Fat is news, even though no one wants it.

This article explains the debate about fit-fat-diets-and-health that has started. Just making their debut are the “anti-diet” experts. Their view is that they don’t work. Be fit. On the other side are those whose views are well known. Weight matters. Fitness matters. It all matters.

This is just the beginning, in light of the costs of major weight problems to individuals, to payers and to our nation’s overall health status.

Food is an intensely personal topic. Add experts who, themselves, have struggled with the number on the scale, to those who remain militant about weight. The debate will be very hot indeed.

Get a front row seat. This is just beginning.

New York Times

…“a loose alliance of therapists, scientists and others — holds that all people, “even” fat people, can eat whatever they want and, in the process, improve their physical and mental health and stabilize their weight. The aim is to behave as if you have reached your “goal weight” and to act on ambitions postponed while trying to become thin, everything from buying new clothes to changing careers. Regular exercise should be for fun, not for slimming.”

…”Many appetite warriors have coalesced under the banner of “Health at Every Size” (or HAES), which is also the title of a book by Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor at City College of San Francisco. Ms. Bacon ran a federally financed, randomized trial to compare outcomes for 78 obese women who either dieted or were schooled in Every Size precepts. The results, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2005, showed that HAES participants fared better on measures of health, physical activity and self-esteem. Neither cohort lost weight.”

…”Virtually everyone who is overweight would be better off at a lower weight,” said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. “There’s been this misconception, fostered by the weight-is-beautiful groups, that weight doesn’t matter. But the data are clear.”

…”Both sides agree that regular exercise, at any size, improves health. “If you want to know who’s going to die, know their fitness level,” said Steven Blair, a self-described “fat and fit” professor of exercise science, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina. His research indicates that “obese individuals who are fit have a death rate one half that of normal-weight people who are not fit.” (Emphasis added)

Source: New York Times, July 15, 2009