Prime Time Replay:
Laura Fraser
on America's Obsession with Weight-Loss
MsgId: *brain_storm(2)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:01:25 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Brainstorms. Tonight's guest is Laura Fraser, author of LOSING IT: AMERICA'S OBSESSION WITH WEIGHT AND THE INDUSTRY THAT FEEDS ON IT, recently published by Dutton. Nearly all of us have wrestled with this issue ourselves, so Laura's book will speak to our own experience. In it she explodes many of the misconceptions and outright lies fostered by the weight-loss industry that keep us all feeling insecure and unhappy with our bodies. Welcome, Laura!
MsgId: *brain_storm(3)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:02:09 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
I'll try to open the chat room later in the show so the audience can ask Laura a few questions as well.
MsgId: *brain_storm(4)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:03:28 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
Thanks.
MsgId: *brain_storm(5)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:04:19 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Laura, one of the things I liked best about your book was the personal experience you brought to the subject; it gave your analysis of the weight-loss industry and the psychology it fosters a particularly insightful twist. Could you tell the audience a bit about that experience, and what led you to writing the book?
MsgId: *brain_storm(8)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:08:45 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
Like so many women, I've struggled for years with my weight. In my case, it eventually led to a serious eating disorder. I wanted to examine the social forces that make women so neurotic about their weight.
MsgId: *brain_storm(9)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:10:20 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
And in investigating, you went all the way: you read the books, watched the videos, joined the diet classes, attended the seminars. How long did you spend doing the research?
MsgId: *brain_storm(10)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:13:59 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
I guess I spent about two or three years investigating the diet industry. I interviewed gurus, went to commercial weight loss programs, and read a lot of the medical literature on obesity. I also interviewed many of the top obesity researchers. I said in the book that I became as obsessed with the diet industry as I once was with dieting.
MsgId: *brain_storm(11)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:15:53 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Sometimes I think obsessive behavior is the tool of every good researcher. In your book you focus particularly on women, but is weight-loss obsession only a women's problem?
MsgId: *brain_storm(12)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:17:42 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
I think women internalize problems with weight more than men do. Certainly there are a lot of men out there who wish they were thinner, had those washboard abs, but it doesn't affect the way they feel about themselves the way it affects women. A lot of women truly think that they're failures because they have fat thighs.
MsgId: *brain_storm(13)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:20:22 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
One of the things I found most surprising in your book was your contention that recent reports of the harmful effects of even a few extra pounds aren't accurate. I think many people have been worried by those reports, so maybe you could tell us quickly why they shouldn't be believed?
MsgId: *brain_storm(21)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:32:28 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
There were some studies done last year from the Harvard School of Public Health that suggested that even if you're 10 or 20 pounds over the "ideal," you may be at risk. But there were problems with those studies. For instance, the studies didn't take into account whether people exercised or not. Other studies have shown that when you look at weight, mortality, and physical fitness, weight doesn't end up making much difference. In other words, fat people who exercise are just as healthy as thin people.
MsgId: *brain_storm(25)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:37:02 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
From what I read in your book, it would also seem that such studies, based on deviation from an "ideal" weight, are flawed from the outset, since those "ideals" don't necessarily take the natural and normal range of human physiques into consideration, yes?
MsgId: *brain_storm(26)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:38:52 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
Right. The notion of "ideal weight" is culturally-derived, not medically determined. If you think about it in terms of biology, it makes a lot of sense for the species that we come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Survival of the fittest...or the fattest, depending on food supply.
MsgId: *brain_storm(27)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:40:56 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Let me ask the question I posed earlier, when we had a little technical trouble: After all your research, what do you think are the major forces working to keep women unhappy and uncomfortable with their bodies? Is it advertising, Hollywood, religion, or what?
MsgId: *brain_storm(29)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:47:03 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
There are so many forces that contribute to women feeling unhappy with their bodies that it's really over-dtermined. We point to the media as the main culprit, and thin models, but it goes much deeper than that. Our obsession with thinness is a century old. It has to do with economics, morality, and, at heart, our puritanical culture that says we shouldn't derive so much pleasure from food, we shouldn't let ourselves go, be sensuous, revel in the body.
MsgId: *brain_storm(33)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:51:14 PDT 1997
From: guest At: 153.35.209.226
Laura, your book sounds fascinating. What do you think is the most important thing the reader will learn from it? (Sender = PJ)
MsgId: *brain_storm(34)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:53:39 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
My hope is that people will stop buying in to the idea that we have to fit one physical mold and start becoming more rebellious, taking more pleasure in their bodies, and eating and exercising in a more healthful way.
MsgId: *brain_storm(31)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:49:07 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
So what would you recommend to people out there who are struggling as you have with feelings of worthlessness and depression because of their weight obsession? Should they take one of these new weight-loss drugs? Or are there ways of working against the obsession itself, so that they no longer feel that they need to be thin in order to be alright?
MsgId: *brain_storm(37)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:57:09 PDT 1997
From: Laura_Fraser At: 152.163.237.73
The new weight loss drugs--Redux and fen/phen--are ineffective for most people; one Cornell study showed on average people lost 5 pounds on them. Then they gain the weight back. Plus there's a risk of primary pulmonary hypertension, an often fatal disease, 46 in a million get it on the drugs. The pill mills operating now are like the amphetamines that doctors were handing out like sugarless candies in the '60s. everyone knows someone on REdux, and some people do benefit, but they are being prescribed indiscriminately, with likely disastrous results in the future. Plus, animal studies show that the drugs fizzle the neural axons that deliver serotonin, likely causing problems in the future with functions that are regulated by serotonin, such as mood, sexual desire, and short-term memory.
MsgId: *brain_storm(38)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:58:42 PDT 1997
From: guest At: 168.100.204.58
I was told I could lose 15 percent of my body weight on these meds? Do they help your metabolism, or just get rid of the hunger?
MsgId: *brain_storm(39)
Date: Fri Apr 11 22:59:35 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
So if all the diet books and gurus out there can't be relied upon, how can people learn what would constitute "eating and exercising in a more healthful way"? There's so much disinformation out there on the subject -- where should people turn for more reliable advice?
MsgId: *brain_storm(40)
Date: Fri Apr 11 23:01:22 PDT 1997
From: guest At: 153.35.209.226
Some experts say serotonin-modifying diet drugs can trigger severe depressive episodes in people who are prone to depresion... even trigger suicides.
MsgId: *brain_storm(41)
Date: Fri Apr 11 23:03:17 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Certainly serotonin plays a role in depression, anxiety, and like illnesses, and our knowledge on the subject is still sketchy. Too sketchy to want to let diet drugs mess with your serotonin receptors. But we're running out of time. Laura, final answers to these last couple of questions?HR WIDTH=75% NOSHADE> MsgId: *brain_storm(42)
Date: Fri Apr 11 23:08:14 PDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 38.254.181.13
Looks like we may have lost our guest. Sorry about that, guests who asked questions. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Brainstorms, and tune in next week to speak with Raeann Dumont, a specialist in the treatment of phobias and panic disorder. Till then, thanks to Laura Fraser for appearing here with us, and good night for Brainstorms!
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