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A review by lauravogt
Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith
5.0
This is such an important book.
A healthy relationship with food is something Dustin & I talk about all the time, especially raising a daughter with type one diabetes. Girls with t1d are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder, with 30% omitting insulin to lose weight. It's an epidemic.
Review of FAT TALK for parents of children without a chronic illness:
Read this. It's powerful & well-researched, with many perspectives I'd never thought of before. I gulped it up in a couple days. Recommend.
For parents of children with t1d:
I learned a lot, thought a lot, with FAT TALK interweaving with many of my ongoing questions and debates about health.
FAT TALK didn't address many of my questions about how to navigate food with our daughter but added perspective. The arguments and evidence in FAT TALK support not restricting food, not really strategizing healthy food combinations, but with Hava, we have too. It takes such control and planning to keep her feeling okay. (She feels awful much of the time.) Counting carbs and continually strategizing just seems like a recipe for disordered eating. Which FAT TALK confirms. Though not answering my questions, FAT TALK added to my awareness of this enormous, society-wide battle.
I highly recommend this book to parents of t1ds to be aware of any ways you approach food that would be especially harmful. I'd also really love to read an article from Sole Smith on how to approach food when food choices do affect high blood sugar and therefore long-term health.
Overall, FAT TALK is invaluable if you're raising children right now & recommended for parents of diabetics--when you're in a good space. We're always stretched to our breaking point, trying to keep our kids safe and healthy, so I think this is a great book to add to your reading list when you're in a good space to learn and be stretched.
A healthy relationship with food is something Dustin & I talk about all the time, especially raising a daughter with type one diabetes. Girls with t1d are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder, with 30% omitting insulin to lose weight. It's an epidemic.
Review of FAT TALK for parents of children without a chronic illness:
Read this. It's powerful & well-researched, with many perspectives I'd never thought of before. I gulped it up in a couple days. Recommend.
For parents of children with t1d:
I learned a lot, thought a lot, with FAT TALK interweaving with many of my ongoing questions and debates about health.
FAT TALK didn't address many of my questions about how to navigate food with our daughter but added perspective. The arguments and evidence in FAT TALK support not restricting food, not really strategizing healthy food combinations, but with Hava, we have too. It takes such control and planning to keep her feeling okay. (She feels awful much of the time.) Counting carbs and continually strategizing just seems like a recipe for disordered eating. Which FAT TALK confirms. Though not answering my questions, FAT TALK added to my awareness of this enormous, society-wide battle.
I highly recommend this book to parents of t1ds to be aware of any ways you approach food that would be especially harmful. I'd also really love to read an article from Sole Smith on how to approach food when food choices do affect high blood sugar and therefore long-term health.
Overall, FAT TALK is invaluable if you're raising children right now & recommended for parents of diabetics--when you're in a good space. We're always stretched to our breaking point, trying to keep our kids safe and healthy, so I think this is a great book to add to your reading list when you're in a good space to learn and be stretched.