Spotlight - 10.2019

FOOD 10/2019 Spotlight 37

Fotos: Kesu01/iStock.com; Mark Rusher

T

he world is getting fatter. It

is estimated that by 2025,

18 per cent of men and 21

per cent of women global-

ly will be obese. Obesity is

linked to serious health issues, including

cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes

and cancer. The economic and social costs

are huge.

What lies behind the problem? Why

do some people get fat and others don’t?

How can we best deal with obesity? Does

the $200 billion global diet industry have

the answers? Are government guidelines

on sugar, fat and carbohydrates helpful?

Experts say we need to eat less and exer-

cise more. The media show fat people as

lazy, greedy and lacking willpower.

The causes and solutions seem sim-

ple, right? Wrong, says Anthony Warner,

British chef and author. In his latest book,

The Truth about Fat, he analyses the reasons

why people get fat; he looks at the myths

surrounding obesity; and he explains

why we need to change the way we think

about it. Warner, who lives in Notting-

hamshire, talks to Spotlight about the mis-

conceptions and complexities of fat.

Spotlight: You blog and write as “The An-

gry Chef”. What makes you most angry

about fat?

Anthony Warner: The heart of my writ-

ing is always that food is a pleasure. I’m a

chef, and I enjoy eating. I enjoy food, but

food has become a battleground. It has

become a really difficult, complex place

for people to navigate, full of anxiety and

stress. Anything or anyone trying to make

us feel inadequate about what we’re eat-

ing and how we look — not based on good

evidence — makes me incredibly angry.

Spotlight: Are we a fattist society?

Warner: I don’t think there’s any doubt

about that at all. Looking at people’s phys-

ical appearance and making judgements

about them is one of the very few preju-

dices that are still socially acceptable. It’s

incredibly prevalent, damaging and dis-

criminatory.

Spotlight: What are the worst misconcep-

tions?

Warner: Probably the biggest misconcep-

tion of all is that people’s weight is some-

how a signifier of their willpower and

their moral strength. Genetically, weight

is one of the most heritable characteristics

that’s ever been studied, and people don’t

really understand that. When food is free-

ly available, the heritability of someone’s

body weight is about 70 per cent, and of a

person’s height, about 80 per cent. Weight

is not defined by someone being greedy

and overeating particularly. Our body has

a naturally determined set point weight.

billion [(bIljEn]

, Milliarden-

creep up [kri:p (Vp]

, sich anschleichen; hier:

sich erhöhen

fault [fO:lt]

, Fehler, Schuld

heritable [(herItEb&l]

, erblich

misconception

[)mIskEn(sepS&n]

, falsche Vorstellung

obese [EU(bi:s]

, fettleibig, adipös

obesity [EU(bi:sEti]

, Fettleibigkeit, Adipositas

prejudice [(predZudIs]

, Vorurteil-

set point [)set (pOInt]

, hier: Sollwert-

signifier [(sIgnIfaIE]

, Anzeichen

willpower [(wIl)paUE]

, Willenskraft

Focus on fat: chef and author

Anthony Warner

FOOD

Why we’re getting fatter

Fettleibigkeit ist weltweit auf dem Vormarsch und zieht gesundheitliche Beschwerden nach sich.

Wie kann man Abhilfe schaffen? Einige warten mit einfachen Lösungen auf, doch laut Profikoch

und Autor Anthony Warner ist die Wahrheit viel komplexer. JULIAN EARWAKER hat

herausgefunden, was ihn an dieser fetten Welt so wütend macht.

ADVANCED AUDIO

For most people, that will creep up slow-

ly as they age. We have very little control

over it, other than the possibility of starv-

ing ourselves occasionally, which gener-

ally doesn’t play out very well in the long

term.

Spotlight: You’re not a big fan of diets...

Warner: I’m not a big fan of diets, which

are designed to make people temporarily

lose weight. Generally, the weight loss is

indeed temporary, and the diet industry

depends on that. If it worked, the industry

would cease to exist within a very short

period of time. The genius of the diet in-

dustry is that it almost always fails, but

manages to convince people that, when

it fails, it’s their own fault, and they need

to go back and simply try again or try a

new product.

Spotlight: We know there are plenty of un-

healthy food choices. What is the role of

the food and drink industry in the rise in

obesity?

Warner: I’m often told that I don’t criti-

cize the food and drink industry enough.

But I vehemently criticize the diet