference

REDWOOD CITY, CA-- "Health at Every Size and discrimination against no one" was the rallying cry when members of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) met with legislators and government staffers on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.     

Their message was well received by more than 30 U.S. representatives and senators as well as USDA officials. During ASDAH’s weekend conference ASDAH researchers Linda Bacon, Ph.D. and Deb Burgard, Ph.D. also spoke with journalists for CNN and NPR about the current disturbing trend to blame larger people for the rising costs of health care.    

Bacon expressed concern that many of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s policies perpetuate discrimination and create barriers to health care for larger people by focusing  on ‘obesity’ rather than directly on health. The CDC’s William Dietz, M.D. agreed during the NPR interview that it was “important to focus on health at any weight.”

Newly elected president of ASDAH Deb Lemire was proud of the inroads made during the July 31-Aug. 3, 2009 conference weekend, but cautions that “we must be vigilant in followup with our leaders. Many were simply not aware of the discrimination and lack of comprehensive health policies for people of all sizes, large and small.”

The August 3^rd legislative visits were part of an ASDAH weekend conference that included guest speaker Susie Orbach, UK psychotherapist, scholar and author of the 2009 book Bodies as well as Fat Is A Feminist Issue. Orbach proved to be a powerful ally in ASDAH’s work to embrace all body sizes and shapes, emphasizing the importance of language used to discuss health and acknowledging weight discrimination as both a personal and a civil rights issue.

ASDAH is an international organization composed of health professionals, scientists and activists committed to promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes. ASDAH promotes the weight-neutral movement known as Health At Every Size, which calls for size acceptance, an end to weight discrimination, and lessening of the cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness. For more information or to join, visit their website at  www.sizediversityandhealth.org.

Food fascists and the revolution

Paul Campos has another great column in today's Rocky Mountain News. This one's on food fascism.

One of my favorite bits is where Paul points out that "the center of the government's current response to the panic over 'childhood obesity'" is the absurd belief that "the reason there are fat kids in America is that fat kids haven't been informed that it's considered desirable in this culture to be thin."

This "rampant insanity," he notes, "makes about as much sense as arguing that poor people are poor because they haven't been informed it's considered desirable in this culture to be rich."

But best of all is his closing recommendation to engage in individual acts of rebellion -- getting angry at "the lies that bombard us 24 hours a day about what's supposedly wrong with our bodies," and about "a culture that's dedicated to making people try to fix things about themselves that aren't broken." 

Enjoy a doughnut, he urges. "The revolution starts one body at a time."

Read the entire column here. (Do yourself a favor, though, and don't read the comments...as with responses to most public articles about fatness, fat hatred abounds.

San Francisco Weekly spotlights Marilyn Wann's 1,000 fat cranes project

Lauren Gard profiles body liberation activist Marilyn Wann's 1,000 Fat Cranes Project in the current issue of the San Francisco Weekly.

Wann, author of Fat!So? Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size, launched the plan to fold & send 1,000 fat origami cranes to Japan in response to a June 13, 2008 New York Times article reporting Japan has launched a waistline-measuring campaign in which those who are larger than the ideal and have "weight-related" conditions will be given "dieting advice" and "further re-education" if they do not lose weight.

Japanese legend says someone who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish. Wann's wish? As she writes on the project's MySpace page:

With your help, when we fold 1,000 fat cranes, we'll get our wish: people of all body types enjoying food, fitness, health, happiness, and long life, free from prejudice and discrimination. In Japan and all over the world!

Read the San Francisco Weekly article here.

July 14, 2008 Health At Every Size radio show -- appetite, food, fat, & revolution

Today's Fat & Happy Music:  "Happy Being Fat" (Big Dee Irwin), "Homegrown Tomatoes" (Guy Clark), "Dorothy & Eve" (Cosy Sheridan), "Everybody Eats When They Come to My House" (Cab Callaway), "Shortnin' Bread Rock" (The Collins Kids), "Saturday Night Fish Fry" (Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five), "I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size" & "Fat Gal" (Johnny Bond), "The Bathing Suit Song" (The Bathing Suit Song), "Let My People Go-Go" (The Rainmakers) & "Even Free" (Kristi Martel).

Food for Thought: Eat well and enjoy eating -- we absorb more nutrients from food we like.Stacy Bias's great oral, visual and written history The Fat Experience Project, intended as "a humanizing force in body image activism." Check into fat/anti-shame activist

Audio: Listen to and/or download the mp3 recording of today's show here (right click on the link & "save as" to download).

A Fat Woman's Manifesto

Judy Bagshaw, author of romantic fiction with full-figured heroines (including At Long Last, Love, published by my company, Pearlsong Press), has A Fat Woman's Manifesto that I love. I'm posting it here with her permission.

A Fat Woman's Manifesto
by Judy Bagshaw (copyright 2001)
(this big girl will NOT be pushed around any more!)

