I've just read a great article in The New Statesman. It's about Susie Orbach's new book 'Bodies'. Orbach and I don't agree on everything but she makes some very valid points. Here Laura Tennant writes insightfully about the book and the reality of compulsive overeating and its effect on our bodies and our minds.
Never shy of controversy (she once threatened to sue cuddly, reassuring WeightWatchers because "its philosophy is based on a lie"), Orbach goes on to debunk the so-called obesity epidemic, pointing out that a 1995 World Health Organisation revision of BMI (Body Mass Index) guidelines designated Brad Pitt as overweight and George Clooney as obese.
The usual suspects, in other words. But when bodies are the location of so much distress, dissatisfaction and illness, doesn't it make sense to locate the problem in the physical world, with eating patterns that disturb our natural appetites and visual imagery that reminds us of our own inadequacy streaming into the cerebral cortex? Not least because, instead of blaming ourselves (our messed-up childhoods, our lack of discipline), we can place responsibility where it belongs: with industries whose profit margins depend on our unhappiness.
Read the full article here
