Look at the photo first without reading the captions.
What do you see ?
what do you feel ?
that would tell more about you than the substance of the photo.
Do you see the tenderness of the mother towards her child?
Do you see the anguish on the face of the boy ?
or
Do you see two Black people?
Do you see two poor people?
Do you see two fat (or fat black) people?
The answer would tell me what sort of a person you are ..
then read the caption.
The father of this boy, when he was young, died in police custody 7 years ago.
This in the context of the most violent rich country on earth, the United States of America. 40 mass shootings so far in the first three weeks of this year.
His father was black american, they tend to be treated with less respect, even by fellow black policemen.
As the poet would say, Poverty is not fashionable and only the rich would think that poverty builds character.
Racial injustice and oppression.
Poverty
all evident in the face and in their body
Obese mother and Obese child
Obesity, a study released by American Paediatric Association has stated, is more than about food and exercise..
So, telling him to exercise and eat well (almost an impossibility in most of the USA) would be a crime..
He misses his father
He is mourning and will mourn, in this society's deficit of emotions, all his life.
He is scarred
for the rest of this life
This is in a society which is fatter by the year and insensitive to it by the year ..
From New York Times
In dozens of interviews with families I heard about doctors shaming low-income moms for buying dollar store ramen noodles instead of pricier fresh vegetables. I talked to teenagers who were gaining weight while dealing with depression or anxiety and whose doctors told them to cut carbs. Families described doctors who rushed conversations, grabbed bellies or made jokes about kids’ bodies.
The guidelines acknowledge that experiences of “weight stigma, victimization, teasing and bullying” are major challenges faced by kids in larger bodies that contribute to disordered eating and worse mental health outcomes. Some health care providers, they note, are biased against fat patients in ways that compromise the quality of care and contribute to more severe illness and even death.
I am an Endocrinologist dealing with patients with metabolic dysfunction which include Overweight. I was so frustrated by the societal attitudes and the solutions offered that on advice of the American Indian teachers I went to London to study Anthropology , to understand how people think.. what makes them think that way, what are the constructions within society and what is not obvious to the naked eye of the observer ( public or medical personnel)
It has been a good education.
While Nutrition or Lack of it is a MAJOR problem in English speaking Rich countries, one has to look beyond what appears to be obvious.
I will dedicate this blog to the memory of Dr Paul Farmer, a Physician Anthropologist
who said
Medical Anthropology teaches you to divert your gaze from the sterility of the Epidemiologists and Clinicians (pardon the pun) and go beyond facts and figures and transcend to the level of the suffering and focus on the society in which the patient lives.
I sent the article to a good friend of mine and this was his comment ( from New York times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/opinion/aap-obesity-guidelines-bmi-wegovy-ozempic.html?smid=url-share
Just read the New York Times essay.…… Wow! I have not read the official publication of the new guidelines, but if the author of this essay accurately depicts the intent of the new guidelines, then that is pretty scary. Starting kids at age 2 on lifestyle, modification and behavioral therapy? At age 12 or 13 offer kids with excess BMI’s drugs for overweight or surgery for overweight. These ages seem quite young. These guidelines remind me of federal reserve chairman Powell. He is determined to stamp out inflation no matter what. It sounds like the pediatricians that made the guidelines are determined to stamp out obesity also no matter what.
They seem to forget that children have delicate minds and are so easily influenced or even pushed in the wrong direction. It is possible that they are right with this endeavor, but there are many kids who will not fit in or will not benefit. I think that reliance on BMI or age is a mistake, and I think that each particular individual should be treated exactly that way - as an individual.
