Obesity: Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives
- ISBN-10
- 081354890X
- ISBN-13
- 9780813548906
- Series
- Obesity
- Category
- Medical
- Pages
- 209
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2011
- Publisher
- Rutgers University Press
- Author
- Alexandra A. Brewis
Description
In a world now filled with more people who are overweight than underweight, public health and medical perspectives paint obesity as a catastrophic epidemic that threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine life expectancies globally. In many societies, being obese also creates profound personal suffering because it is so culturally stigmatized. Yet despite loud messages about the health and social costs of being obese, weight gain is a seemingly universal aspect of the modern human condition. Grounded in a holistic anthropological approach and using a range of ethnographic and ecological case studies, Obesity shows that the human tendency to become and stay fat makes perfect sense in terms of evolved human inclinations and the physical and social realities of modern life. Drawing on her own fieldwork in the rural United States, Mexico, and the Pacific Islands over the last two decades, Alexandra A. Brewis addresses such critical questions as why obesity is defined as a problem and why some groups are so much more at risk than others. She suggests innovative ways that anthropology and other social sciences can use community-based research to address the serious public health and social justice concerns provoked by the global spread of obesity.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2023-10-28
- - pages
- Paperback
- Independently Published
-
- 2020-02-13
- 234 pages
- Paperback
- Human Development Perspectives
Similar books
-
Obesity: A Practical Guide
By Shamim I. Ahmad, Syed Khalid ImamThis book brings a comprehensive treatise about obesity, examining the measures that can be taken to stop and even reduce obesity if these right measures are taken in time.
-
The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss (Why Intermittent Fasting Is the Key to Controlling Your Weight)
By Jason FungRecalling the medical literature published by Drs. Pennington and Gordon on low-carbohydrate diets, he decided to try the low-carbohydrate approach himself. To his amazement, it worked as advertised. Without counting calories, he shed ...
-
Obesity
By Wendy MurphyIn this book, you'll read about health issues caused by obesity and follow the medical interventions and lifestyle changes that address them. You'll learn about the biological and environmental causes for weight gain.
-
The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
Promotes the recognition, treatment, and prevention of conditions of overweight and obesity in the United States.
-
Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence
By Wieland Kiess, Claude Marcus, Martin WabitschThis book aims to increase physicians knowledge and understanding of obesity in childhood and adolescence as well as to further public awareness of the health burden and economic dimension of obesity at a young age.
-
Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic
By World Health OrganizationSpecific topics discussed range from the importance of fat content in the food supply as a cause of population-wide obesity, through misconceptions about obesity held by both the medical profession and the public, to strategies for dealing ...
-
The Obesity Paradox: When Thinner Means Sicker and Heavier Means Healthier
By M.D., Carl J. LavieSharing the science behind these recent findings, The Obesity Paradox shows readers how to achieve what’s really important: maximum health—not minimum weight.
-
Obesity: Pathophysiology, Psychology, and Treatment
By George L. Blackburn, Beatrice Stefannie KandersExamines the disease of obesity and its metabolic consequences. Explores obesity in relation to physiological and psychological health, and describes the clinical aspects of properly evaluating obese patients.
-
The Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation
By U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon GeneralToday's epidemic of overweight and obesity threatens the historic progress we have made in increasing American's quality and years of healthy life. Two-third of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese.
-
Food, Diet and Obesity
By D MelaThe final part of the book discusses issues in developing effective strategies for weight control, from gaining consumer acceptance of weight-control food products, through functional food ingredients, to community-based public health ...