I suppose it's a mark of achievement for Marie Claire's online component that I feel moved to comment again on something it published, considering it's not a site I visit.

Back a while, there was the firestorm that ensued after an MC writer confided her revulsion when she saw fat people. It brought thousands of horrified retorts within days, and I was asked to comment by a Boston-area health website.

I have written previously about the National Association for Males with Eating Disorders, and operator Chris Clark was in touch recently about a new feature of the group's public interaction.

For the second time in a week, I find myself flummoxed by the declaration of an "expert," and so I must disclaim again: I'm neither a doctor nor a scientist, but I do read a lot.

Despite what unites them, addicts are not a glum lot...

Motivated by this post, I'd like to revisit a very important point about food addiction, as I experience and understand it: Getting the diagnosis, which in almost every case is a self-diagnosis, did NOT release me from responsibility for what I eat.

I'll repeat: Nobody ever held me down and forced food into me. I was totally, completely responsible for what I ate — and, I still am!

To be fair, when Cherrie Herrin-Michehl, a therapist in Seattle, wrote the phrase of the headline in her post about "Fat Boy Thin Man," she was speaking more about the details of my story, rather than my telling of it.

That's an important distinction: A joke, for example, can be really funny but can still be ruined by the jokester. My opinion is that "FBTM" has both, but as the author, I'd better think so, no? I hope you'll investigate for yourself, of course. 

I've had cause to cite obesity stats from time to time, but chacha.com, a website I'd not heard of before today, brings them together in a nicely done infographic.

Among the datanuggets: 8 of 10 kids aged 10-15 who are overweight will be obese as adults. I fit into that cohort, even if I'm now escaping obesity with daily maintenance.

And: I knew the US was the heaviest nation on earth, by percentage of population, but I didn't know Mexico was second. Britain, Slovakia, and Greece complete the big five. C'mon, Canada, why so fit? 

I've had cause to cite obesity stats from time to time, but chacha.com, a website I'd not heard of before today, brings them together in a nicely done infographic.

Among the datanuggets: 8 of 10 kids aged 10-15 who are overweight will be obese as adults. I fit into that cohort, even if I'm now escaping obesity with daily maintenance.

And: I knew the US was the heaviest nation on earth, by percentage of population, but I didn't know Mexico was second. Britain, Slovakia, and Greece complete the big five. C'mon, Canada, why so fit? 

I wanted to acknowledge, but not spend too much time on, "Mike and Molly," a sitcom CBS has purchased for the fall. I watched its clip online and it appears it will be very much like pretty much every other sitcom, with extra fat jokes thrown in.

Fat jokes are a sitcom staple, of course, but usually they've come from the nebbishy fat guy, or the brassy fat woman. But Mike and Molly meet in an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, and hilarity ensues from there. Presumably.

As the left column of this page touts, I've written a book, "Fat Boy Thin Man," and will be releasing it within weeks. 

Yesterday, I sent out a Facebook notice for the book's group page, and you, of course, are most welcome. Last time I checked, 145 friends had signed up, which I'm most grateful for. (Yes, I've been checking regularly. I'm like that.)

Here's the FB link.