I didn't plan it this way, but this first week of 2011 has turned out to be a whirlwind of outreach for "Fat Boy Thin Man."

Monday, an interview I did with Crop To Cuisine aired in New York, Austin, Denver, and several other markets. I haven't been able to hear it yet, but I felt that the interaction with my interviewer, Dov Hirsch, was excellent, and I'm hopeful for the edited version.

Another tenet of my argument (see prev. post) is that insurance-supported rehab must be available to food addicts in the same measure as it is for other addictions. I reached that conclusion via experience: I was in the eating disorders unit of a psychiatric hospital in 1991, and it remains a cornerstone of my recovery, which is in its 20th year.

A tenet of my argument about obesity is that Americans don't lack for knowledge about nutrition, but choose not to apply it because nutrition is for sissies.

I could be wrong about that.

A poll by Consumer Reports Health says that 9 out of 10 Americans consider their diet  "somewhat," "very," or "extremely" healthy. Yeah, right. Fattest nation on earth, one of whose chief cultural exports to the world is fast food.

I wrote in a previous post that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation had funded the journal Childhood Obesity and asked for a seat on the editorial board.

So what does God have to do with obesity? Obviously, what God has to do with anything is a huge, confusing, inflammatory topic — and above all hopelessly inconclusive — and yet I proceed:

A lot, I say. 

As many readers know (and perhaps are tired of hearing), I was overweight for 30 years-plus, topping out at 365 in 1991. I've now been in a normal-size body for almost 20 years, and one of the most significant changes underlying that transformation is that I let go of my arrogance around the question of God's existence.

One of the dodges that food-industry lobbyists and apologists use is that those foods are fine when eaten occasionally as part of a balanced food plan. I would dispute even that, because crap food is crap food, regardless of how often it is consumed. But certainly, consuming more of it is worse than consuming less of it.

Not surprisingly, the editorial board members of the journal Childhood Obesity whom I contacted for comment yesterday declined to do so. Some might not have been aware of the Kellogg's connection, others may not see the connection as a problem. Off the record, I heard more than one spirited defense of the work the foundation does, and at no point have I suggested differently.

Following on my previous post, I take note of Carey Goldberg's post last week at the Commonhealth blog, where she is co-proprietor. She commented: 

Over at Childhood Obesity News, Dr. Robert Pretlow writes about the journal Childhood Obesity, which launched in September with a luminous editorial board and a grant from the Kellogg's Foundation. 

Steady readers will know that I'm a big proponent of treatment for food addiction. In 1991, I got it — nine weeks in the eating disorders unit of an accredited psychiatric hospital, and it was one of the most important interludes of my life.

I don't want to go into the reasons why, but that sort of treatment is far less available today, and making a case for the diagnosis of food addiction, so that insurance will support its treatment, is the primary reason I wrote my book.