Positive thinking

Aimee Pink, Swansea University ; Claire Williams, Swansea University ; Menna Price, Swansea University , and Michelle Lee, Swansea University   Most of us have turned to food to make ourselves feel better at some point. Whether it is snuggling up with a pot of ice cream following a break up (channelling an inner Bridget Jones perhaps) or turning to chocolate and biscuits to keep us going through a difficult day at work. This is known as emotional eating , consuming food in response to emotions. But while it may make us feel better initially, in the long run, it can have a negative impact on our health. We are all aware that obesity is a major societal issue with rates still increasing . Overeating in response to emotions is just one of the many factors thought to drive weight gain and increase body mass index (BMI). However, while other factors do come into play, it is important to understand how emotions may influence weight gain to help aid weight loss and manageme...

   Martin Cohen, University of Hertfordshire The “obesity epidemic” deserves much more serious attention than it is getting. It is, after all, thought to be killing nearly 3m people a year worldwide. It is putting huge pressure on health services, yet the public policy response in developed countries such as the US and UK is pitiful, largely confined to finger-wagging at children’s sugary treats. The story that has not been getting out is that there is a clear and extraordinary correlation between obesity and social inequality. Obesity is invariably presented as a diet issue for nutritionists, whereas social inequality is deemed the domain of sociologists and economists. Put another way, even as the inequality gap becomes more and more obvious there’s been a medicalisation of a social problem. Yet obesity is not just a matter for nutritionists: rather, it is a product of social inequality and requires a collective social response. This failure to face up ...

Tara Coltman-Patel, Nottingham Trent University Obesity is a highly stigmatised condition. Those with obesity are frequently subject to prejudice and ridicule at home, school, work and even from health care professionals. Every day, they face social rejection and are deemed lazy, unattractive, unmotivated and unhappy . Alarmingly, many obese individuals feel unable to challenge such stigma, so they passively accept and sometimes believe it . We live in a world where we are constantly reminded that obesity is a “crisis”, an “epidemic”, that it is crippling the economy, and that it is a burden on society. These ideologies are disseminated throughout the news media, social media, by politicians and by health care professionals – and they are the birthplace of weight stigma. Weight stigma can manifest itself in several different ways. It can be overt, such as verbal and physical abuse, but it can also be indirect and subtle. My research focuses on the subtle and subcons...