Week 5 Eating too much?

Guthman, Julie. 2011. Weighing in. Berkeley, University of California Press. Ch. 5 Does eating (too much) make you fat?


As I read this chapter, I thought of a novel I'd recommend called, My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki. In it the main character makes links between DES, a hormone the reading mentions, premature development and cancer.  Here's the blurb from Amazon: "When documentarian Jane Takagi-Little finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show that just happens to be sponsored by the American meat-exporting industry, she begins to uncover some unsavory truths about love, fertility, and a very dangerous hormone called DES." Also relatedly, I listened to a podcast from the Commonwealth Club by the director of the Environmental Working Group. They tested blood from 10 umbilical cords for 400 chemicals. Though neither of these sources makes reference to obesity, they do discuss the known unknowns about our chemical load. (Neither is required listening/reading).

Outline what you've learned from reading this chapter. What's the take home message? What makes sense? Pose questions from your disciplinary background. You'll see reference to Bourdieu (of Distinction fame). Show me you remember and understand.