Dear Readers,
One in five kids in America today is obese, and you can bet that there are a lot of experts trying to figure out how to stop the epidemic of overweight. Yale University has responded with the creation of The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, a non-profit research and public policy organization whose mission is to improve the world’s diet, reduce obesity and fight weight stigma.
The issue of stigma is an especially painful one for overweight children, teens and older youths who must face the battleground of school and the taunts of peers every day. To help educate the public and offer coping strategies for parents and kids, the Rudd Center has released two videos on the subject of weight bias.
The videos, “Weight Bias at Home and School” and “Weight Bias in Health Care”, are hosted by plus-size supermodel Emme and feature experts from the Rudd Center. Here are some facts from “Weight Bias at Home and School”:
· Weight bias starts among children as young as age 3
· Weight bias tends to worsen as the child grows up, and can include social exclusion, bullying, ostracization, even violence
· Overweight kids, bombarded by criticism about their weight at home, school, and by the diet, fashion and beauty industries, can eventually internalize socially accepted anti-fat messages
· Self-blame and self-hate can lead to loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor body image and suicidal behavior
· Constant criticism about weight does not lead to positive changes in eating and exercise behaviors, it more often makes them worse, leading to comfort/binge eating and refusal to exercise
The video pulls no punches. Be forewarned, you’ll hear a lot of anti-fat comments. But it does offer a few coping strategies, most of which we discuss in our book. For parents:
· Strive for open communication with your child, be there to listen to problems
· Try to maintain a neutral stance
· Be direct: tell your child he/she didn’t deserve to be teased/bullied
· Remind your child of his/her strengths
· Try to find positive real-sized role models for your child
For friends, relatives, teachers, outside observers:
· Don’t make assumptions about overweight people. Genetic, environmental and psychological factors all contribute to a person’s weight.
· Avoid contagious “fat-talk,” negative talk about one’s own weight, shape or size
· Intervene when you see or hear someone being teased, bullied, or even made uncomfortable by subtle innuendo about weight or size
· Make weight tolerance as important as race, gender or religious tolerance
Take care,
Nancy and Marcia
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