From Your Health Journal…..”A very fascinating article from the Toledo Free Press written by Brandi Barhite called No Shame In Addressing Obesity. Your Health Journal discussed “fat shaming” here last week, and how many experts feel that it can reverse obesity in some people. Some argue that it worked with smoking, and could inspire overweight people to commit to eating healthy, exercising regularly, while staying on their current and successful health regimen. For me, I am not sold on this, as I cannot compare smoking and obesity. Smoking is a habit, not necessary for survival, while eating is necessary for survival – but also influenced by environment, socioeconomic status, home life, and other factors. I am not saying that one (smoking or obesity) is worst or better than the other, just very different. There are also some people with health issues like PWS, a disease which causes many to eat uncontrollably, causing them to gain weight. So, I am not totally convinced I agree with the shaming of other humans to inspire them to lose weight, but I will be interested to see what others see if they comment here. Some overweight people already have a poor self-image, and shaming them will make them feel worse and possibly lead to emotional overeating. Please visit the Toledo Free Press to read this compelling article, the link is provided below.”
From the article…..
The newest (and most controversial) idea to fight America’s growing obesity epidemic is to shame overweight people into getting thin.
The proposed strategy could include a social campaign that would pose difficult questions, one of them being, “Fair or not, do you know that many people look down upon those excessively overweight or obese, often in fact discriminating against them and making fun of them or calling them lazy and lacking in self-control?”
Bioethicist Daniel Callahan is the scholar behind the idea of putting social pressure on heavy people, which some are calling “fat shaming.”
He argues that it worked with smoking, and could inspire overweight people to commit to eating healthy, exercising regularly ?– and then sticking with it. Currently, obese people are oblivious to their problem because they look like everyone else, he said.
“As a smoker, I was at first criticized for my nasty habit and eventually, along with all the others, sent outside to smoke, and my cigarette taxes were constantly raised,” he wrote in the article, “Obesity: Chasing an Elusive Epidemic.” “The force of being shamed and beat upon socially was as persuasive for me to stop smoking as the threats to my health.”
Local health providers disagree, calling it unproductive.
“Most of my patients who are overweight or in the obese category are pretty well aware of their situation and it is not necessary to point out or individualize a person in that situation,” said Dr. Matt Roth, medical director of ProMedica Wellness.
Actually, the opposite is the best strategy. Instead of criticizing unhealthy behaviors, ProMedica employees are rewarded for healthy behaviors. The idea is to engage them with an incentive and then hope they are inspired by intrinsic motivators to continue the lifestyle change.
“People are in different stages of readiness to make a change,” said Laura Ritzler, co-director of ProMedica Wellness. “Sometimes they need to move along slowly, and shaming them doesn’t move them along.”
To read the complete article…..Click here