Alive and Fat and Thinning in America

by Theodore Isaac Rubin

I am a psychoanalyst and I too believe that self-acceptance is much more important than weight loss. I also believe that fat people must stand up against cultural pressures and in so doing promote acceptance of themselves. Weight loss must be based on personal choice if it is to be successful and constructive. Personality assets characteristic of fat people must not be surrendered or aberrated as a sacrifice to getting and staying thin. Natural proclivities, vitality, and health must be sustained. Thinning must be a benevolent and compassionate process, otherwise it is not thinning at all, but rather destructive, obsessive dieting... We must entitle ourselves to be fat and alive in North America -- either with heavy or lighter bodies -- but as we choose.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1978

About the author

Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D., has served as president of the American Institute of Psychoanalysis and is the author of thirty books, including The Angry Book, Lisa and David, Jordi, The Winner's Notebook, and Lisa and David Today. His books have been translated all over the world. He lives and practices psychiatry in New York City.