|
|
|
Information
-
In this book, the author, a professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, challenges the origins and myths surrounding the so-called "Obesity Epidemic" in America. He scrutinizes the BMI index, the Food Pyramid, various health studies, the wide-reaching influence of the pharmaceutical industries, media coverage and social prejudices surrounding body weight. He debunks several studies at the root of the frenzy of news coverage on the "disease" of body fat, and with the backing of extensive research, offers a glimpse of the reality behind the hype.
-
NAAFA Advisory Board member and University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos questions both medical and social assumptions about weight. He builds a solid case for the lack of any scientific or medical evidence that body fat is bad. He chastises celebrities who hold up the illusion of beauty and health being defined as unnaturally (and often dangerously) thin.
-
A collection of essays from activists and anthropologists exploring fat as a symbol of wealth, beauty and desire in many cultures. This collection shows that the body ideal presented in mainstream media is entirely a subjective social construct. This book is at times frustrating, however, because many of the authors are biased against fat people and their writing shows it.
-
Two Australian researchers expose the "obesity epidemic" and its resulting hysteria as the result of cultural ideology, rather than science or medicine. A factual research work that cites thousands of current studies, this book is an excellent resource for medical or legal professionals who seek to understand the roots of the social phenomena of obesity.
-
A comprehensive and easy to read look at the diet industry and body ideals in history. The author, a New York Times reporter, challenges modern assumptions about weight gain and loss, and points to new research that shows it isn't as simple as the diet industry would like us to believe. This work particularly dispels the assumption that "will power" is at the root of all weight.
-
An important, informative, and compassionate look at the social injustice directed against the overweight, including discrimination in jobs, school, entertainment, health-care and social life. Sondra is the leader of NAAFA's FLARE legal aid project. Real-world cases are examined, along with calls for reform in legal coverage for the overweight and the de-stigmatization of fat in our culture.
-
A look at the image of fat as an aesthetic ideal throughout history, and the religious and political roots of the current fat phobia in our culture. Examines whether race and class discrimination may be at the base of our society's current portrayal of fat as undesirable.
-
With her own life as an example, Charisse Goodman examines the prevalence of weight prejudice in society. She draws comparisons between the cultural taboo of fatness and similar social discrimination in media and society such as racism, homophobia, and anti-semitism.
-
The book documents how the diet drug combination, Phen-fen, was approved by the FDA and then withdrawn from the market because of adverse side effects. If you think you can trust academic researchers, especially those from elite, well-known universities, read this book.
-
A powerful expose of the diet industry, this book also shatters stereotypes and debunks myths about being fat. It goes far in combatting the internalized oppression that people experience about their weight.
-
A meticulous investigation of the science and the economics driving the diet industry, this ground-breaking expose is a must-read for anyone who has been a victim of the commercial weight loss industry.
-
The definitive history of the evolution of American weight obsession during the past 150 years. Thorough and entertaining, it is an evocative social history.
Inspiration
-
Over 90 essays and poems expressing how women feel about food, weight, and body image. Personal stories examine women's obsession with food, how they feel about themselves and their bodies, and the joy of self-acceptance.
-
Bonnie Bernell comes at life as a fat person with a great attitude, lots of positive and helpful suggestions and just an overall feeling that life can be great as a bountiful woman. Through out the book she quotes different women and they tell how they've faced or overcome certain situations. The message from her book is that size should not hold us back from having the life we want.
-
Camryn reveals how she shed a poor self-image and gained an Emmy-winning career.
-
Some call this book the bible of the fat liberation movement. A classic in 1970, a classic today. Written by a Co-Founder of NAAFA.
-
This collection of articles, personal stories, and poems by fat women was the first to present fat liberation theory and its connection to feminism. Includes writings by NAAFAns and members of the original Fat Underground.
-
A funny, reassuring book about fashion fibs and diet myths. Packed with jokes, Kaz's own cartoons, and practical ways to find real self-esteem and avoid freak-outs and rip-offs, this book is an indispensable boost for women aged 11 to 111.
-
An inspiring collection of poetry, short fiction, and personal esssays that examine fat oppression and celebrate the beauty, strength, and sensuality of fat women.
-
Wonderful, humor-filled introduction to size and self-acceptance issues. This easy-to-read paperback includes iterviews with experts in weight related fields.
-
A passionate, personal, spiritual invitation to escape from dieting and embrace living.
-
The acclaimed documentary that depicts Rick Zakowich's journey on the road to self-acceptance.
-
An inspiring and funny book written by an ex-FBI agent and survivor of years of FBI weigh-ins.
