Rudd Sound Bites

Celebrity Weight Matters

by Rebecca Puhl

I typically don’t blog about specific celebrities or pop culture gossip, but I’ve been dismayed with the recent media attention criticizing Jessica Simpson’s body weight. Countless websites and blogs are posting negative, derogatory comments about Ms. Simpson due to an apparent modest weight gain. It is appalling that this is making headlines and is actually news-worthy, and that Ms. Simpson is now being described as “fat” and “porky” among other derogatory comparisons. Even mainstream news sources are printing this story. Are there not more important things to be talking about?

Rudd Center Releases Videos on Weight Bias

by Rebecca Puhl

At the Rudd Center we often get contacted by people (like teachers, parents, health professionals, researchers) across North America who want to learn more about weight bias and what steps they can take to inform and educate others about this problem. Frequently, we’re asked if there are any educational videos that exist on weight bias that can be used to increase public awareness. While a few videos have surfaced over the past decade, most are outdated and difficult to obtain. So, in response to the many requests that we’ve received, and in line with our mission to bring attention to (and ultimately eliminate!) this pervasive prejudice, the Rudd Center has created, and recently released, two new educational videos on weight bias. Both are available for free download on our homepage and on YouTube. Both videos are hosted by celebrity and activist Emme and feature Rudd Center faculty, and use expert commentary and dramatic representation to address the obstacles that overweight and obese individuals encounter with weight bias.

Building Awareness of the Best Way to Eat for Your Health—and Your Taste Buds

by Erica Kenney

I was excited to see this column about heart disease, diet, and exercise from Jane Brody popping up in the “most e-mailed” list of New York Times articles. She is such a popular columnist that hopefully it will make the rounds and more people will learn:

• The old recommendation for “low-fat” does not make so much sense, at least the way it has been interpreted by many physicians, public health organizations, and food companies. It’s the saturated fat, not the fat itself, that gets you in the end. The plethora of low-fat food products on the market over the last few decades has obviously not helped us with reducing obesity, heart disease, and diabetes; it is likely that it has helped us with ratcheting them up instead.
  

Changing Health Care Standards

by Rebecca Puhl

Examples of weight bias are frequently surfacing in the media these days. There are stories of overweight employees being fired from their jobs because of their weight, cases of obese parents being denied the right to adopt a child because of their size, and emerging policies where employers are charging obese employees higher insurance premiums because of their weight.

Vote for Your Health

by Andrea Wilson

How do we compete with the cheap, unhealthy options of fast food chains, which may become more appealing as the economy continues to suffer?

A recent New York Times article describes the five least healthy items sold at the nation’s largest fast food restaurants, on the basis of salt, fat and fiber content. The analysis was completed by the Cancer Project, which is associated with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The menu items, which range in price from $0.89 to $1.53, include Jack in the Box’s junior bacon cheeseburger, Taco Bell’s cheesy double beef burrito, Burger King’s breakfast sausage biscuit, McDonald’s McDouble and Wendy’s junior bacon cheeseburger. Their cost can be as low as 20% of the cost of healthier items, such as fruit and salad.

The Hidden Power of the Environment, Part II

by Amir Goren

“… In this environment, it was surprising that anyone was able to remain thin, and so the notion of obesity simply being a product of personal over-indulgence had to be abandoned for good.” (Dr. Susan Jebb, as quoted in a 2007 BBC news article)

In Part I (October 2008), I noted that people are often oblivious of the power that the (food) environment has on their choices and behaviors.  In Part II, I want to focus on biased attributions that people make for others’ dietary behaviors.