Tuesday, August 19, 2008

news from the fat front - 2 good articles


Go Your Own Way by wyanne on Etsy











I am finishing up Figure 8 #5. I will post here when it is done and ready to be ordered on Etsy. This issue of Figure 8 is a little different and it doesn't have the usual articles and new reports.

So with that in mind, I thought I would point out a couple news articles that are a pretty big deal. It feels like for just a minute the media is starting to take notice of the points that the fat activists have been making for over 30 years.

On MSNB (from Self Magazine) - The Miracle Weight Loss that Isn't - risks of bypass surgery are often underplayed, say experts.

......“I feel like I’m dying,” she told Ron. Months of doctors’ visits revealed that Wells had beriberi, a disorder caused by extreme thiamine deficiency. Rarely seen outside 19th-century Asia, it’s present enough among those in the weight loss–surgery world that doctors call it bariatric beriberi.........“Do I regret having gastric-bypass surgery? Yes, I regret it,” Wells admits......“I thought I was doing something to change my life for the better. But it made me feel a hundred times worse.”

Lots of good information in the article, including how the way bariatric centers and surgoens go out of their way to drum up business. Even though it is clear that "the experts admit [that the effects of gastric bypass surgery are] poorly understood. Few randomized, controlled studies (the gold standard of research) have been performed comparing gastric bypass with nonsurgical weight loss therapy".

...“Because it’s risky, it’s only appropriate for a tiny fraction of people with obesity — the sickest 1 to 2 percent,” Dr. Kaplan says. “The idea that all obese people should get surgery is insane.” Yet that’s the way weight loss surgery is being peddled to the public.

Also on MSNBC from the Associated Press. This was on the front page of The Oregonian-
Being Skinny is no Guarantee of a Healthy Heart - serious health risks are found equally in fat and thin folks, study shows

.....A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity....

I haven't written much about fat issues in this blog. I considered having a seperate Figure 8 blog, but I have decided not to. I am all these things together - fat person, crafty person, zine maker, homebody, etsy shoopper, goofball - why not have it all together in this blog.

So, I will hopefully be posting more fat issued topics here from time to time. They will tagged so you can find them all. And make sure to check out the links on the sidebars. I am always updating them. Chub love!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! Breanne from femeninete (zine from Bellingham...). We'll be at the symposium too. Your zine and all your projects look awesome. We're in go mode to get our newest issue out for the PZS too, good luck even though we all know there's no luck in it...just blood sweat and staples.

Maybe we'll see you this weekend.

Bye!

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