-
A fat admirer, Ken Mayer offers a powerful affirmation of the beauty, desirability, and sexiness of big women.
-
Humorous and poignant poetry.
Self Esteem
-
An inspiring and often funny activity book that touts the benefits of health without the unhealthy obsession with body weight as an arbitrary measurement. By a beautiful woman (and NAAFA Board of Directors member) who never apologizes for not conforming.
-
Margo Maine looks at social assumptions and pressures concerning women's bodies, and why women in our culture are made to feel ashamed of their natural form. As Director of the Eating Disorder Program at the Institute of Living she examines how women can learn to develop healthier attitudes towards their own bodies. Designed as a guidebook for teachers and discussion groups, each chapter contains steps each woman can take for change, as well as networking sources for those who wish to take a more active role.
-
An illustrated guide for any woman who wants to live comfortably in her body in a world bombarded by unrealistic ideals of beauty. This useful and often funny book by a New York fat activist includes guides for shopping, movies, finding role-models, and generally living it up as a big, beautiful woman.
-
A memoir from a sociologist who studies her own life as what she calls a "reluctant warrior" against a society that has declared war on fat people. She encourages others to find their own strengths in the fight to be defined by the world as something other than Fat. Her narratives, poetry and artwork bring her own personal journey to life.
-
Taking the reader through a natural progression of topics one must deal with on the road to self-acceptance, this book offers exercises or affirmations at the end of each chapter. Great for newcomers to the non-dieting message as well as those who have already stopped dieting.
-
A wise, compassionate, and easily readable resource helping fat women learn how to live in their large bodies.
-
An easy-to-use, guilt-free handbook of ideas, affirmations, and actions focusing on the day-to-day, week-by-week ways in which large women can learn to live with and celebrate their bodies.
-
If you've ever been criticized about your weight, this book is for you. It empowers you to take charge of your own life and make the decisions that are right for you, allowing you to move toward leading a happier, healthier, and more satisfying life.
-
Using statistics, research, anecdotes, and personal experiences, this book explores how appearance standards have built a prison for women. You'll learn to express your rights and needs, regardless of your shape or size, and tear down those prison walls.
-
Experts share personal and professional experiences of challenging fat oppression. An empowering guide for fat people and their supporters.
-
A fully updated version of the 1989 classic that puts tough questions to surgeons, dieticians, and doctors, and helps women to lose guilt and inhibition, not weight.
-
The weight loss industry is selling products that dont work while convincing its customers that its their fault. Fed-Up! offers a lucid explanation of the national preoccupation with food and weight and how this problem is linked to size oppression, restrictive eating, and compulsive / addictive eating.
Body Image
-
An excellent video offering a philosophy as well as inspiration and practical suggestions for living a happy, healthy life in your true body. Anyone who has ever struggled with diets should see this tape.
-
A book of writing exercises which help women with eating disorders learn to love and accept themselves at any size. Also useful for any woman wanting to work through body image issues.
-
The author translates the best that science has to offer into a supportive and helpful road map to understanding body image problems and resolving them.
-
Offering a series of 22 comprehensive exercises, this book shows the reader how to use the power of imagination to recognize and change distorted bodily perceptions and attitudes.
-
Full of affirming, hands-on exercises, this compassionate guide shows you how to get beyond societal or self-imposed standards and learn to accept- and appreciate - your own special attractiveness.
Health and Fitness
-
Written for clinicians and researchers, this work places the anguish of women with eating disorders in the context of larger societal problems that women face.
-
Glenn Gaesser, a NAAFA Advisory Board member and professor of exercise physiology at the University of Virginia, debunks many of the common assumptions regarding body fat and the BMI method of determining ideal weight. He shows that activity level, not weight, is the primary measure of good health, and that active people who carry extra weight actually live longer than their thin but sedentary counterparts. He tackles medical and media hype, exposes many of the actual health risks of "dieting" and programs that focus entirely on weight loss.
-
The joy of physical movement, long denied to fat women, is celebrated in this exercise guide for large women.
-
The latest information on the health risks of weight loss in one clear, readable resource for professionals as well as consumers.
Specialty Books
-
This booklet, full of tips for dealing with reach problems, chafing and more, will help you feel fresh all day.
-
A guide to sewing Beautiful designer clothes in any size. Techniques for sizing up any pattern and an easy to read guide that will make any project easy. This is a must have book for every plus size woman.
Art
-
This book celebrates zaftig women principally through its many reproductions of paintings, but also through quotations from those who argue for the attractiveness of zaftig women.
