Abstract:
While new medications like GLP-1s offer rapid results for weight loss and diabetes management, they do not address the systemic, cultural, and behavioural drivers behind the crisis. Childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes continue to rise - even as awareness, access to treatment, and personal health tracking are at an all-time high. We are solving the wrong problem: chasing smaller bodies while ignoring the environments, beliefs, and systems that are making us sick.
In this powerful and provocative keynote, Vicky Midwood explores the rising tension between rapid medical innovation and a society still failing to meet basic human health needs - especially in families, schools, and workplaces. From punishing food rules to sedentary screen culture, she unpacks how disconnection from our bodies, food, and movement is fuelling both obesity and eating disorders at the same time. Drawing on evidence, coaching insights, and cultural critique, she offers a radically human framework for building whole-person health - without shame, extremes, or shortcuts.
This talk will challenge health professionals, educators, and policymakers to rethink what true prevention and healing looks like. It’s not just about weight loss. It’s about connection, nourishment, emotional literacy, and structural change. Because thinner does not mean healthier - and sick systems don’t create well people.
