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Fat Facts
"Liposuction is the most common elective surgery performed in the United States."
"Now here's the thing. In the end, the only thing that counts is data. And the data is that the American population is healthier than it's ever been
before. It's living longer than it ever has before. All the major causes of death are going down-including diabetes, by the way. In the latest list that
came out about a week ago, diabetes has fallen below Alzheimer's as a leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease is going down,
"Of course, the public health system doesn't want to advertise these enormous successes because that doesn't create a sense of anxiety: "Oooo, what are
we going to do about the children getting so fat?" That's why we have to tell fat kids they're fat. Because, apparently, that message isn't being conveyed
adequately by the culture."
"Because sugar is devoid of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and has such a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, major researchers and major health
organizations (American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association) agree that sugar consumption in America is one of the 3 major causes of
degenerative disease."
"a 20-pound increase in men's weight may increase the chance of infertility by about 10 percent,"
"Body size and fat have largely been unrecognized as equity and access issues. Whether fat people self-identify as disabled or not, rampant discrimination, social alienation
and the common pathologization of people of size results in significant employment and promotion barriers." ""In people who have a hard time controlling their eating, their brain circuits remain elevated and activated until all the food is gone. Then the next time you get cued, you do it again. Every time you engage in this cycle you strengthen the neural circuits. The anticipation gets strengthened. It's in part because of ambivalence. 'Boy, that would taste great. No, I shouldn't have it. I really want that. And I shouldn't do it.'
"That sort of ambivalence increases the reward value of the food.
Do you ever have an internal dialogue?
It increases the anxiety, it increases the arousal, it keeps it in working memory.
We're wired to focus on the most salient stimuli in our environment.
"If you look at the people who are classified as overweight in the United States at present, that is, people who have a body mass of between 25 and 29.9, which for an average height woman --
to give you a sense of that means, is about between 145 and 174 pounds, and for an average height man between about 175 and 200 pounds. If you look at people in that weight range, there is
absolutely no correlation between their weight and increased health risk, quite the contrary. If anything, there is a slightly decreased health risk and a slightly higher life expectancy in the
overweight range than in the so-called normal or ideal weight range as the government recommends."
"'Fat gives us energy. It boosts the immune system,' she says. 'Some fats have antimicrobial properties. Others can lower bad cholesterol. There are vitamins that are only fat-soluble.
Your brain is mainly made of fat and cholesterol, as are the membranes of your cells.
"The thing is, learning to love your body is a long, slow process -- and we mean a long, slow process. You can't just call a truce with your body out of nowhere; you need to engage in some hardcore peace talks first...
"So, to be brutally honest, we're not even going to try to tell you how to love your body. For now, we're only going to tell you how to achieve detente with your body. We're going to get you
as far as a ceasefire. The good news is, in this culture, that's actually pretty freakin' far."
"If you look closely at how discussions of obesity have been framed in the media, you'll notice a faint echo of the way the HIV/AIDS debate played out in the 1980s. Fat people are painted as
lazy slobs who are placing an undue burden on the medical system, due to their 'unhealthy' choices. This sounds awfully like the way HIV-positive people were castigated in the media several
years ago for sexual promiscuity and drug use - suggesting that they somehow deserved to be sick."
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for stroke the death rate is down, for cancer the death rate is down. Fewer people are dying of cancer than they were in 1917 when the population was only
half of what it is now. 
For some people it could be alcohol or illegal drugs or nicotine or sex or gambling. For many of us it's food."
It helps you digest protein, which is why you should eat chicken with crispy skin or well-marbled steak.'"