The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar GuatemalaA woman with hypertension refuses vegetables. A man with diabetes adds iron-fortified sugar to his coffee. As death rates from heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes in Latin America escalate, global health interventions increasingly emphasize nutrition, exercise, and weight loss—but much goes awry as ideas move from policy boardrooms and clinics into everyday life. Based on years of intensive fieldwork, The Weight of Obesity offers poignant stories of how obesity is lived and experienced by Guatemalans who have recently found their diets—and their bodies—radically transformed. Anthropologist Emily Yates-Doerr challenges the widespread view that health can be measured in calories and pounds, offering an innovative understanding of what it means to be healthy in postcolonial Latin America. Through vivid descriptions of how people reject global standards and embrace fatness as desirable, this book interferes with contemporary biomedicine, adding depth to how we theorize structural violence. It is essential reading for anyone who cares about the politics of healthy eating. |
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The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar Guatemala Emily Yates-Doerr Limited preview - 2015 |
The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar Guatemala Emily Yates-Doerr Limited preview - 2015 |
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abstract advertised Almolonga asked become began blood body body mass index calculations calories century changes chapter city’s concern cooking corn cultural described diabetes diet dietary health dietary practices disease doctor educators energy exercise explained fieldwork focused fruit global health Guate Guatemala City guidelines health workers highlands hospital important INCAP Incaparina indigenous individual K’iche knowledge ladino lifestyle linked lived lose weight maize Maya meals measure medicine metabolic illnesses modernity numbers nutrición nutrients nutrition transition nutritionists obesity Okay one’s overweight Oxford English Dictionary patients pellagra Pollo Campero processed foods produce protein public health quetzales Quetzaltecos Quetzaltenango race referred region regularly rural scale scientific scientists sibutramine social Spanish spoke standards stomach sugar suggest surrounding terroir tion Todos Santos told tortillas transformed treatment triglycerides vegetables vitamins weight loss woman women Xela Xela’s
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar Guatemala Volume 57 of California Studies in Food and Culture |
| Author | Emily Yates-Doerr |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Univ of California Press, 2015 |
| ISBN | 0520286820, 9780520286825 |
| Length | 248 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Anthropology / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |