Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Almond, S. "A11. The Influence of the Media on Eating Disorders." Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics 13.5 (Oct. 2000): 367-368. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Sep. 2009.

In this short article, Almond talks about the “ideal” body image that is portrayed in the media today, particularly advertisements, and their negative effects on women. He stated that by constantly viewing this ideal body image that women obtain dissatisfaction with their own bodies, in some cases these negative emotions cause disturbed eating patterns. This article will be good for me to use because it directly correlates main stream media with negative effects on eating patterns.

Balko, Radley. "The "War" Against Obesity." Cato Institute (25 Jun. 2004): 1-7. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

Radley’s article alludes to a three-day event called the Obesity Summit and refers to different speakers and their opinions at the lectures. He satirically addresses the strong willed combatants of obesity that hold radical opinions such as obesity being “every bit as threatening to us as is the terrorist threat we face today.” Radley refutes their ideas by providing evidence of the fictional belief that obesity causes cancer and heart disease. He mentioned Paul Campos and Dr. Jeffrey Friedman as advocates of uncovering the myths of obesity. This article is useful to me particularly for the extreme representation of the government.

Campos, Paul. “Being Fat is Okay.” Jewish World Review 2001. Rpt. in They Say/ I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 206-09. Print. 16 Oct. 2009.

Campos addresses the inaccuracy of the government’s BMI calculator and poses the idea that the government’s anti-obesity campaign is really just a mechanism to make money from gullible Americans. He debunks the common lies that fat people are less healthy than thin people, that fat people would be as healthy as thin people if they lost weight, and that fat people can choose to be thinner. This will be useful to disprove the government’s extreme notions that fat is the route of all health problems in America.


Friedman, Jeffrey M. "The War on Obesity, Not the Obese." Scientist 13 May 2005: 1-3. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

Friedman takes a very scientific approach in this article, looking down upon diet industries and the common view of obese people a stigma to humankind. He argues that obesity is mostly due to genetic inheritance and is not as easily combated as portrayed in common media. He also talks about the skewed statistics of increasing obesity, when in reality Americans have only gained an average of 7 to 10 pounds since 1991.

Gordon, Bennett. "Healthy Options Make People Eat Unhealthy." Utne Reader 28 Aug. 2009: n. pag. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

The first two sentences of this article really sum it up and could be used as a good quote for my paper. It proposes “having the option to order a salad makes people more likely to order the least healthy item on the menu. And the more self control people have, the more likely they’ll be influenced to eat unhealthy according to Psychology Today.” This shows that the government’s persistence in health promotion could really be promoting poor health.


Guthman, Julie. "The Food Police. Why Michael Pollan Makes Me Want to Eat Cheetos." Utne Reader Jan./Feb. 2008: 1-5. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

This article’s purpose is to critique Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Guntham argues against Pollan to state that his theories of caloric metabolism and food are false. She states “caloric metabolism appears to explain less than half of body size variation,” and “obesity talk further stigmatizes those who are fat.”

Hanus, Julie. "The Healthy Eating Obsession." Utne Reader 06/26/2009: n. pag. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

This article talks about the negative effects of obsessively eating healthy to the point when it becomes a very unhealthy eating disorder called Orthorexia nervosa. This disease is known to disturb relationships and cause feelings of disconnectedness. I feel that this evidence may correlate well to the government’s flooding promotion of eating well in America today. Could the rise of Orthorexia be blamed on the governments’ anti-obesity campaign?


Lobel, Hannah. "How an Obsession with Obesity Turned Fat into a Moral Failing." Utne Reader Jan./Feb. 2008: 1-2. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

This article offers a very fair and balanced view of obesity in America. Lobel states that obesity is in fact a problem, yet focuses on the twisted view Americans have of overweight and obese people. A good example of this is a quote that states “ We’re sending people into prisons of self-loathing that have them seeking refuge in yo-yo diets that feed a multibillion-dollar weight-loss industry but do nothing but keep the pounds off and, in fact, often contribute to health problems later.” This concise article will be good to use for powerful quotes and ideas in my paper.

Tierney, John. "Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus." New York Times 9 Oct. 2007: 1-4. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

John Tierney discusses the common idea that reducing fat intake in your daily diet decreases disease. He poses several cases of evidence in which scientific study has disproved this idea. He explains the overwhelming belief of fat causing disease as an instance of a “cascade” of misinformation, which means that doctors and scientists believe what others say without scientifically testing the idea themselves.


Tsoukanelis, Erika Alexia. "Obsessed With Health: Orthorexics Take Healthy Eating to the Extreme." EMagazine n. pag. Web. 16 Oct 2009.

This article aims to define what Orthorexia-nervosa is, the consequences, and plausible treatments. Some good quotes from the article include a description of Orthorexia as “an iron self-discipline bolstered by a hefty dose of superiority over those who eat junk food.” This article also included information about skeptics of the disease. Overall, I think this article will provide good general information for my paper.