Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Texas Still Struggles with Obesity

The obesity rate in Texas stands at 29 percent according to a study by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ("Texas Has 13th Highest Rate of Obesity in U.S., Study Says," The Dallas Morning News, June 29, 2010). Mississippi tops the list while Colorado is the at the bottom with the leanest adult population.

Review selected library titles related to obesity at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:
  • food habits
  • food marketing
  • obesity
Stuffed book coverStuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat by Hank Cardello with Doug Garr - Ecco, 2009.
call number: 616.398 Car
"The obesity epidemic in particular, he argues, is connected to food businesses that control "almost everything the average American eats." Drawing substantially on his professional knowledge, he examines such factors as marketing and product packaging, the recent controversies involving branded school snacks and beverages, the use of trans fat in restaurants, and the various food lobbies." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

The End of Overeating book coverThe End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler - Rodale: distributed to the trade by Macmillan, 2009.
call number: 613.2 Kes
"Kessler (former FDA commissioner under presidents Bush and Clinton) describes how, since the 1980s, the food industry, in collusion with the advertising industry, and lifestyle changes have short-circuited the body's self-regulating mechanisms, leaving many at the mercy of reward-driven eating. Through the evidence of research, personal stories (including candid accounts of his own struggles) and examinations of specific foods produced by giant food corporations and restaurant chains, Kessler explains how the desire to eat-as distinct from eating itself-is stimulated in the brain by an almost infinite variety of diabolical combinations of salt, fat and sugar." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Body Image book coverBody Image, Eating Disorders, and Obesity in Youth: Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment edited by Linda Smolak and J. Kevin Thompson - American Psychological Association, 2009.
call number: 618.928 Bod
"Smolak (psychology, women's and gender studies, Kenyon College) and Thompson (psychology, University of South Florida) present empirical research on the assessment, prevention, and treatment of body image problems, obesity, and eating disorders in children and adolescents." - book summary excerpt

ow Should Obesity Be Treated? book coverHow Should Obesity Be Treated? edited by Stefan Kiesbye - Greenhaven Press, 2009.
call number: 616.398 How
Includes essays such as "A culture obsessed with thinness propagates misconceptions about obesity" and "A tax on high fat foods might modify poor eating habits." - Table of contents excerpt