Health Insurance Company Denies Fat Baby - 10/14/2009

Exemplifying all that is wrong in health care today, a Colorado insurance company recently denied a baby health care coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Setting aside the question of if it is physically possible for an infant to have a pre-existing condition and what implications that holds for uteruses everywhere, you are probably wondering what the condition was that was so horrible that a child so new his skin was still pruney...

Atta Girl, Avatar: How Computer Play Can Make You Thin - 8/10/2009

Can creating an avatar of yourself really help you live a healthier lifestyle? And, why do we choose our cartoon counterparts to look the way they do? Watching actresses on TV—impossibly skinny women with impossibly charmed lives can leave us feeling down about our looks. But what if we’re glued to a PC screen, tracking the exploits of… a skinny version of ourselves?With all the hours we log online, it’s no wonder that more women are...

Post-it Revolution - 7/30/2009

Can self-esteem boosting messages stuck in public places, like restroom mirrors, or at the gym, change the way women see themselves? The women of Operation Beautiful think so. Even if you know better, you’ve probably done it. It might have happened on a day when you were feeling low, or maybe you were just parroting your friends. But at some point, you’ve looked in the mirror, grimaced at your reflection, and said something like, “I...

Eat This Way - 7/27/2009

Is a new study labeling all fat people as eating disordered? Author and fat activist Kim Brittingham shares her thoughts. I’m all in favor of research designed to stamp out disease. But from a steady diet of university studies, academia spits out the occasional item of junk food.Such is the study led by Jennifer Temple of the University at Buffalo as detailed in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Temple’s...

Fat People + [Insert Activity] = Great Television? - 7/22/2009

With the recent increase of TV shows about plus-size people, is there some sort of secret formula for success that TV producers have discovered? Take your everyday overweight person, yet also attractive (c’mon this is still TV), put them in some sort of staged situation and have millions of Americans watch… in awe? TV execs have got it down, with new shows like Dance Your Ass Off, Drop Dead Diva and More to Love premiering this year, and...