In this surprising collection, lively, provocative writers explore the many folds of fat that make up reality. Sometimes funny, sometimes angry, often illuminating and always engaging, these stories make a new and compelling case for why more room should be made for bigger behinds.

This volume addresses the overlapping aspects of the fields of genomics, obesity and (non-) medical ethics. It is unique in its examination of the implications of genomics for obesity from an ethical perspective. Genomics covers the sciences and technologies involved in the pathways that DNA takes until the organism is completely built and sustained: the range of genes (DNA), transcriptor factors, enhancers, promoters, RNA (copy of DNA), proteins, metabolism of cell, cellular interactions, organisms. Genomics offers a holistic approach, which, when applied to obesity, can have surprising and disturbing implications for the existing networks tackling this phenomenon. The ethical concerns and consideration presented are inspired by the interaction between the procedural perspective emphasizing the necessity of consultative and participatory organizational relationships in the new gray zones between medicine and food, and the substantive perspective that both cherishes individual autonomy and embeds it in socio-cultural contexts.

The modern world is faced with a terrifying new ‘disease’, that of ‘obesity’. As people get fatter, we have come to see excess weight as unhealthy, morally repugnant and socially damaging. Fat it seems has long been a national problem and each age, culture and tradition have all defined a point beyond which excess weight is unacceptable, ugly or corrupting. This fascinating new book by Sander Gilman looks at the interweaving of fact and fiction about obesity, tracing public concern from the mid-nineteenth century to the modern day. He looks critically at the source of our anxieties, covering issues such as childhood obesity, the production of food, media coverage of the subject and the emergence of obesity in modern China. Written as a cultural history, the book is particularly concerned with the cultural meanings that have been attached to obesity over time and to explore the implications of these meanings for wider society. The history of these debates is the history of fat in culture, from nineteenth-century opera to our global dieting obsession. Fat, A Cultural History of Obesity is a vivid and absorbing cultural guide to one of the most important topics in modern society.

The secret ingredient for weight loss isn’t grapefruit or quinoa or protein bars…It’s planning! A busy schedule can make lasting weight loss and healthy maintenance feel impossible. How can you make wise food choices and maintain good habits when you’re rushed, overwhelmed, and distracted? Now a registered dietitian spills the secret to peeling off the pounds and eating better, even on your most time-crunched days. With thirty minutes of prep once a week, you can ensure a whole week of healthy eating--from preparing tasty, healthful meals to shortening your grocery store trip, to planning energizing snacks on the go. Schedule Me Skinny gives you all of the tools you need to take control of your busy schedule and bulging waistline, including: • easy-to-use fourteen-day meal plan • grocery shopping lists • grab-and-go meal ideas • tips for eating out • quick dinners using just what's in your pantry, for days that don't go as planned Featuring real-life success stories, this is the must-have plan for women who refuse to choose between their skinny jeans and a full life. Get started today! INCLUDES MORE THAN 40 DELICIOUS RECIPES!

Challenging America's confusing standard of beauty, a humorous look at life from the perspective of a large woman shares her own experiences as well as her thoughts on eating, sex, dating, exercise, and other topics.

On one side of the door, the rich smell of sweet, spicy food and the calm of Buddhist devotion; on the other, the strangeness of a new land. When Ira Sukrungruang was born to Thai parents newly arrived in the U.S., they picked his Jewish moniker out of a book of “American” names. In this lively, entertaining, and often hilarious memoir, he relates the early life of a first-generation Thai-American and his constant, often bumbling attempts to reconcile cultural and familial expectations with the trials of growing up in 1980s America. Young Ira may have lived in Oak Lawn, Illinois, but inside the family’s bi-level home was “Thailand with American conveniences.” They ate Thai food, spoke the Thai language, and observed Thai customs. His bedtime stories were tales of Buddha and monkey-faced demons. On the first day of school his mother reminded him that he had a Siamese warrior’s eyes—despite his thick glasses—as Aunty Sue packed his Muppets lunch box with fried rice. But when his schoolmates played tag he was always It, and as he grew, he faced the constant challenge of reconciling American life with a cardinal family rule: “Remember, you are Thai.” Inside the Thai Buddhist temple of Chicago, another “simulated Thailand,” are more rules, rules different from those of the Southside streets, and we see mainstream Western religion—“god people”—through the Sukrungruang family’s eyes. Within the family circle, we meet a mother who started packing for her return to Thailand the moment she arrived; her best friend, Aunty Sue, Ira’s second mother, who lives with and cooks for the family; and a wayward father whose dreams never quite pan out. Talk Thai is a richly told account that takes us into an immigrant’s world. Here is a story imbued with Thai spices and the sensibilities of an American upbringing, a story in which Ira practices English by reciting lines from TV sitcoms and struggles with the feeling of not belonging in either of his two worlds. For readers who delight in the writings of Amy Tan, Gish Jen, and other Asian-Americans, Talk Thai provides generous portions of a still-mysterious culture while telling the story of an American boyhood with humor, playfulness, and uncompromising honesty.

Diets and dieting have concerned – and sometimes obsessed – human societies for centuries. The dieters' regime is about many things, among them the control of weight and the body, the politics of beauty, discipline and even self-harm, personal and societal demands for improved health, spiritual harmony with the universe, and ethical codes of existence. In this innovative reference work that spans many periods and cultures, the acclaimed cultural and medical historian Sander L. Gilman lays out the history of diets and dieting in a fascinating series of articles.