Wait! Weight! No More Hate!

Wait, weight no more hate

I look good. I feel great.

The mirror shows my gorgeous curves

But not the love that I deserve

That love of self inside of me

For my head, my heart, my body

I had to build it all from scratch

And fight the hate my weight did catch

Some of us are blueberries

Some of us are hairy berries

Some of us are stretch berries, thin berries, long

But all of us are good berries. None are wrong.

One size DOES NOT fit all: A culture obsessed with being skinny

We live in a culture obsessed with an ideal for body size and type that is grossly out of proportion to the body sizes of most men and women. Children are bombarded by sexualized media images of this ?ideal? from a very young age. At other times throughout recorded European history and in other cultures,being bigger equated to being sexier, more youthful, and more beautiful. The classical Greek ideal of the human body sets a standard ofcurvaceousness.To the Greeks, this was the form that gods and goddesses took, and they were not skinny people. The effect that our modern ideal has on people, has been to create a society of people who hate the body they were born with, and engage in an endless, self-destructive quixotic quest to reshape their body into that of a misguided and unrealistic ideal.This self-destructive quest wreaks havoc on self-esteem, and often results in eating disorders, self-harm behaviors, and even suicide. The bullying and abuse surrounding weight issues creates stigma among an already body-conscious and body-phobic society.

This essay is a call for an end to body hate, and a call to arms for self-acceptance and body love.

Replacing diets with healthy living

Diets are fadswith a questionable scientific basis. Some are dangerous. No diet or drug has demonstrated long-term weight loss benefit. Diets and dieting support a multi-billion dollar industry that earns their money from peoples? (and especially women?s) low self-esteem and dissatisfaction with body image, their misery. Even if(some) weight loss may be healthy in certain situations,the obsession with it, is not.

The BMI is junk science.

The Body Mass Index (BMI)was invented by a statistician in1830in order to determine average values for height and weight across populations. The simple formula divides weight by height and adds an additional calculation. The number derived from this formula is the ?index.? The BMI was never intended to set a baseline standard for what healthy weight should be, yet that is how doctors use this180 year oldcalculation across the country.Critics of the BMI have pointed out that weight alone cannot be used as an indicator of health. There are numerous factors that influence weight. For instance, since muscle tissue weighs more than fat, a body builder could be classified as ?obese? by the BMI even though they are in peak physical condition.

Is it possible to be plus-sized AND fit?

A longitudinal study that was just released byAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutritionshows that physical inactivity is more damaging to overall health than obesity, and that as little as a 20 minute walk every day can increase your lifespan no matter what size you are.

As an occupational therapist, when I treat patients with weight loss goals, my question to them is not, ?how much do you want to lose?? but?what areas of your daily life are impacted by your health?? Instead of focusing on a magic, mythical number on the scale it is far more healthy and empowering to set goals around increasing your endurance and stamina so you can take that hike you always wanted to, get back on your bike, lift up your kids?or whatever it may be.

What is healthy living?

The problem with post-modern living is that most of us now work sedentary jobs and eat processed food in large quantities. Whereas, rigorous physical activity was a natural part of the agrarian lifestyle most people led 100 years ago, today it is not. It used to be that physical activity was incorporated into daily work routines. Today, most people need to take time out of their already busy lives to get to the gym or work out. It?s not always easy.

Good quality, fresh foodused to be easy to obtain. Nowadays, good quality produced is labeled organic and priced to sell to upper-middle class people. Junk food and processed foods are often the only foods available or affordable to the working poor.The advent of ?food deserts?in poor, urban areas is a noted and studied phenomenon. And while food industry critics and social philosophers likeMichaelPollanhave done an excellent job of outlining the complex problem of access to healthy food, few attempts have been made to solve this issue in a way that meets the needs of the poor.

The really, really good news was mentioned in the study I cited earlier.Just 20 minutes of physical activity a day can reap huge health rewards, regardless of whether it leads to weight loss or not. Holy cats, that is great news!This study seems to indicate that small, manageable lifestyle changes can do more good than trying and failing to make massive, unsustainable changes. It proves the adage that a pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

The problem with diets, New Year?s resolutions, drugs, binging and purging is that these pseudo-solutions all promote temporary,boom and bustfluctuations in weight that do nothing to enhance our overall health, while simultaneously severely punishing the body in very unhealthy ways.

Weight loss is very difficult because we all have what is known as thehomeostatic set point. Basically, our hypothalamus and endocrine system regulates our body temperature, respiration rate, and the acidity (pH) of our blood. These things are regulated by the drive to eat, sleep, shiver in response to cold, sweat in response to heat. Our hunger and thirst drives are also regulated in this manner. Essentially, this system wants to avoid any changes to your body, so when you try to lose weight, you naturally become ravenously hungry. That is the function of homeostasis: to not let you budge an inch from where you?re at. What all this means is thatwhen you attempt to make sweeping changes to how your body functions, you end up fighting extremely powerful, biological drives.

But instead of eating drastically less or food restricting and calorie counting, we can focus on eating healthier foods that we, and our bodies like, and make us feel good.Habitual mindfulness and mindful eating is a way to explore how eating different foods make you feel, and a way to identify and cut down on emotional, stress-driven eating.Bear in mind that mindful eating has nothing to do with weight loss. It is not a diet. It is merely a pattern of becoming aware of your food choices and how they affect you, so that you can increase your enjoyment of food. Please check out the plethora of resources available from The Center For Mindful Eating website, listed below.

Some other good news: in her essay5 Health Care Myths,FrancieM. Bergdiscusses some of the myths we have regarding the so-called ?risks? of obesity and the health benefits of being skinny. Many of these myths result from widespread assumptions that have not withstood the rigor of scientific scrutiny. Please check out the links to all of her brief but powerful statements on size and health below for an eye-opening reassessment of the relationship between health and weight.

So?wecanBE healthier at the weight we?re at, but can weacceptourselves?

Promoting body love.

Self-acceptance is not easy, especially with bullies and size-conscious, demeaning messages everywhere. All we can do is try to love ourselves a little more each day. You can do that by visiting any number of body-positive websites and online groups. There is safety and power in numbers. If you struggle with these issues, you are not alone. Find something you love about your body every day because quite frankly, my dear, there is much to love.

Your body places you in contact with warm sunshine, bubble baths, views of mountain tops and ocean waves, of light, movement, sight, sound, and loving touch. Without your body, you would know none of these things. None of us loves everything about our bodies, and that?s okay.We were all born with strengths and vulnerabilities, but remember: our vulnerabilities, ?flaws? and quirks are what make us unique, and beautiful.

And yes?you ARE beautiful. Go out there and be yourself, know yourself, and love yourself.You?re worth it.

Sources

Author unknown. No date. Debunking the BMI Myth. Be Nourished. https://benourished.org/debunking-bmi-myth/

Berg, F. 2008. 5 Health Care Myths. https://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/5myths.pdf

------. 2008. Healthy Living At Any Size. https://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/hlthylvg.pdf

------. 2008. Healthy Living Guidelines. https://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/lvguides.pdf

------. 2008. Top 10 Reasons Not to Diet. https://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/top10.pdf

Knapton, S. 2015. Lack of exercise is twice as deadly as obesity, Cambridge University finds. The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11345448/Lack-of-exercise-is-twice-as-deadly-as-obesity-Cambridge-University-finds.html

The Center for Mindful Eating. https://www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/