Weight Maven

The folks over at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating have posted their list of top 50 emotional eating blogs. I’ll be going through the list to see if there are some I should be adding to my extended blogroll.

I’ve written before that I think that all “emotional” eating is essentially physiological. But I think there’s another aspect of our thinking of emotional eating that needs to be challenged, and that’s the idea that it’s primarily about the individual.

Via a Robb Wolf tweet today I found this article about happiness. The author makes a very interesting point:

The vast majority of such studies of happiness are conducted within a specific cultural mindset. Happiness is an individual issue. Fundamentally, “it’s all in your head” and “the system enables happiness, so unhappiness is your fault alone.”

The “fix” for unhappiness in this paradigm is a carefully apolitical network of pressure relief valves – counseling, therapy, motivational speakers, and so on – all focused on “fixing” the flaws within individuals that are assumed to be the exclusive cause of their unhappiness.

[I question] the assumption that our happiness is disconnected from the society and economy that we live in. What if unhappiness is not only just an individual failure, but also the consequence of a deeply distorted society?

Hmmm! Your mileage may vary, but I’m wondering if it’s time to revisit Fat is a Feminist Issue. Maybe, just maybe, some (much?) emotional eating is not just a reflection of internal “flaws” but is what would be expected when you combine the easy access to SAD foods and an insecure, stressful existence.