Oh, hallie, me too. I cannot believe that the entire world has bought into this theory that we need to be told how to look and how to eat. What could be more fundamental than knowing how to eat? Right now our problem is finding a way to undo the damage that’s already BEEN caused by DECADES of telling us how to look and how to eat. This is a problem caused by the medical, beauty and diet industry. They don’t get to ride in on a white horse and keep us miserable all our lives and tell us they’re doing it to save us from ourselves.

Lonie Mc: !!! That would be amazing!

Hmmm, I certainly like the idea of such a study. My PhD is in Technical Communication and Rhetoric and that falls under the rhetoric category. I have already chosen my dissertation project, but I would love to do such a study later: the power of rhetoric alone on health. If no other scholar has done this by the time I’m finished with my diss (Spring 2010) — and with your permission for using your idea — I’ll take it on, Kate. It would work best if I can find a medical professional to partner me. What a great idea and right up my ally!!

Sigh.

oh, this is so true. i think parents underestimate how much influence they can have, though. because they are live and in person, what they do say (even if it’s very little) can carry a lot more weight. personally, i render specific, independent judgment on things i eat or like or don’t like, giving details: ‘hmm … this [boxed] mac and cheese isn’t *bad*, but i really prefer the stuff i make with actual cheese, so i can get the crispy baked cheese edges and add tomato. it just tastes better; i live for the almost-burned cheese edges. and tomato and cheese are so awesome together. also cheese and butter-sauted mushrooms. MMMMM. mushrooms. i am totally making cheese and mushroom quesadillas for dinner. with salsa.”

and when i taste artificial fakey-flavors and chemical crap, i call that out, too. or corn syrup. “mm! tastes like corn syrup. … no really, you go ahead, i don’t care for it.” they can have it if they want it, i just want them to know why *i* don’t want it. it’s not because i’m being all generous – it’s because i know what i like and (maybe more importantly) *why* i like it. it’s when you dig into the ‘why’ question that you realize things like: ‘i wanted this only because my mom never let me have it’ or ‘i want this because the packaging makes it look better than it is’ or something other than actual, physical desire for the content.

and the kids i know who are allowed to choose (or vote on) what goes into the grocery cart pick about the same variety that i would, though heavier on treats. of course, they’re growing and they also spend 7/8ths of the day in constant motion, so they obviously need more calories than i do to sit and write.

lots of influences play in to our choices, i just see that live people you associate with have the most impact. it’s definitely something to think about.

And I love that study. But I wasn’t even talking about HAES v. dieting, exactly. I’m talking about a study that compares repeatedly telling one group their bodies are just fine the way they are and repeatedly telling the other they need to lose weight, then seeing who comes out healthier at the end of it. What is the effect of encouraging self-acceptance alone, not even HAES? (One of my pet theories is that a whole lot of ailments ostensibly caused by teh fatz are actually caused by stress. Which is at least partially borne out by that study that showed people who feel too fat can be worse off, mentally and physically, than people with higher BMIs.)

They probably think that because they don’t realize how many people are explicitly telling their children harmful bullshit.

Teachers and anti-childhood-obesity initiative TV ads tell them they should eat very little and mostly fruit or they’ll get The Fat. Meanwhile, everything else on TV tells them they should eat nonstop sugar and chemicals or they’ll be Uncool and No Fun.

In other words, kids, like all of the rest of us, are so turned around by cultural messages that they can’t hear physical cues anymore. If you stop telling a kid what to eat, yeah, a lot of those kids will eat a bunch of junk, because that’s what they’ve been told they like. But that’s not showing them how to listen to their bodies — that’s just taking away what little guidance they have in navigating those mixed messages.

I think this is a brilliant idea.
There’s also the concept of “community-based participatory research” (wiki it if you are interested in more info) where the community being investigated is directly involved in the research being conducted, with professional researchers involved in the research design and analyses, and much of the labor can be done by the community members themselves, which cuts down on costs.
I doubt that many of us are interested in being randomly assigned to a dieting vs. HAES protocol, but I’m sure there are researchers out there who could think of a design that would work. I would certainly volunteer to be part of a study. I would think that with the interwebz and all, one could self-report all manner of information in a secure manner and could track it over long periods of time.
Or maybe something that would be the opposite of the National Weight Control Registry, and instead, be a national HAES registry. Just some thoughts that others have probably proposed before (I’m pretty sure I heard ideas about research at the BFB think tank transcripts.)

fillyjonk is made entirely out of awesome.

the interconnectedness of Total Bullshit manages to astound me daily, now. i’m so glad you brought that up, because it’s funny to realize that the revolution i’m waiting for can be had for the price of telling the truth; it’s just that so few want to hear it.

hey – my sister told me recently (and her husband agreed) that kids *absolutely have to be explicitly taught* – meaning told, verbally – what nutrition is and can’t get there by listening to their bodies.

really? when did you try that? was i not there that day?

honestly, people, so fucking few people either eat intuitively or allow their kids to eat intuitively that i have no idea how anyone i know would know this. even i don’t know it. but i have to say that *as a theory*, it makes a fuck of a lot more sense that we might be able to figure out what our bodies need by listening to them than by whatever horseshit theory the diet industry is braying at us this week. seriously? you mean, we are wired to eat only absolute rubbish and never anything that might actually make us healthy? that it would be purely an accident if we grew up healthy without being told what to eat every minute? the human race is screwed, blued and tatooed then, huh?

honestly. i don’t even know where to start, then.

We do the worst damage, it seems, with the greatest blessings – in this sphere, going from loving ourselves and celebrating our unprecedented health to hysteria and fatphobia regarding food. It’s a fun-house reflection of the joy of life.

So I completely agree, FJ. This is just one expression of an issue that is everywhere with us.