XXL: Obesity and the Limits of Shame

by Neil Seeman, Patrick Luciani

Overview

Obese individuals are twice as likely to experience heart failure as non-obese people. More than eighty-five per cent of type 2 diabetes sufferers are overweight. And in the United States, obese and overweight individuals make up more than two-thirds of the adult population. Public health organizations and governments have traditionally tried to combat obesity through shame-inducing policies, which assure people that they can easily lose weight by eating right and exercising. This generic approach has failed, as it does little to address the personal, genetic, and cultural challenges faced by obese individuals.

XXL directly confronts the global public health sector by proposing an innovative, alternative policy - the 'healthy living voucher' - for decreasing high calorie consumption and its related health problems. Neil Seeman and Patrick Luciani argue that many public health campaigns have made the problem of obesity worse by minimizing how difficult it is for individuals to lose weight. XXL challenges governments to abandon top-down planning solutions in favour of bottom-up innovations to confront the obesity crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780772786272
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	03/12/2011
Series:	U of T Centre for Public Management Series on Public Policy & Administration
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Neil Seeman is director of the Health Strategy Innovation Cell and a senior resident in health system innovation at Massey College, University of Toronto. Patrick Luciani is a senior resident at Massey College, University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Genesis of Shame

Part 1: The Paradoxical Costs of Fat

Part 2: (Nearly) Everything Causes Obesity, and (Almost) Everyone is Different

Part 3: One-Size-Fits-Nobody

Part 4: Healthy Living Vouchers

What People are Saying About This

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

This book takes a fresh, bold, and deep look at an important human error stemming from the illusions of control and the overestimation of knowledge of the human body and behavior. It shows the mistakes committed when governments, in a top-down and na¿ve manner, try to control our biology. (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor, New York University Polytechnic Institute and author of New York Times best-sellers The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness)

Michael Bliss

'This slim book is fat with data and ideas, and stands on the imaginative frontier of a very fast-moving public policy debate ... It's bound to cause controversy and thought as we face the public health challenge of trying to engineer weight control.'
— Michael Bliss, University Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, and author of The Making of Modern Medicine and The Discovery of Insulin

David Frum

'Promising, thought-provoking and smart.'
— David Frum, best-selling author and adviser to former President George W. Bush

Bertha K Madras

'XXL critically examines the money and policies we're throwing at the obesity epidemic and proposes a new, thoughtful and sensitive approach—healthy living vouchers—that offers meaningful incentives to those who ever have, or ever will, struggle with the emotional and physical battle of weight gain.'
— Bertha K Madras, Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School

Bertha K. Madras

XXL critically examines the money and policies we're throwing at the obesity epidemic and proposes a new, thoughtful and sensitive approach—healthy living vouchers—that offers meaningful incentives to those who ever have, or ever will, struggle with the emotional and physical battle of weight gain. (Bertha K Madras, Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School)

David H. Freedman

This book provides the one thing that's sorely lacking amidst the cacophony of claims about what will fix the obesity crisis: A recognition that this is a massively multi-factorial problem utterly resistant to universal, simple solutions, and that individuals require customized strategies for losing and keeping off weight. The idea that public policy can and must support individualized weight-loss plans is as close to a winner as we're likely to see. (David H. Freedman, best-selling author of Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us—And How to Know When Not to Trust Them, and contributing editor of Inc. Magazine)

Frederick Lowy

XXL offers both an authoritative yet readily accessible review of the relevant science and, even more important, an imaginative proposal for government action. (Frederick Lowy, OC, MD, CM, LLD, President and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, Concordia University, former Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto)

