Diet Culture

There are some very angry people in my notes and inbox this week. Apparently,  I am “toxic” and “evil” because I reported the results of 50 years of weight-loss research. They are mad because the research definitively and conclusively demonstrates that long-term maintenance of weight loss is virtually impossible. They also think I am “delusional” because I criticize the medical establishment for keeping this fact a secret from the general public.

No food is health food when you’re not healthy about how you’re eating it.

When someone is talking about their diet

90% of eating disorders begin with a diet. 

Eat what you want. Love what you eat. Eat what makes you feel good. Try your best. Do what’s best for your body & your body alone.

Of course it’s unhealthy to be fat. If you’re fat, you’re going to have a rough time getting health insurance. You probably won’t get regular checkups and preventive care, and any health problems you might have (completely unrelated to your weight) will be a lot worse whenever you finally do see a doctor. Even if you have health coverage, you probably avoid going to the doctor if you’re fat. So you’re in the same situation. Why do you avoid going to the doctor? Every time you walk into a doctor’s office, the first thing they want you to do is step on a scale. Then you get the lecture, or the belittling remark, or worse, the weight loss advice. You figure, as long as you feel okay, why risk it? You don’t pay for abuse in any other setting, right? You value your mental health, so you stay away. If you’re fat and you do visit the doctor, he or she might decide to treat your weight, rather than your symptoms. You get a diet, rather than a diagnosis. The doctor says all your ills are caused by your fat. Six months later, you still have sharp pains in your heel or nasal congestion or shooting lights in your vision. So you find a new doctor. This time you actually get treatment for your plantar fasciitis or your sinus infection or your brain tumor. (These examples are based on actual cases.) Your doctor may not like fat people. A recent study found that fat women are a third less likely to get breast exams, gynecologic exams, or Pap smears. An exception: Fat and thin women get mammograms equally often. (The authors said that doctors may do exams more readily if they don’t have to touch fat patients.) Fat women are at increased risk for certain scary cancers (breast, cervical, endometrial, ovarian). Getting less preventive care, researchers concluded, may “exacerbate or even account for” this increased risk. It’s not the fat that kills us, it’s the fat hatred. this is so powerful. it’s fatshaming/phobia masqueraded in “health concerns”. is misogyny, women are valued for their bodies.

No holiday diets

Step 1: make people hate themselves