1. Diets will no longer factor at all in my life. A healthy lifestyle will!
2. Life is a banquet. I intend to get my money's worth.
3. My weight is not open for discussion -- period!
4. I'll eat anything I damn well please!
5. I will not settle for second best.
6. I will greet the world with my head up.
7. Fear will no longer rule my actions.
8. I won't put up with put-downs.
9. I won't base my self-esteem on other people's opinions.
10. I'm Fat. Get over it!

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "manifesto" as "A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature." Since war has been declared on "obesity," I'd say manifestos  from the targeted population are particularly apt.

I'm reminded of Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.'s "Declaration of Taking Up Space," another manifesto that calls for warriors of all sizes to stand for the freedom to control one's body and help end the war on fat people.

So....what's YOUR manifesto?

Make history in Massachusetts!

The Massachusetts state legislature is considering adopting a height/weight anti-discrimination law (H. 1844). Fat rights/body liberation activist Marilyn Wann (author of Fat!So? Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size) is calling on people for assistance.

Please support this much-needed civil rights law. People of all sizes face discrimination based on body size. It's real. It's not okay. Without a law, we have no protection. The only other places to offer such a law: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Washington, D.C., Madison, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

You want to help make history?

If you live in Massachusetts:

1. Call your state Representative: 617-722-2000 (ask to be directed based on your zip code). Ask how the Rep. will vote for H. 1844, how they will support this historic legislation.

2. Come to the crucial hearing! Tell your story!
    Tuesday, March 25, 2 p.m.
    State House, room A-2, in Boston

If you don't live in Massachusetts, please forward this info to anyone you know who does.

For questions, contact Marilyn Wann: marilyn @ fatso.com.

Thank you!

February 4, 2008 Health At Every Size radio show -- Mississippi HB 282 edition

Today's Fat & Happy Music: "Happy Being Fat"  (Big Dee Irwin), "Mississippi & Me" & "Lanterns on the Levee" (Kate Campbell), "The Camellia Grill" & "Dinner At Aunt Stella's" (Les Kerr), "Funeral Food" (Tricia Walker), "Boogie-Woogie Blue Plate" (Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five) & "Women's Bodies" (Rebecca Riots).

Food for Thought: Today's show focused on the incredible bill introduced in the Mississippi State Legislature in January that would prohibit restaurants from serving food to "obese" people. Mississippi House Bill 282 was authored by Rep. W.T. Mayhall, Jr. (a retired pharmaceutical salesman) and co-authored by Rep. John Read (a pharmacist) and Rep. Bobby Shows (a businessman -- and no, it's apparently not a diet/weight-loss oriented business).

Sandy Szwarc broke the story last Thursday at her Junkfood Science blog. (Read my letter to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour at my On the Whole blog here.)

House Bill No. 282 reads:

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

Section 1. (1) The provisions of this section shall apply to any food establishment that is required to obtain a permit from the State Department of Health under Section 41-3-15(4) (f); that operates primarily in an enclosed facility and that has five (5) or more seats for customers.

(2) Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when deternining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.

(3) The State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance  with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2008.

The bill doesn't have a chance of passing, of course, but it illustrates the level of moral panic to which our country (and much of the world) is experiencing in the so-called "war on obesity."

As Sandy notes here at Junkfood Science, this "war" is only a success for the industry that profits from it. A recent report reveals that since England launched its "anti-obesity" initiatives, the number of prescriptions for diet drugs in that country has increased by 800% -- and the number of bariatric (so-called "weight loss") surgeries has increased by 823%! (Almost all those surgeries were performed on women's bodies, by the way.)

Meanwhile, Anne at AmpleAliveness.com hasn't found much information on where the Democratic candidates for president stand on the so-called "obesity epidemic." (Or, I would add, on fat rights.) She asks why there isn't a "Fat Vote." I wonder what Barack or Hillary have to say on Mississippi House Bill 282 -- and the need for civil rights for fat people. (Mississippi could turn this public relations -- and tourism -- nightmare around, by the way, by not only jettisoning HB 282 but passing legislation to prevent discrimination against fat people, like Michigan has done and Massachusetts is considering.)

On the subject of fat politics, Paul Campos has an interesting chapter about Bill Clinton in  The Obesity Myth, and J. Eric Oliver provides excellent coverage of the issues in his book Fat Politics.

Audio: I'm having some trouble with the mp3 recordings of today's show as well as, still, last week's, so no archived recording of today's show is online yet. Please check back later. (The problem may be the CDs I burned, rather than the recordings themselves.)

UPDATE 2/5/2008: The mp3 recording of today's show is now available online here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download, or click on the link to listen online.)

FYI: See my On the Whole blog post here about promises that the bill will be killed in subcommittee. The bill's main author still seems clueless about the issues. Amazingly, this cluelessness seems to extend to the state's "health officer," whom The Clarion-Ledger identified as "Dr. Ed Thompson." Thompson told the newspaper Saturday that the MS Department of Health was "monitoring" the bill, but had "no position" on it.

No position? Thompson did say that "we will work with the sponsors to see if we can answer any questions along the way." Such as, um, how best to shame and discriminate against a group of people in the misguided (and erroneous) name of "health"?