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Introduction Obesity has been declared an epidemic for many years now, and our coun- try has declared war on obesity. The problem with such a declaration is that it makes the individuals who have bodies classified as obese by a seri- ously flawed metric (i.e., body mass index) the target of this war. Declar- ing war on obesity has emboldened many to treat those who are obese with an attitude of prejudice and discrimination. This results in tremen- dous suffering, both physically and psychologically. Scientific research is finally catching up with what many have stated for quite some time: what our bodies weigh is not simply a matter of figur- ing out how many calories we consume and how many we burn but is a result of a complex constellation of factors that include genetics, the degree of food security, the makeup of the bacteria in our gut, and, yes, lifestyle factors that include how much stress we’re under and how much sleep we get. Moreover, a growing body of literature has concluded that the diseases linked to obesity do not occur because of obesity but due to a number of symptoms that reflect what is called metabolic syndrome. These symptoms exist in human beings of all shapes and sizes, as do the diseases typically blamed on obesity. The purpose of this book is to shed light on this research via answers to common questions people have about why and how obesity develops, whether or not it is dangerous to be obese, and what can happen as a result of repeated dieting to try to lose weight. The book begins by addressing