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Connections

Connections: Body Shaming And America's Obesity Epidemic

Can we talk about our collective weight for a second? Donald Trump engaged in a now-famous case of "fat shaming" when he publicly mocked Alicia Machado, the 1996 Miss Universe. Machado went from, in her words, a bony 117 pounds to roughly 160 over the year after her win. Trump blasted her for not being able to control her eating, and asked television cameras to film her working out.

Experts say three things: first, Machado was not nearly as big as Trump claimed. Second, fat shaming does not work, and tends to lead people to become more isolated. Third, we need to collectively lose weight, and it's worth talking about constructive ways to do exactly that. So what DOES work? And what can we learn from this sad episode? Our guests:

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.