April Joyner

dglsplsblg:

“Is obesity contagious? According to an Arizona State University study , the answer may be yes. ASU researchers confirmed previous research indicating that obesity spreads among friends and family.”

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ASU.edu

Lesson? If you want to be fit and healthy, surround yourself with fit and healthy people. That might require making some really tough choices but how much do you want it?

Hmm, there’s a disturbing conclusion implied here, one that I hope Douglas is not making. On the surface, it might seem that this study from Arizona State might validate fat-phobia. But coming to that conclusion would require skipping over this part:

“This study is important because it shows that while the clustering of people with larger or smaller bodies is real, it is not shared values between friends that accounts for it,” said [Alexandra] Brewis, director of the Center for Global Health in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Science. “This gives us important clues about the best ways to tackle obesity as a public health issue; we need to focus on what people do together, rather than what people think.” (emphasis added)

In other words, if you have friends with bad dietary habits, and you’re worried about picking those habits up, then perhaps you shouldn’t go out to eat with those friends. Go to a play or a concert instead. Or, even better, explain why you’re concerned. But you shouldn’t just cut folks off—or choose not to engage with them at all—solely because of their weight.