Fat politics

Has anyone read this book? Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America's Obesity Epidemic by J. Eric Oliver.

I just heard about it and I think I have to buy it. Except I think it might be preaching to the choir, because it seems to echo exactly what I believe:

"Political scientist Oliver condemns what he feels is a self-interested "public health establishment"-obesity researchers seeking federal funding, pharmaceutical and weight-loss companies peddling diet drugs and regimens, bariatric surgeons and other health-care providers angling for insurance reimbursement-for spuriously characterizing fatness as a disease. . . . Arguing that fatness is perfectly compatible with fitness, [Oliver] contends that scapegoating obesity drives Americans to experiment with dangerous crash diets, appetite suppressants and weight-loss surgeries, while distracting us from underlying harmful changes in the American lifestyle--mainly our incessant snacking on junk food and shunning of exercise and physical activity, of which weight gain is perhaps merely a "benign symptom." . . . By telling us we need to be thin without providing a safe way of losing weight, the same proponents of the "obesity epidemic" are also pushing millions of Americans towards dangerous surgeries, crash diets, and harmful diet drugs."

I'd also love to see a well-researched, factual expose about the dangerous metabolic effects of yo-yo dieting. I do think the most-frequently-used "remedies" to obesity often have much worse health consequences than the obesity itself.

I also think we experience major problems from far, far, far too much emphasis on the superficial appearance of health (leanness) rather than the actual fact of a healthy mind in a healthy body.