Quickhit: And here I was, thinking the use of the term “deathfatz” was ironic…

Headline: “How lethal is your load?”. Subhead: “Even skinny people may be carrying a mother lode of toxic fat”. It’s the DEATHFATZ! FOR REALZ! The article seems incredibly confused over the issue of good fat vs bad fat. For example, the journo seems to have understood that fat in certain locations is a better indicator [...]

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You cannot assess a person’s health by looking at them

Rachel Hills’ recent post highlighted for me one of my bugbears. On the whole, I agreed with her post. I did think it was going to go towards what I think is the real problem with the pursuit of thinness (by the fashion industry, but also more generally): that is the fact that almost all [...]

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In what universe is “tubby custard” less insulting than “fat”?

In Janet Albrechtson’s universe, that’s where. A friend, whose judgment I respect, has been encouraging me to read Janet Albrechtson on the basis that I probably won’t agree with her but she’ll probably give me food for thought. So, having a bit of spare time today, I decided to give it a go. So far, [...]

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Because we’ve got our priorities straight

Australia seems pretty excited that we have, in Casey Dellacqua, a female tennis player who looks set to make the big league. First in quite a while. A nice sort of splash article about her upset second-round win in the Australian Open talks about her attitude to money, and how this will mean she doesn’t [...]

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Throwaway line

A few years ago, I got myself the Implanon contraceptive implant. I was extremely happy with it, and after its three-year lifetime expired, I got myself a replacement. I got it about 12 months after it was released in Australia, and only a few years after the clinical trials had been carried out. I remembered [...]

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And we’re het up about child obesity why?

I just heard a doctor (one who actually sounds like he bases what he says on science) on the BBC say that “75% of the amount of fat a child has is determined by genetics”. He wasn’t talking in the context of the child obesity furphy, and he didn’t say anything about adults (but I [...]

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If looks could kill

So I’m procrastinating from my work and finding newspaper articles that get me going … The Guardian has this article about deaths caused by cosmetic surgery. In general, ok: the message is, essentially, surgery is surgery is surgery, and it’s not a great idea to have it unless you need it. However. Some bits are [...]

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The demonisation of food

Something that’s been bugging me for a while, well, practically all my life (since I was old enough to notice that some people in the world go on diets, anyway) is the cry of: “I can’t eat that, I’m being good!” “Good” in this context usually means: “I’m on some sort of diet where I [...]

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