Last week, in one of the professional groups where I belong, someone posted an article about fitness and fat, specifically as it relates to heart disease.
Even though this article had a very definitive bottom line,
"What we see is that the risk factor burden increases by weight category. Obese people have the highest burden of associated risk factors. That remains true according to the activity level,"
I was able to discern that the research was lacking important parameters that very likely would have changed its overall findings.
The article does say this, "This is a cross sectional study -- all we can talk about is associations, we cannot talk about causality," This is very important because this is verifying that they cannot prove with certainty that the associated parameters like BMI (Body Mass Index) category (i.e, "ob*se and "over*eight") was the cause of the cardiovascular disease. As a reminder, BMI was never intended to be used to measure health, but I will mention it throughout as it pertains to the study.
I won't pretend that I'm a research expert, but I do know from my professional training that articles like this are weight-biased and detrimental to our health.
It's weight-biased because the research is missing critical key parameters. For example, it doesn't mention a person's genetic predisposition to heart disease (or other conditions like diabetes, etc.) their previous dieting history, mental health history, or exposure to weight stigma (which often leads to increased binge eating, higher mortality rates, depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.). All of these factors may influence a person's overall well-being and that matters significantly. Without this information, this study is biased.
However, what bothers me most of all is this biased study could easily frighten someone who is in a higher BMI category to start dieting again because they believe that it is the 'responsible' thing to do to reduce their risk of heart disease, etc. This is something I hear all the time from my clients and what I wrote about in last weeks message.
My clients, and women I support in my No Diet Sisterhood, often send me similar articles asking me what I think, etc. because they feel scared after reading articles like this. After carefully reading the articles, to date, my answer has always been the same: the article is weight-biased and dieting isn't the answer to achieving good 'health'.
Using scare tactics as a means to encourage people to exercise (or do anything else) is ineffective and often moves people further away from their goals because they feel hopeless. This hopelessness often causes inaction and may lead to depression and other negative health outcomes.
The Health at Every Size (HAES)/intuitive eating approach to movement is more compassionate and more effective. Instead of stigmatizing and fear-mongering people who are in higher BMI categories to engage in movement because it's "healthy", they encourage cultivating sustainable self-care practices and habits that are realistic and individualized. This way they will likely feel better, improve their metabolic health, and live more joyful lives. In fact, research shows that non-stigmatizing interventions are much more effective for altering health outcomes than anything else.
Studies like this, the crushing judgments and rigidity of diet culture, perfectionism, guilt-tripping, and not understanding that movement is a self-care practice all keep people away from movement. Most think it's a time management issue or that they're "too lazy". But, when we dig a little deeper, they discover that what they really fear is that they won’t be able to cultivate a healthy relationship with movement because they cannot cut through the emotional barriers needed to get there. This is definitely what the alumni members in my Joyful Movement at Last! program have discovered.
For anyone who struggles with articles like this that make them second-guess the path they're on with intuitive eating, you don't need to anymore. Now that you've been introduced to these concepts, you'll more easily recognize that many articles like this are weight-biased and use ineffective scare tactics. Be sure to question "research" and don't allow it to change your course of action, especially if your course of action is moving you closer to the freedom you deserve.
The bottom line...
If you want to feel better and make movement a priority in your life but are feeling 'stuck', I encourage you to take my new FREE quiz What's Getting in Your Way of Exercising with Ease? to find out what's really holding you back. I promise you, it's likely not what you think.
Helping women to cultivate more compassionate, self-care focused habits like giving themselves full permission to eat without the emotional restriction (guilt, worry, etc.), integrating gentle nutrition into your daily life, and rediscovering movement without slipping back into diet mentality is my jam.
Schedule some time with me so we can have a conversation around this so you can finally stop worrying! You don't have to do this alone. Getting this sorted out will make a difference in your life.
Why Losing Weight for Medical Reasons Still Isn’t the Answer to Getting ‘Healthy’
Time and time again I hear clients and read comments in online spaces about people feeling that they need to lose weight for 'health' reasons.
Some may have even been told by a medical professional that weight loss is the only way to correct their declining health issues.
Years ago, when my cholesterol was consistently going up and my high blood pressure was undiagnosed, my doctors had recommended weight loss too, so I understand how concerning this can be.
If you've been told you need to lose weight because your metabolic health (i.e., blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar) is declining, I want to share a few important points as a reframe.
First, you've done nothing wrong to make any of it happen despite what you may have been told or what may have been implied. Remember that a previous history with dieting, genetics, movement, and stress play a significant role in this equation.
Second, instead of blaming your body, thank and appreciate it for giving you some important information that you can now address and begin to heal from.
Third, remember that even if weight loss was going to solve all your health issues, how would you maintain that loss without engaging in deprivation, food restriction, and compensatory exercise habits?
Fourth, while I know that research isn't very 'sexy', there are plenty of research studies indicating that following intuitive eating/Health At Every Size (HAES) often helps to normalize metabolic health naturally without dieting or restricting.
