Do I Need to Lose Weight to be Healthy? Nah

http://atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=739297

Thankfully, there is finally an activist movement pushing for not only the public, but healthcare to view individuals as greater than their weight. That body weight does not define their health, and certainly not their worth and value as a person. And that weight loss for overweight patients does not ‘easily’ equal a much healthier body.

Health At Every SIze (HAES) is a revolutionary take on body weight that includes a medical lens. As the movement points out, the war on obesity is lost. With 35% of adults and 17% of children falling into the obese category, with rates that have only increased over the years, fighting obesity is not working. American culture had made that very difficult, despite the dominating prevalence of thin public figures. So the real question is, which is what HAES works to promote, what is healthy? American culture has evolved to equate thin bodies as healthy ones, both externally and internally. Fat bodies are signs of gluttony, greed, lack of willpower, and diseased organs. Are they though? Can you tell someone’s physical and mental health from just one look at them?

https://caloriebee.com/motivation/What-is-Health-At-Every-Size

Of course the answer is no. And healthcare professionals are starting to agree. As Burgard reports, healthcare professionals caring for their patients find success when “the focus is on the day-to-day activities that help individuals at any size flourish.” Because working on daily nutritional eating is important. Daily exercise and body movement is important. Because being well rested and mentally satisfied and prepared for the day ahead is important. But weight loss is not. Constant berating of physicians to get their patients to lose weight does not quickly make them healthy. A daily focus on self care might, though.

HAES centers its work around respect, critical awareness, and compassionate self-care. Burgard poses a number of questions about healthcare and medicine that undermine the idea that fat bodies and BMI are concrete predictors of health problems. Questions like “if fatness causes health problems, why does it not show up in all fat people?” because if fatness was the cause, that’s what medicine would see. She wonders if “the prescription of weight loss dieting one of the biggest iatrogenic disasters of our time?” if so many people can’t lose the weight despite high internal and external pressure. HAES realizes these concepts and works to promote a change in provider-patient interactions.

This movement is truly great in its desire, and hopefully success, in fostering respect and understanding between people and healthcare providers. The foundational respect allows the relationship to really focus on finding ways to create and maintain healthy practices for individuals.

There is, however, one significant issue HAES does not seem to address. In a healthcare setting and even when individuals discover HAES outside of medicine, there is a strong underlying assumption of access. In a medical setting, using HAES assumes that everyone can access medical care. And that the medical care being provided has heard about HAES and the mentality and medical approach behind it.

Even more significant is the assumption that everyone who wants to pursue HAES has the ability and means to carry it out. Particularly for individuals who have low income. How can many people justify buying nutritionally packed yet more expensive food over larger quantities of food that’s cheaper, even if it’s less nutritional? If you’re already working long days just to support yourself, do you have the time or the energy to be physically active every day?

Particularly when the HAES movement and the body positive movement work together, which they should, this issue becomes even more prominent. These two sources of understanding your body and appreciating it for what it provides and does for you everyday feed off each other to really give people the chance to look into themselves for acceptance and comfort, rather than to the people and concepts around them. Together, they promote a mentally and physically sounds existence.

https://thinkprogress.org/the-wealth-gap-between-rich-and-poor-
americans-is-affecting-our-diets-a43c9cceb742#.5uu4au78y

Yet. For those who don’t have the means to access the nutrition and physical activity they should strive for and have fat bodies as a result of that inaccessibility, is that really okay? Is it really okay to expect people to feel confident and embrace their fat bodies if their bodies are a result of poverty or institutional bias? Or does it become a cycle of wanting to love and care for your body yet being constantly reminded that you realistically cannot manage or attain those health goals?

Of course none of this desires to pin blame. People who are victims of the cycle of poverty and any number of combinations of institutional ‘isms’ are victims. Although these movements strive to include everyone in them, promote healthy living and body image for all, the success of these movements is limited by realistic parameters.

Unfortunately, the only solution I can think of is a huge overhaul in the food industry and capitalism. And those are incredibly complex and massive undertakings. So for now, it seems to be best to work within the realistic parameters of your life in order to feel comfortable and healthy in your own body.