Why is Fat Bad? Let’s Dismantle Fat-phobia!

Hola amigos! Welcome back!

Why do we fear fat? Consider how we admire animals who are fat and beautiful. Animals don’t try to lose weight and we admire them! So why is fat so bad for us? Spoiler alert, it’s not. It’s the fatphobia that is bad for us.

Highlights of this episode:

• the origins of fatphobia
• how fatphobia is affecting our health
• how fatphobia affects our relationship to food and eating
• new ways to dismantle fatphobia and pursue health

Announcements:

• HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Episode Description: 

[01:55] The Emergence of Fatphobia

Early 20^th century, slimness started to be promoted, not for medical reasons, but in fear of the black body. Dr. Sabrina Strings writes about the history of fatphobia, in her book, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. For the rise of fat bias, she writes:

“Not until the early 19th century in the United States, in the context of slavery, religious rivals, and the massive immigration of persons, deemed part-African, did these notions come together under a coherent ideology. In the United States, fatness became stigmatized as both black and sinful. And by the early 20th century, slenderness was increasingly promoted in the popular media as the correct embodiment for white Anglo-Saxon Protestant women.”

“Not until after these associations were already in place that the medical establishment begin to a concerted effort to combat excess fat tissue as a major public health initiative, and this way, the phobia about fatness and the preference for thinness, have not principally or historically been about health. Instead, they’ve been one way the body has been used to craft legitimate race, sex, and class hierarchies.”

Isn’t that really interesting? She states that looking at the data and the research on anti-fat bias for over many, many centuries, it’s interesting that it continues to exist.

[05:08] Dismantling Health Research

In a Scientific American article by Virginia Sole-Smith, she correctly pointed out that fatphobia is one bias that creates unaccounted for variables. David mentions that research can have a contagion affect, where researchers do not question existing data, and carries data over to support their own science. It’s science that does not question itself.

However, studies do show evidence that health exists in people with large bodies. For example, this study showed that high BMI’s who also had high levels of physical activity showed no increased risk for their health compared to equally active people. Another study showed that physical activity level was associated with reduced cardiovascular risk, much more than a higher BMI category.

There is not an “obesity paradox” because a paradox is not relevant here. Take for example, Mirna Valerio, a 250 lb distance runner. Her story is just one example of how fitness is not one size fits all.

If health research considered the affects of fat shaming, what would the data find? Fatphobia causes stress through emotional othering. People will do anything to lose that weight, even if the weight loss is done through unhealthy behaviors.

[09:38] The Consequences of Fatphobia: A Narrative

Isabella, is a client of David’s, who wanted to lose weight, no matter what. She had done so many diets prior to coming to David and had a long history of weight shaming from other people that had been internalized. Isabella was willing to do anything. David introduced the idea of intuitive eating, to stop the diet cycle and provide Isabella with body trust and a better relationship to food.

She was doing well until at a family gathering, Isabella was triggered by a family member’s weight comment. Isabella now wanted bariatric surgery to artificially shrink her body. David would check on her intermittently, and after two years, Isabella went back to David because she gained back her pre-surgery weight. Despite the low food consumption and liquid diet, her weight would stay the same.

David worked with Isabella on intuitive eating again. Guess what, she saw positive changes in her cholesterol, blood sugar, and her back pain improved. She always stayed consistent with physical activity, which went a long way for her health.

[15:45] Fatphobia Fears

All of that weight stigma and fat shaming led to a rigmarole of fear driven choices. Why do we fear fat? Because society pushes thinness and dictates what we should be.

In the book, Burn Out: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Nagoski points out that despite the evidence of various body sizes can be healthy, fat shaming is not only legal, but normalized and rationalized.

David rejects “obesity” and “overweight” because this does not define a person and contributes to fatphobia. This phobia is a vicarious form of stress. A fat person may not get the same treatment as a thin person in healthcare and this is wrong.

[18:45] Ending Fatphobia

We are at the beginning of the year, which brings hope. What if we made small changes that were unstainable for life?  Instead of, “I have to lose weight,” which puts us into an unstainable punish mode, why not try to find something you can do for life. Literally, the rest of your life.

Consistency is key, and changes rooted in punishment won’t last. Sometimes those general recommendations don’t fit you, or your lifestyle. It’s okay to start with something small.

One small change is the base of this podcast, One Small Bite. That small change provides that accomplishment feeling we seek. It is enough because that feeling is now energizing you to keep going.

Resources:

• In Obesity Research, Fatphobia Is Always the X Factor (article)
• Fat and Fit, Ultra runner: Mirna Valerio (article)
• Physical activity and risk of cardiovascular disease by weight status among U.S adults (study)
• Impact of physical activity on the association of overweight and obesity with cardiovascular disease: The Rotterdam Study (study)
• Stigma in Practice: Barriers to Health for Fat Women (study)

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Once again, I greatly appreciate you for listening and supporting my show. Remember, it really only takes One Small Bite to start transforming your life.

Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!