大象传媒

In the 鈥�90s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the United States was experiencing an 鈥�.鈥�

At the time, for this 鈥渞ise in obesity,鈥� saying that obese people needed to reduce their caloric intake and increase their physical activity, while those interacting with obese people needed to encourage them to do so. More than 30 years later, this guidance still informs how our society interacts with people deemed obese, defined as having a . Rather than treating fatness as ordinary, it鈥檚 instead viewed as a moral failure. To be blunt: This is completely wrong.

The BMI doesn鈥檛 adequately measure body fat. Rather than accounting for , , and , the BMI measures a person鈥檚 body fat by dividing their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters. Beyond that, 2 million Americans with a BMI over 35 are . More than 30 million people classified as 鈥渙verweight鈥� are , as are an additional 19.8 million deemed 鈥渙bese.鈥�

Federal agencies aren鈥檛 investing much in nutrition research. In 2019, found that the budgets for federal nutrition programs have remained stagnant for the last three decades. In 2018, the National Institutes of Health invested $1.8 billion in nutrition research, . There鈥檚 also a clear link between poverty and obesity, and federal programs that provide impoverished Americans with funds to aid nutrition actually contribute to obesity. More than received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2021, which is designed to assist with food insecurity. Yet the SNAP program has been associated with poorer cardiometabolic health among children and adults. Nearly half of women in households with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty line (the criteria for SNAP) were obese between 2011 and 2014. U.S. counties with have obesity rates 145% higher than wealthy counties.

Diets don鈥檛 work, so advising fat people to 鈥渓ose weight鈥� isn鈥檛 a viable solution. While more than one-third at any given time, they鈥檒l likely regain the weight they鈥檝e lost within a year. Roughly 80% of people who shed a significant amount of weight will .

Doctors harbor fat bias, which prevents fat people from receiving adequate care. In 2009, scholars Rebecca M. Puhl and Chelsea A. Heuer surveyed 2,449 fat women for a study about . They found 69% of those surveyed experienced bias from doctors while 52% endured recurring fat bias. A subsequent 2012 study found strong implicit and explicit . 

Weight bias in all these areas only leads fat people to eat more to cope with the stigma directed at their bodies. In a 2006 Obesity study, 79% of respondents said they used food to cope with weight stigma on multiple occasions. at least once, and 80% of respondents ate more food to cope at least once.

If we want to lower rates of 鈥渙besity鈥� in the United States, let鈥檚 start with addressing the systemic issue fueling the problem: fatphobia.

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Evette Dionne is the executive editor at 大象传媒 Media, where she leads 大象传媒 Magazine. She is the former editor-in-chief at Bitch Media, and an award-winning journalist, pop culture critic, and magazine editor who covers culture and politics through the lenses of race, gender, class, and size. Her newest book, Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul, was published in December 2022 by Ecco. She鈥檚 also the author of Lifting As We Climb, which was longlisted for a National Book Award and won a Coretta Scott King author honor. Evette is based in Denver, and speaks English.

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