This book argues that the factors contributing to obesity as a product of food insecurity have risen largely from the exploitation of vulnerable communities. In the past, food insecurity has been understood as primarily a matter of famine, hunger, and undernutrition. Such an understanding is no longer accurate: food insecurity is now also associated with obesity, the rates of which have increased dramatically in the past thirty years, particularly among lower-income communities and communi...

Flip through a magazine, turn on the TV, or browse around online, and it quickly becomes clear: vegetarian eating is on the rise. But just who are vegetarians? How do they make the transition? And what really drives them to take the meat off their plates? Vegetarians differ from omnivores not just in their eating habits but also in their psychology, personalities, friendship choices, even their sex lives. Extensive studies from around the world show that they vote differently, take different ...

Explores how affluence and the development of new technologies has come at a huge, and potentially devastating, cost - an epidemic of obesity and a world clogged by waste. Obesity is 'collateral damage in the battle for modernity'. It's an unintended but unavoidable consequence of economic progress. Obesity is not a disease but a signal. It's the canary in the coalmine, which should alert us to bigger structural problems in society. There are a number of areas where humans have achieved a ...

Sodas are astonishing products. Little more than flavored sugar-water, these drinks cost practically nothing to produce or buy, yet have turned their makers--principally Coca-Cola and PepsiCo--into a multibillion-dollar industry with global recognition, distribution, and political power. Billed as "refreshing," "tasty," "crisp," and "the real thing," sodas also happen to be so well established to contribute to poor dental hygiene, higher calorie intake, obesity, and type-2 diabetes that th...

"An in-depth, well-researched, and thoughtful exploration of the 'fat boom' in America." — The Boston GlobeLow carb, high protein, raw foods . . . despite our seemingly endless obsession with fad diets, the startling truth is that six out of ten Americans are overweight or obese. In Fat Land, award-winning nutrition and health journalist Greg Critser examines the facts and societal factors behind the sensational headlines, taking on everyt...

Income, education, employment, housing, the wider environment, and social supports; far more than the actions of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, it is these conditions that make the greatest difference in our health. Drawing on his experiences as a family physician in the inner city of Saskatoon, Mozambique, and rural Saskatchewan, Dr. Ryan Meili uses scholarship and patient stories to explore health determinants and democratic reforms that could create a truly healthy...

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 ...

Decisions made by the food, tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, gun, and automobile industries have a greater impact on today's health than the decisions of scientists and policymakers. As the collective influence of corporations has grown, governments around the world have stepped back from their responsibility to protect public health by privatizing key services, weakening regulations, and cutting funding for consumer and environmental protection. Today's corporations are increasingly free...

The Industrial Diet chronicles the long-term transformation of food from a natural resource into an edible commodity that far too often fails to nourish us. Anthony Winson reveals how a combination of technological changes, population growth, and political and economic factors helped constitute and transform mass dietary regimes from the nineteenth century to the present day, and he offers new evidence linking broad-based dietary changes with negative health effects. With its focus on ...

The new edition of Prevention Is Primary provides models, methods, and approaches for building health and equity in communities. This comprehensive book includes the theory, concepts, and models needed to harness social justice and practice primary prevention of unnecessary illness and injury. Ideal for students as well as practitioners, this thoroughly revised and updated second edition combines an overview of advances in the field with effective approaches in the current economic and hea...

A rollicking indictment of the liberal elite's hypocrisy when it comes to food.Ban trans-fats? Outlaw Happy Meals? Tax Twinkies? What's next? Affirmative action for cows?A catastrophe is looming. Farmers are raping the land and torturing animals. Food is riddled with deadly pesticides, hormones and foreign DNA. Corporate farms are wallowing in government subsidies. Meat packers and fast food restaurants are exploiting workers and tainting the food supply. An...

For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive capacity which would resolve humanity's food-related health and welfare problems. It assumed that more food would yield greater health and happiness by driving down prices, increasing availability, and feeding more mouths. In the 21st century, this policy mix is quietly becoming unstuck. In a world m...