-
Over 40 black and white photographs celebrate the beauty of women all sizes of large, and the text, a discussion of the models personal experiences, expresses the diversity, beauty, health, and happiness of fat women.
-
Gorgeous reproductions of the versatile and renowned artist Fernando Botero fill this book - his drawings, paintings, and sculpture. A fascinating biography and six short stories are also included.
Fiction
-
A collection of modern short stories, including fantasy and science fiction pieces featuring heroes and heroines with real bodies instead of the classic fantasy nymphettes and washboard abs.
-
A strong collection of short stories from the past two centuries which reveal the psychological and social tensions of women and their relationship with their own bodies. An afterword helps give the stories social context and reveal their daring in their own time.
-
A romantic novel about a plus size woman confronting fat phobia at work and in her failing marriage. She encounters a fellow doctor who helps her re-evaluate her own negative body image and find the strength to reject prejudice from others.
-
Love At Large
Stories by Sue Ann Jaffarian, Judy Bagshaw, Nancy Trausch, Eileen Wilson, Jennifer Harrington
A collection of short stories featuring tough, savvy, independent plus-size heroines who are comfortable in their own skin.
-
A mystery (first in a series) about a savvy plus-size forty-something paralegal who gets caught up in the investigation of the death of her best friend and fat activist. Funny and edgy, this is the first book by the author, and the first in the Odelia Grey Mystery series.
-
The second Odelia Grey mystery features once again the forty-something plus-size paralegal who gets caught up in a mystery as her client is murdered and a valuable item goes missing.
-
The most recent Odelia Grey mystery features the savvy plus-size detective thrown into investigating the murder of a school bully at her high school class reunion, and the mysterious disappearance of her own boss.
-
The first in the Josephine Fuller series about a plus-size woman who gets a job investigating charities for a philanthropic elderly woman. She gets caught up in the investigation of a serial killer who targets large women when she finds her own best friend has become a victim.
-
The second in the series, in which charity investigator Josephine Fuller finds herself caught up in murder and kidnapping when she's asked to investigate her boss's daughter's involvement with a fishy new-age organization.
-
In this installment, Josephine Fuller finds herself sidetracked by the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend and her best friend's involvement with an ex-con.
-
This installment in the Josephine Fuller series features our plus-size heroine paying a visit to a winery that just happens to be run by a man who films pornography featuring plus-size actors. When a dead body is discovered in a wine barrel, the savvy investigator finds herself once again unraveling a mystery.
-
A collection of romantic short stories by Pat Ballard, featuring plus-size heroines.
-
Plus-size Nella Covington agrees to a marriage of convenience with a fat-phobic man, but soon learns to stand up for herself as a human being and teaches him a new perspective on women and beauty.
-
Ms. Reed captures the nightmare of being fat in America in this compelling and funny science fiction novel, set in a near-future where body obsession has become the one "true" religion, and being fat is one of the greatest sins!
Teen Fiction
-
A novel for teens, from the perspective of a heavy teenager struggling to cope with a weight-obsessed mother, relationship issues, and social pressure.
-
Thirteen year old Judi Beth Liebowitz wishes she were thinner. As social pressures build, her wish becomes obsession, and with the influence of a popular and skinny friend she turns to bulimia. When her new friend is rushed to the hospital, Judi has to find her way back through the emotional turmoil that brought her to the bottom.
-
An entertaining, clever novel for fat teens, or for those who grew up as fat teens. The story of a teenage former beauty queen's rollercoaster ride as she gains weight.
-
A touching novel about a fat teenage girl in love with her disco-dancing best friend. A coming of age story about discovering love, losing it, and going on, the book covers one pivotal summer in the lives of 17-year-old Char and her best friend Felice.
For Children and Parents
-
A guide for parents who are concerned about their child's weight, which emphasizes health over slimness.
-
A beautifully illustrated, fact-filled booklet for readers of many ages, it contains several size-esteem, anti-diet fables with accompanying morals, as well as information about self- and size-esteem, health, diets, and eating disorders.
-
Written for young girls, this book challenges myths about fatness and dieting in adolescents and offers the healthy alternative of self-acceptance. Introduction for parents and teachers.
-
An extensive documentation of the impact of our societys preoccupation with the ideal body on children and adolescents, this book outlines how we can nurture our youth in positive ways that enhance their physical, emotional, and social well-being. It also contains charts summarizing advice on intervention for fat kids, those with eating disorders, and eating disorder prevention strategies for parents.
-
A must read for parents, teachers, and other care providers of children to age 10 who want to help children develop positive attitudes about their bodies.
Would you like to recommend an item for our list?
Click here to find out how.
|
|
|
