Fat Talk

March 15, 2023
A freelance journalist and parent navigates the murky waters of raising children in a fat-biased society. As her daughters grew up, Sole-Smith, author of The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America, began to notice how often others commented on their bodies, and she understandably worried about the consequences of such superficialities. "Unlearning [a] core belief about the importance of thinness," writes the author, "means deciding that thin bodies and fat bodies have equal value....You have to believe that being fat isn't a bad thing. And that means you have to challenge a lot of what you thought you knew about health, beauty, and morality." Beginning with her personal reflections, the author expands her narrative into a broader sociological exploration, which includes the details from her interviews with families (all struggling with body image and food) and pertinent data and analysis. Sole-Smith is an accessible, concise writer, largely avoiding academic jargon. Even though she explains that everyone has some measure of an ingrained bias, she refrains from making readers feel guilty; rather, she is instructive and encouraging. While digesting hard-hitting comments from children grappling with diet culture, many readers will be able to recognize themselves in similar situations. Sole-Smith provides well-rounded discussions of eating disorders, puberty, calorie counting, fitness influencers, and the myth that a fat child necessarily means that they have lazy or disengaged parents. The author also deconstructs racism and classism endemic to her topic, tracing the historical roots of a variety of prejudices. After highlighting the data and recounting her personal story, Sole-Smith closes with a section entitled "How To Have the Fat Talk," and she adds a list of further resources notable for the way in which the author divides up relevant books into such categories as memoir, fiction, books on eating, and books on fatness, bodies, and bias. A thoughtful and intuitive book that is not just for parents.

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March 6, 2023
This compassionate manual by journalist Sole-Smith (The Eating Instinct) suggests ways parents can help their children “recognize and reject” anti-fat bias. She explores how messaging that devalues fat bodies damages children’s health, self-esteem, and sense of bodily autonomy through accounts of parents and their kids. “We need to separate weight and health,” she contends, telling the story of an eight-year-old girl who received compliments from strangers about the weight she lost due to undiagnosed type 1 diabetes while her heavier and healthier younger sister received only disapproving comments. Critiquing the overlooked environmental factors that contribute to fatness, Sole-Smith reports on research that found childhood asthma to be associated with adolescent weight gain and calls for public health strategies to focus on alleviating poverty, which leaves many families unable to afford healthy food. She urges parents to talk with teachers, doctors, and their kids about pushing back on anti-fat stigma and encourages parents to tell their children that their value isn’t tied to their weight: “Your body is never the problem.” The eye-opening research upends conventional assumptions about what a healthy body looks like, and readers will appreciate the affirming tone. The result is a striking challenge to fatphobia.

May 1, 2023

A 2012 study shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans may have some level of bias toward people with larger bodies, and that prejudice may have started when they were children. Journalist Sole-Smith (The Eating Instinct) deliberately uses the word "fat" in this work, as she believes that the stigma surrounding it needs to be removed. In this well-researched book, the author examines historical models and policies that don't take into account normal variations in growth. The "childhood obesity epidemic" is addressed at length, with the caveat that weight loss in a child could lead to an eating disorder and dietary restrictions may result in incidents of sneaking food. The effects of racial discrimination and poverty, with the expense of fruits and vegetables (particularly organic) being cost-prohibitive in some communities, are also explored. The book ends with a chapter called "How to Have the Fat Talk," which includes a list of additional resources, but this title would've benefitted from even more of the author's take on how to effect change. VERDICT Overall, this book shines in its look at policy and historical views of this topic. Parents concerned about their child's weight and body image will appreciate it.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2023
This paradigm-shifting book gathers journalist Sole-Smith's (The Eating Instinct, 2018) findings from countless studies, journals, and her own career-spanning interviews to flip the script on diet culture and anti-fat bias, the very "air we breathe" that convinces us all that our bodies are our value--and that most of our bodies need fixing. With many data points and personal anecdotes, this is more an information survey than a parenting road map, covering topics ranging from myths about fatness to how diet culture manifests within our own family units and the influences of youth sports and social media on kids' perception of their bodies. A wrap-up section helpfully synthesizes Sole-Smith's findings for easy consultation, along with scripts for talking about diet culture, fatness, and bias with kids, doctors, and even ourselves. Further reading and source lists and an index are also of note. If it can feel radical to accept and overwhelming to implement change in one's own views and parenting style, Sole-Smith's guide comes with the promise that over time it will be less so; starting the conversation is what matters. With its message of trusting our kids' bodies (and everyone else's) as they are as both a social justice issue and an act of love, this is a great place to begin.

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