Why Weight May Not Be the Whole Story on Health

Could our fixation on weight actually be harming, rather than
helping, people’s health? Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Ragen
Chastain, a writer, researcher and board-certified patient
advocate, to discuss how weight stigma could be fueling many of the
negative health outcomes we commonly link to weight gain. This
episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially
independent special project that was produced with financial
support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Sign up for Chastain’s
Substack newsletter, Weight and Healthcare Recommended reading:
People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding
Obesity Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia.
Sabrina Strings. NYU Press, 2019 Belly of the Beast: The Politics
of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. Da’Shaun L. Harrison. North
Atlantic Books, 2021 Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you
have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
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Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper,
Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses
and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was
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