Fat Nation (eBook)

A History of Obesity in America

Jonathan Engel (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
204 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-5381-1775-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The estimated annual health care cost of obesity-related illness in the United States is $190 billion, with countless more costs in lost mobility, vigor, and life-years. Here, Jonathan Engel reviews the sources of the problem as they have developed over the past 70 years and offers a realistic plan for helping address obesity.

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The diet and weight-loss industry is worth $66 billion billion!! The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are 190 billion or nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the United States. But how did we get here? Is this a battle we can't win? What changes need to be made in order to scale back the incidence of obesity in the US, and, indeed, around the world? Here, Jonathan Engel reviews the sources of the problem and offers the science behind our modern propensity toward obesity. He offers a plan for helping address the problem, but admits that it is, indeed, an uphill battle. Nevertheless, given the magnitude of the costs in years of life and vigor lost, it is a battle worth fighting. Fat Nation is a social history of obesity in the United States since the second World War. In confronting this familiar topic from a historical perspective, Jonathan Engel attempts to show that obesity is a symptom of complex changes that have transpired over the past half century to our food, our living habits, our life patterns, our built environments, and our social interactions. He offers readers solid grounding in the known science underlying obesity (genetic set points, complex endocrine feedback loops, neurochemical messengering) but then makes the novel argument that obesity is a result of the interaction of our genes with our environment. That is, our bodies have always been programmed to become obese, but until recently never had the opportunity to do so. Now, with cheap calories ubiquitous (particularly in the form of sucrose), unwalkable physical spaces, deteriorating rituals and norms surrounding eating, and the withering of cooking skills, nearly every American daily confronts the challenge of not putting on weight. Given the outcomes, though, for those who are obese, Engel encourages us to address the problems and offers suggestions to help remedy the problem.

Autor

Jonathan Engel is professor of health policy and management at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, CUNY. He has taught previously at Seton Hall University, the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and at the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts. He served as a staff historian on the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, and as the lead author on multiple HIV needs assessments for the city of Newark. In addition, he has conducted strategic design projects for the Kings County Hospital Center, the United Neighborhood Houses of New York, the Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families, and Creative Cities International. His books include Doctors and Reformers, (2002); Poor People’s Medicine, (2006); The Epidemic: A History of AIDS, (2006); American Therapy: The Rise of Psychotherapy in the United States, (2008); and Unaffordable: American Healthcare from Johnson to Trump (2018).

Inhalt

Chapter 1 An Old ProblemChapter 2 Whence Cometh FatChapter 3 The Unwalkable LandscapeChapter 4 Changing LivesChapter 5 Changing Food/Changing MealsChapter 6 Addicted to FoodChapter 7 Finding the Off SwitchChapter 8 Exercise, Drugs, and SurgeryChapter 9 Self ControlChapter 10 Disparate ImpactsChapter 11 What is to be Done?

Produkt-Details

• Zusatzinfo: 38 Illustrations including: - 38 Halftones, Black & White including Black & White Photographs.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Ernährung / Diät / Fasten
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Gesundheitswesen
• Schlagworte: causes of obesity • Obesity • obesity a disability • obesity a disease • obesity a global epidemic • obesity a growing problem • obesity and depression • Obesity and Diabetes • obesity and fast food • obesity and genetics • obesity and heart rate • obesity and hypertension • obesity and infertility • obesity and poverty • obesity and pregnancy • obesity a social problem • obesity bmi • obesity body fat percentage • obesity causes • obesity death rates • obesity education • obesity effects • obesity epidemic • obesity epidemic 2017 • obesity epidemic causes • obesity epidemiology • obesity exercise • obesity factors • obesity facts 2017 • obesity facts in america • obesity fast foods • obesity for kids • obesity guidelines • obesity health • obesity health care costs • obesity heart disease • obesity history • obesity hypertension • obesity in the world • obesity is a disease • obesity joint pain • obesity junk food • obesity kills • obesity knee pain • obesity leading cause of death • obesity leads to diabetes • obesity levels in america • obesity life expectancy • obesity linked to cancer • obesity low income • obesity management • obesity medication • obesity mortality • obesity mortality rate • obesity news • obesity numbers in america • obesity on the rise • obesity over time • obesity overview • obesity percentage in america • obesity prevention • obesity quality of life • obesity rate in america • obesity rates • obesity side effects • obesity society • obesity solutions • obesity statistics • obesity statistics in america • obesity symptoms • obesity today • obesity types
• ISBN-10: 1-5381-1775-4 / 1538117754
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5381-1775-0 / 9781538117750