Recently in Obesity Category

Travis Matthews is a trainee psychotherapist and film-maker based in San Francisco. He has recently finished a film, entitled 'Do I look Fat' dealing with issues of weight and eating amongst gay men.

Travis says:
'Do I Look Fat? is a feature-length documentary with fat on the brain -fat that we feel, fat that we think and all sorts of fat problems that manifest from fat-phobic thinking inside the fat-wary gay community. As one person puts it, "fat is the little word with big meaning." '

Through interviews with a number of gay men as well as several professionals, Travis tries to unpick some of the issues which might lead to eating problems in this group.

I haven't yet managed to see the film, but it sounds like a great project. You can find out more about the film and the filmmaker at the film website.

Dr Jenny O'Dea, a nutritionist and health educator from the University of Sydney will present a workshop on the prevention of childhood obesity and eating disorders in Bristol (UK) on Monday 20th June 2005. The cost is £140 (including lunch, refreshments and handout pack)

From the workshop organisers:
"The workshop will present the theory and practice of body image improvement and prevention of eating problems and obesity among children and adolescents. The workshop will introduce participants to the concept of body image improvement and the relevance of self-esteem development and how self-esteem may be developed in educational, community and clinical settings among children and adolescents.
Special attention will be focused on how this and other preventive strategies may also be used in child obesity treatment and prevention with a focus on avoiding any potentially harmful or undesirable outcomes among these particularly vulnerable young people. The integration of school-based body image programs and child obesity prevention programs will be a major area of focus in the workshops."

For more information, or to book a place, contact Sam Clark-Stone

This month's Psychologist, the magazine of the British Psychological Society, is a special issue on psychological aspects of obesity. Contributors include Jane Wardle on how genes and environment interact resulting in obesity, Paul Chadwick, Helen Croker and Jane Ogden on the pros and cons of psychological interventions. All articles are free to view online.

Thanks to Walter Vandereycken for drawing my attention to an interesting article which is written by Patricia Prinz and is free to download from an open access journal 'Public Library of Science: Medicine'.

The article deals with the increasing evidence suggesting that getting less than 8 hours sleep per night may be associated with weight gain and put people at risk of obesity. The largest of the studies mentioned included 1.1 million participants so it seems to be a robust finding! Another recent study was prospective in design, which meant that people were followed over time to see how lack of sleep was related to future weight gain. This clarifies the question about the direction of causation - data from earlier cross-sectional studies could have been due to obesity leading to poor sleep rather than the other way round.

The University of Hertfordshire are running a conference entitled 'Psychological Responses to Eating Disorders and Obesity' on Friday, 10th June 2005 at the Fielder Centre, Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
The conference aims to provide delegates with the opportunity to access current thinking on the use of psychological therapies for the treatment of eating disorders and obesity. Keynote Speakers will be Professor Janet Treasure, Dr Zafra Cooper and Professor Julia Buckroyd
The conference costs £145 including lunch, refreshments and handout pack

To book a place or for more information please contact:
Barbara Scott
Centre for Community Research
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane
Hatfield
Herts. AL10 9AB

Telephone: 01707 286508
E-mail: b.1.scott@herts.ac.uk

The Center for Weight Management (CWM) of North-Shore Long Island Jewish Health System seeks a health services researcher with a track record of grant funding and publication in the field of Obesity research. The CWM is located in New Hyde Park, New York.
The CWM provides comprehensive multidisciplinary weight management treatment (cognitive behavioral therapy, nutritional counseling, exercise physiology) to adults, adolescents and children. The CWM also conducts pre-surgical assessments for adult bariatric surgery candidates and pre and post surgical behavioral and nutritional counseling. The Center seeks a researcher to join in the development of a program of research in the areas of obesity prevention and treatment, bariatric surgery assessment and outcomes, and obesity discrimination. For more information, please contact Jeffrey Weiss, PhD via email or by telephone: (718) 470-8445.

The Department of Health has today published its much-publicised White Paper on improving the nation's health, entitled 'Choosing Health'. The proposals cover obesity and mental health as well as smoking and sexual health. There's a good summary of the proposals on the BBC news site.

I've yet to read all the proposals but will write in more detail when I've done so.

Zafra Cooper and Deborah Hawker of the Oxford University Eating Disorders and Obesity Research Group are offering a workshop on cognitive behaviour therapy for obesity on Thursday 3rd March 2005 in Bristol, UK
Cost is

I just heard an interesting programme on Radio 4 about a weight loss camp for overweight kids which is apparently the first in the UK. You can listen to the programme via the BBC website for the next week.

Thanks to Richard Gordon (via the AED list) for drawing my attention to a fascinating article in the Harvard Review. Written by Craig Lambert and entitled 'The Way We Eat Now', it is an excellent review of recent thinking in obesity, thorough and scholarly without ever getting impenetrable.