Editorial Reviews

'Messrs. Seeman and Luciani's suggestions will annoy both the left and the right. Market forces are anathema to the top-down thinking of many on the left, and handing money to the "undeserving" is anathema to many on the right. But the very fact that their idea defies conventional wisdom suggests that it is a good one.'—Matt Ridley, international bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome, The Wall Street Journal
'This book takes a fresh, bold, and deep look at an important human error stemming from the illusions of control and the overestimation of knowledge of the human body and behavior. It shows the mistakes committed when governments, in a top-down and naïve manner, try to control our biology.'—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor, New York University Polytechnic Institute and author of New York Times best-sellers The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness
'This book provides the one thing that's sorely lacking amidst the cacophony of claims about what will fix the obesity crisis: A recognition that this is a massively multi-factorial problem utterly resistant to universal, simple solutions, and that individuals require customized strategies for losing and keeping off weight. The idea that public policy can and must support individualized weight-loss plans is as close to a winner as we're likely to see.'—David H. Freedman, best-selling author of Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us – And How to Know When Not to Trust Them, and contributing editor of Inc. Magazine
'This slim book is fat with data and ideas, and stands on the imaginative frontier of a very fast-moving public policy debate... It's bound to cause controversy and thought as we face the public health challenge of trying to engineer weight control.'—Michael Bliss, University Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, and author of The Making of Modern Medicine and The Discovery of Insulin
'Promising, thought-provoking and smart.'—David Frum, best-selling author and adviser to former President George W. Bush
'XXL critically examines the money and policies we're throwing at the obesity epidemic and proposes a new, thoughtful and sensitive approach-healthy living vouchers-that offers meaningful incentives to those who ever have, or ever will, struggle with the emotional and physical battle of weight gain.'—Bertha K Madras, Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School
'XXL offers both an authoritative yet readily accessible review of the relevant science and, even more important, an imaginative proposal for government action.'—Frederick Lowy, OC, MD, CM, LLD, President and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, Concordia University, former Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
(This title received Outstanding rating by members of the 2012 University Press Books committee. They are essential additions to most library collections)'Entertaining and insightful are not two words you would normally associate with a book about obesity, but this book certainly has both traits. I would recommend this book for all large public libraries—Christina Beaird, University Press Books for Public & Secondary School Libraries, 2012
'The authors have provided us with a clear summary of our current obesity challenges alongside the range of possible avenues to take on this "wicked problem," all smartly compiled in this readable book.'—Terrence Sullivan, CMAJ February 2013

From the Publisher

'This book takes a fresh, bold, and deep look at an important human error stemming from the illusions of control and the overestimation of knowledge of the human body and behavior. It shows the mistakes committed when governments, in a top-down and naïve manner, try to control our biology.'

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

'This book provides the one thing that's sorely lacking amidst the cacophony of claims about what will fix the obesity crisis: A recognition that this is a massively multi-factorial problem utterly resistant to universal, simple solutions, and that individuals require customized strategies for losing and keeping off weight. The idea that public policy can and must support individualized weight-loss plans is as close to a winner as we're likely to see.'

David H. Freedman

'Promising, thought-provoking and smart.'

David Frum

‘The authors have provided us with a clear summary of our current obesity challenges alongside the range of possible avenues to take on this “wicked problem,” all smartly compiled in this readable book.’

CMAJ February 2013 - Terrence Sullivan

'Messrs. Seeman and Luciani's suggestions will annoy both the left and the right. Market forces are anathema to the top-down thinking of many on the left, and handing money to the "undeserving" is anathema to many on the right. But the very fact that their idea defies conventional wisdom suggests that it is a good one.'

The Wall Street Journal - Matt Ridley

'XXL offers both an authoritative yet readily accessible review of the relevant science and, even more important, an imaginative proposal for government action.'

Frederick Lowy

(This title received Outstanding rating by members of the 2012 University Press Books committee…. They are essential additions to most library collections)

‘Entertaining and insightful are not two words you would normally associate with a book about obesity, but this book certainly has both traits…. I would recommend this book for all large public libraries

University Press Books for Public & Secondary School Libraries, 2012 - Christina Beaird

'XXL critically examines the money and policies we're throwing at the obesity epidemic and proposes a new, thoughtful and sensitive approach—healthy living vouchers—that offers meaningful incentives to those who ever have, or ever will, struggle with the emotional and physical battle of weight gain.'

Bertha K Madras

'This slim book is fat with data and ideas, and stands on the imaginative frontier of a very fast-moving public policy debate ... It's bound to cause controversy and thought as we face the public health challenge of trying to engineer weight control.'

Michael Bliss

'Messrs. Seeman and Luciani's suggestions will annoy both the left and the right. Market forces are anathema to the top-down thinking of many on the left, and handing money to the "undeserving" is anathema to many on the right. But the very fact that their idea defies conventional wisdom suggests that it is a good one.'
— Matt Ridley, international bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome

The Wall Street Journal