Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease

Robert H. Lustig, M.D.; Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital; Author, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease; Former Chairman, Ad hoc Obesity Task Force of the Pediatric Endocrine Society

Lustig says two dogmas stand between us and solving the obesity epidemic: “A calorie is a calorie,” and “You are what you eat.” If you believe these, then behaviors come first, behaviors infer personal responsibility and personal responsibility implies a conscious decision. But does this really make sense in obesity? Lustig finds many reasons to doubt these dogmas, starting with the idea that obesity is not a choice, diet and exercise don’t work, and the obesity epidemic is now a pandemic. Lustig will explore each of these points in order to debunk our most viscerally held beliefs, so that people can embrace the science of obesity, which will extricate us from this current social and medical catastrophe.

MLF: Health & Medicine
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: Patty James