Fifth, I get that the knee-jerk reaction is to immediately think that losing weight is the answer that will solve all your worries, research also shows that weight loss is not sustainable long-term and also that weight stigma plays a significant role in overall health outcomes.
Sixth, reflecting on your own experiences with intentional weight loss will remind you that it's not typically sustainable and even when it is, it's with tremendous effort and often leads to poor emotional health. Let's remember that our mental health is equally as important as our metabolic health.
The bottom line...
If you want to work toward rediscovering balance in every sense of the word, my professional advice is to stay on your intuitive eating/HAES path. A recent diagnosis or health scare is NOT the time to diet (nor is any other time). Instead, it is the time to start or continue cultivating more compassionate, self-care focused habits that are sustainable. Over time, that is what will very likely bring your levels back within a normal range again and also improve your emotional health.
Helping women to cultivate more compassionate, self-care focused habits like giving themselves full permission to eat without the emotional restriction (guilt, worry, etc.), integrating gentle nutrition into your daily life, and rediscovering movement without slipping back into diet mentality is my jam.
Schedule some time with me so we can have a conversation around this so you can finally stop worrying! You don't have to do this alone. Getting this sorted out will make a difference in your life.
Does a Lack of Self-Love and "Ob*sity" Cause Disease? - A Love Letter to Jillian Michaels
As usual, it's January and the dieting industry is in full swing promoting their diets, "lifestyles", detoxes and whatever else they call their intentional weight loss crap. Remember, research indicates that intentional weight loss, regardless of what your weight, is not sustainable long-term.
Today, I want to talk about the concept that self-love can help us control our weight and possibly prevent illness.
I'll admit that years ago I used to believe that BS too because that's all I ever heard so, naturally, I believed it. I no longer feel shameful about this though because as I continue to grow as an anti-diet professional, I now understand and acknowledge that weight is a very complex science. I've also learned that all the "self-love" in the world isn't going to make someone who isn't supposed to weigh ______ (insert low weight here) remain at that weight long-term (3-5 years or more) unless they are likely going to extreme measures (like disordered eating or other disordered behaviors and/or engaging in compulsive exercise, etc.) to maintain it. (You can read more about that in my blog Have You Ever Tried a Self-Love Diet?.)
What got me so fired up about this topic again was reading the recent article Jillian Michaels is Being Criticized For Body-Shaming Lizzo where Jillian Michaels talked about self-love as it relates to our health. She says,
“As I’ve stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy, and equally deserving. I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with ob*sity - heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few," Michaels wrote. 'I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies.'"
Her words could easily throw someone into a downward spiral of shame and blame and that's never productive, especially for healing. What people struggling with illness need is affordable and accessible medical care (including educational services and resources), compassion, and support, NOT shame or blame.
Also, to imply that a lack of self-love is what drives illness due to a lack of acknowledgment that it could cause illness is also shaming. I believe what she's saying is that if someone loved themselves enough to acknowledge that fat is what's causing these illnesses, they would lose weight.
I know first-hand how damaging words like these can have on a person in a larger body because many of my clients blame their ailments (from sleep apnea, weak knees, GERD, autoimmune diseases, etc.) on their weight when in fact, all of these ailments can also be found in people at lower weights. Words like this can also be counter-productive because they often scare people back into the never-ending diet-binge cycle which often cause more weight gain.
It also makes the assumption that weight can be controlled and that even if someone is at a higher weight, there is something inherently wrong with that when there isn’t. And, even if weight was the cause for illness, dieting to become thinner has its own potential physical and emotional health risks. Her words are not based on the truth which indicates that weight science is complex.
Many factors including the role of genetics, socioeconomic conditions, previous dieting history, environmental factors, medications, and fat stigma, etc. are all part of these complexities. Sadly, there was no mention of any of these important factors which isn’t surprising, but nonetheless disappointing and fatphobic.
To illustrate this point, remember that her partner from the Biggest Loser show Bob Harper, nearly died from a heart attack in 2017 even though he was extremely fit, appeared to be “healthy”, and maintained a lean body. After his heart attack, he told CNN this,
"Genetics does play a part in this. I'm a guy who lives a very healthy lifestyle, works out all the time, but there were things going on inside my body that I needed to be more aware of."
It's also concerning because she's assuming that "ob*sity" (* used because the “O” word is a BMI term and BMI was not intended to measure a person's health) causes these illnesses. Based on the causation vs. correlation theory, illness cannot be directly caused by a person's weight. Lindo Bacon, Ph.D. says it best in the article Fat Is Not the Problem—Fat Stigma Is,
"It is true that many diseases are more commonly found in heavier people. However, that doesn’t mean that weight itself causes disease. Blaming fatness for heart disease is similar to blaming yellow teeth for lung cancer, rather than considering that smoking might play a role in both."
The point she and many other diet-promoting, fear-mongering gurus are missing is that people of all weights, shapes, and sizes may fall victim to illness despite what diet culture propagates to us 24/7. None of us need to hear anymore short-sighted, weight stigmatizing "experts" shaming and blaming and offering their one-size-fits-all weight loss and/or “lifestyle” plans. After all, isn’t that what’s been preached for decades with dismal outcomes?
