Why are topics like Health At Every Size (HAES) and Fat Acceptance Movement (FAM) hot button right now? Because we’re struggling to find an appropriate middle ground dialogue that compassionately acknowledges the very serious health crisis that obesity presents, while respecting the dignity of those grappling with obesity. If it was as simple as “you should put the cheeseburger down, fatty” or “you wouldn’t be so fat if you didn’t eat so much” (things said to me personally) … I wouldn’t have spent nearly a decade battling my own inner demons around being obese. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case ……

The difference between wisdom and ignorance is the ability to appreciate nuance. Too many arguments (“discussions”) devolve into 2 extreme camps competing for who can shout the loudest (Unfortunately, loud shouting isn’t really regarded as a hallmark of intellect). These loud shout-y extreme camps then seek to push all opposing opinions into an opposite extreme camp to justify their abuse of people who disagree with them. Steven Covey popularized the quote (originally attributed to St. Francis of Assisi): ​ “First seek to understand, then seek to be understood”. How can we turn this into something practical? As much as possible,…