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MEDICAL: CONDITIONS: OBESITY :
TREATMENTS:
"True" Stories of the Obesity Epidemic
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"True" Stories of the Obesity Epidemic
BY HELENE A. SHUGART
NOVEMBER 4TH 2016
Oxford University Blog (OUG)
"True" Stories of the Obesity Epidemic
http://blog.oup.com/2016/11/true-stories-obesity-narrative-health/
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Eat right and exercise: amid the cacophony of diet fads and aids,
conflicting reports regarding what causes obesity, and debate about
whether and what kind of fat might be good for us after all, this seems
like pretty sound and refreshingly simple advice. On the surface, it is:
its hard to argue against good nutrition or circulation. But dig a bit
deeper and its a veritable political and cultural minefield.
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In the first place, the eat right and exercise maxim places full
responsibility for weight on the individuals shoulders: its on him or her
to monitor and regulate intake and output. A variation of this theme is
the calories in/calories out narrative of obesity, featured in every
official public obesity campaign originating from health or government
agencies: we are encouraged to make wise choices by these agencies, who
stand by to offer resources, but dont presume to cross the line in ways
that might compromise our autonomy. Moreover, what does it mean to eat
right? Perhaps calorie restriction is part of that, but its mostly
understood to mean quality of foodfruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
lean meats, for instance. As Michael Pollan succinctly surmised in his
Eaters Manifesto, Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. But in the
context of the obesity crisis and the discourse surrounding it, this is
grounds for a host of debates regarding how such foods are grown and
processedconsiderable science suggests, contrary to the caloric imbalance
narrative, that obesity is a consequence of endocrinal and hormonal
imbalance, perhaps prompted by adultered food, whether via pesticides,
hormone or antibiotic treated livestock, GMOs, refinement/processing, or
preservatives. And of course, those debates are inherently political and
ideological because they inevitably lead to questions about food politics
in particular, and the political economy in general: Big Agriculture, food
subsidies, greed, and profit. Which brings us back to the individual: if
industry is responsible for the obesity epidemic, what is our role? What
is the governments?
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In fact, the core issues that inform each of these competing narratives
are reflections of the broader political economic crisis that the United
States (and most of the world) has been grappling with since 2008a crisis
in neoliberalism, a political economic philosophy that promotes a market
unfettered by government oversight and justified by individual autonomy:
that is, individuals are articulated as having more and better choices if
the industry responds exclusively to their demands. Government regulation
is understood in this view to be patronizing and oppressive to the
individual. In 2008, when the bottom fell out of neoliberalism, this
self-serving (for industry) logic was called to task, in particular as
relevant to its insensitivity to the material realities and experiences of
everyday citizens, a sentiment popularized in the 99 percenters movement.
This same impasse is evident in the official story of obesitythe rational
individual monitoring her/his consumption, unfettered by structural
intervention and aided by the marketand the reactive, environmental
obesity story that posits the individual as the hapless victim of
corporate greed.
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The complete blog post can be read at the URL above.
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Helene A. Shugart is Professor of Communication at the University of Utah.
Her research synthesizes rhetorical, media, and cultural studies to
critically assess cultural discourses; her most recent work examines
discourses around health, concentrating specifically on obesity. She is
the author of Heavy: The Obesity Crisis in Cultural Context.
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
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