Ever Seen a Fat Fox?: Human Obesity Explored

by mike Gibney

Overview

Ever seen a fat fox? Didn't think so. Why it is that only humans - or animals in the care of humans - develop obesity? In Ever Seen a Fat Fox?: Human Obesity Explored Professor Mike Gibney delves into the history of the human relationship with food. He traces the evolution of our modern diet and looks to science to offer solutions to the phenomenon of human obesity. He calls on governments to cease the single-issue ad-hoc approach and demands a massive governmental long-term investment in weight management. It is a commonly held belief that obesity is a recent phenomenon. Professor Gibney reveals that obesity is nothing new - in fact, the modern upward trend in obesity began in the mid-nineteenth century. Obesity has been part of human experience whenever and wherever we've had affluence. There are many who seek to apportion blame for the epidemic of obesity. Blaming the food industry for obesity is always popular: sugar is public enemy number one. Debunking exaggerated views and cutting through the mixed messaging Gibney demonstrates that most food processing techniques are old, hundreds and thousands of years old.The genetics of obesity, the practice of dieting, and the value of physical activity are thoroughly assessed.The failures of the players in obesity - including the media, scientists, academic organisations, international agencies, specifically the WHO, and the food industry are brought into sharp focus. What can we learn from the fox? An expert in public health and personalised nutrition with bestselling books and over 300 peer-reviewed papers in the area, Professor Mike Gibney uncovers the full story behind obesity based on painstaking research, and offers us tangible solutions to this very human phenomenon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910820087
Publisher:	University College Dublin Press
Publication date:	05/15/2016
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Dedications v

Acknowledgements and Declarations ix

Preface xi

Abbreviations xv

1 Ever Seen a Fat Fox? 1

2 Obesity: Measurements and Metrics 13

3 Human Obesity: Old and New 22

4 The Human Food Chain: Old and New 30

5 The Fashion of Culpable Calories 46

6 Obesity: The Nature versus Nurture Debate 60

7 Regulating Food Intake: The Eyes Have It 70

8 Fitness and Fatness 85

9 A Miscellany of Matters 96

10 Obesity: The Fears and the Phobias 108

11 Obesity: Politics, Players and Ploys it? 117

12 Weights Management: The Personal Perspective 130

13 Weights Management: The National Perspective 144

14 The Way Forward 156

Notes 164

Index 180