Alice Randall in the NYTimes’ op-ed Black Women and Fat (the whole article is well worth a read):
I expect obesity will be like alcoholism. People who know the problem intimately find their way out, then lead a few others. The few become millions.
Quote of the day
May 7, 2012 by Beth@WeightMaven
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Weight Maven is written by Beth Mazur. Beth believes that obesity is more symptom than cause and that the real problem is our Western diet -- especially sugar, refined grains, and industrial oils. Beth writes about nutrition, ancestral health & food policy. And cats! 
Inspirational, because we know it’s true and shows us we ourselves can be the prime movers.
My own physiological drive toward obesity is, I believe, my body’s best attempt to re-establish equilibrium after enduring decades of a dysregulated nervous/endocrine system(s) constructed during years of childhood (and early adulthood) trauma and severe stress, which included everything from physical abuse to mental torment. In other words, becoming very fat was my body’s way to fight back against unendurable pain from a broken nervous system (my alarms for fight/flight/freeze operate on a hair trigger). The fat stores helped to produce hormones that helped me endure sensory overload. Without the extra fat on my body, my body doesn’t know how to find balance on its own (and the rational mind is of limited use in regulating my endocrine system). However, by taking certain small and repeated steps to expose myself to stimuli that feels alarming and noxious, my body is gradually relearning to regulate itself, I believe, and I hope, so that I may live more fully in the world without feeling so vulnerable without the extra fat. It is a long daring effort, but I’m not giving up. Thanks for sharing this article and many others!!
I read the entire article. Very interesting. I hope that the drives against obesity don’t become drives for perfectionism. I believe that many women have weight issues now just because they were a little chunky or didn’t wear a certain size and went on extreme diets and exercising and messed up their systems.