The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to Your Health

aCampos makes his case against the afat killsa dogma with unimpeachable evidence. "The Obesity Myth" should be required reading for every health professional in America. I believe any open-minded person who reads this book will conclude that weave been duped by a pack of self-serving lies. And we cannot get at the truth without first recognizing those lies. "The Obesity Myth" is a great place to start.a aGlenn A. Gaesser, Ph.D., professor and director, Kinesiology Program, University of Virginia

Is your weight hazardous to your health? According to public-health authorities, 65 percent of us are overweight. Every day, we are bombarded with dire warnings about Americaas aobesity epidemic.a Close to half of the adult population is dieting, obsessed with achieving an arbitrary aideal weight.a Yet studies show that a moderately active larger person is likely to be far healthier (and to live longer) than someone who is thin but sedentary. And contrary to what the fifty-billion-dollar-per-year weight-loss industry would have us believe medical science has not yet come up with a way to make people thin.

After years spent scrutinizing medical studies and interviewing leading doctors, scientists, eating- disorder specialists, and psychiatrists, Professor Paul Campos is here to lead the backlash against weight hysteriaaand to show that we can safeguard our health without obsessing about the numbers on the scale. But "The Obesity Myth" is not just a compelling argument, grounded in the latest scientific research; itas also a provocative, wry exposA(c) of the culture that feeds on our self-defeating war on fat. Campos will show:
* How the nationas most prestigious and trusted mediasources consistently misinform the public about obesity
* What the movie industryas love affair with the afat suita tells us about the relationship between racial- and body-based prejudice in America
* How the skinny eliteawith their asupersizeda lifestyles and gas-guzzling SUVsaproject their anxieties about overconsumption on the poorer and heavier underclass
* How weight-loss mania fueled the impeachment of Bill Clinton
In this paradigm-busting read, Professor Campos challenges the conventional wisdom regarding the medical, political, and cultural meaning of weight and brings a rational and compelling new voice to Americaas increasingly irrational weight debate.