What we do need is a paradigm shift from weight-focused approaches to more sustainable self-care practices that will help people improve their physical, emotional and psychological health without weight cycling, shame, blame, and assumptions.
If you're blaming yourself for a health condition or feeling conflicted because you love the idea of intuitive eating but believe you need to lose weight for "health reasons" (or based on a practitioners medical advice or other fat-shaming), please reach out to me for a complimentary connection call. I can help you by providing support, mindset tips, resources, and helping you to develop individualized and sustainable self-care practices that will likely improve your overall health so you can feel better and live your life joyfully instead of living in fear.
Some journaling prompts to explore:
Do you worry that you may contract an illness because of your weight?
Do you blame yourself for any chronic illness you may already have?
If you do blame yourself, how could that be affecting your physical, psychological and emotional health?
Where can you soften the edges with self-compassionate so you can focus more on self-care habits instead of self-blame?
If you're tired of battling with your weight, fed up with the cycle of yo-yo dieting, and yearning to be free from your obsessive thinking about food and your body, schedule your complimentary Embrace Anti-Diet Living Connection Session.
We’ll get clear on where you are now, what you want instead, and what might be getting in the way of your success.
I’ll also share some powerful recommendations and resources to get you started on creating a peaceful relationship with your body and food.
Are You Making This Common Intuitive Eating Mistake?
One of the reasons why I love practicing Intuitive Eating is because it has given me freedom from food and negative body image. In fact, this is the main reason why clients seek out my services. They are ready to uncouple their self-worth to the number on the scale or the size of their jeans. They are ready to reclaim their lives and free up the time and energy they had previously used to count calories, fat grams, carbs, or “points”.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with intuitive eating, it’s a process that teaches you how to stop dieting and/or restricting food and start listening to your body’s internal wisdom as it relates to hunger and fullness, cravings, movement, etc.
Intuitive eating is the polar opposite of dieting because it does not have any rigid rules or “have tos”. Instead, it offers 10 principles to gently guide you out of the elusive and damaging diet culture and into food freedom.
One mistake I made when I first began practicing intuitive eating was treating the principles like rules. This is a very common experience for newbies and can be very problematic if not caught. Mistaking the principles for rules is no different than being on a diet; that rigidity still exists. After all, the primary purpose of practicing intuitive eating is to break free from diet culture so one can experience freedom, flow, and flexibility in their relationships with food and body. This can only happen when we ditch the rules, rigidity, and harsh personal judgments and start listening and trusting our bodies again.
So, how do you know if you’re making this common mistake?
One of the best ways to recognize this is to observe your language. Being mindful of how you talk and think about the principles is key. Whenever words like always, never, only, and should are used in conjunction with the intuitive eating principles, it is often a sign that rigidity, perfectionism, and food morality are present. This is the epitome of diet culture!
A few of the principles that I mistook for rules were related to hunger, fullness, and emotional eating. My clients often make the same mistakes. Over the years, I’ve heard many of my people say things like:
But I thought I should only eat when I’m hungry.
or
I’m only supposed to eat until I’m full, right?
or
I try to never eat for emotional reasons because that violates the principles.
But, when you begin to embody the principles you’ll likely discover this:
Sometimes you will eat when you’re not physically hungry just because something looks yummy and you don’t want to miss out.
Sometimes you will overeat.
Sometimes you will eat to soothe yourself.
And, it’s all okay! In fact, this is what Ellyn Satter, Registered Dietitian, family therapist, and author at the Ellyn Satter Institute describes as normal eating.
None of these examples mean that you’ve done anything “wrong” or that you’re not practicing intuitive eating the “right” way. It simply means you’re human. Intuitive eating isn’t about being “perfect” around food. It’s about developing a healthier relationship with food. The more tuned-in and open you are to listen to our body’s (hunger, fullness, satiety, etc.) and the less perfectionistic you try to be, the more relaxed and joyful your relationship with food will eventually become.
I will add that as you continue to nurture and heal this complex relationship, it’s best to make curiosity and self-compassion your daily co-pilots instead of self-judgement and perfectionism.
Please understand that if you feel that you’re frequently eating in a way that isn’t aligned with your intuition or feel that your eating is consistently uncontrollable, it’s best to seek guidance from a trained anti-diet professional.
Judging ourselves for our perceived “mistakes” and/or beliefs that we’re not doing intuitive eating “right” keeps us stuck in diet culture. When these guidelines are used as gentle parameters and not as rules, it makes room for that freedom, flow, flexibility with eating that so many of us have yearned to have. It’s no longer about “perfect” eating. It’s about doing our best to listen to our body’s cues knowing that sometimes we may not. The good news is that with intuitive eating there’s room for all of this. This is part of the beauty and delight in practicing intuitive eating. It allows us to be human and enjoy a healthful and flexible way of eating that dieting never could.