Fat-Mongering and Fat-Shaming
Contrary to unquestioned “fat-mongering myths,” we have no conclusive research showing body fat directly causes disease, although correlation has been shown. The truth is, we may not need to lose weight to become healthier, and we can definitely improve our health without losing weight.
Yes, this is shocking. Almost as shocking as discovering that 30 years of mainstream nutrition wrongly blamed butter for causing heart attacks. Remember when that news hit mainstream? It went something like this:
“Um, actually saturated fat isn’t bad. We demonized butter and egg yolks for the last thirty years, and told you to eat carbs instead of fat. Well, it turns out we made this gigantic mistake that contributed to epidemic diseases we’re currently facing.
Also, there was super shady funding going on between so-called ‘heart-healthy’ food producers and the profit-prioritizing American Heart Association. Oops. Go back to eating butter like your grandparents.”
The paradigm shift around saturated fat and butter happened. Now it’s time for the paradigm shift around body fat.
I wrote this post after reading Health at Every Size by Dr. Linda Bacon, PhD. The book outlines the program she created with the same title, helping women to step off the dieting treadmill in order to feel happy and healthy in their bodies… at every size.
Health at Every Size rests on the philosophy that we override our body’s wisdom by following “food rules” such as calorie restriction and dieting. We also override this wisdom by believing our body “should” look a certain way in order to be healthy. This book safely guides readers to stop dieting and learn how to trust their body’s internal guidance system about food choices.
I use the term fat in this blog post to describe body fat. Fat is also the term Dr. Bacon uses in her book, seeking “to reclaim the word as a descriptive term, stripped from its pejorative uses.”
The war on body fat
Excessive body weight is not necessarily a health problem. However, it can point to a problem with what we eat, and the processed food made so widely available in our culture. Focusing our attention on fat loss through dieting, exercise, or surgical interventions doesn’t necessarily solve the underlying problems with food quality, and often inflicts more harm than good on our physical and mental wellbeing.
As stated by Dr. Bacon, “The only way to solve the weight problem is to stop making weight the problem.”
Fat is not nearly as dangerous as we are led to believe by the industries and organizations profiting from fat-fear-mongering. We lack substantial research showing a causal relationship between excess fat or obesity and chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, or hypertension.
Dr. Bacon cites over 400 scientific studies and resources in her book to reveal how the following beliefs about fat are myths:
- Fat causes death and shortens lifespan.
- Fat causes chronic disease.
- Everyone “should” be able to lose weight with enough willpower.
Dr. Bacon also writes, “Weight myths have become unquestioned assumptions, so strongly a part of our cultural landscape that we regard them as self-evident.”
I understand how bizarre and potentially unsafe this information may sound when we assume that the health/nutrition information circulated by government and political organizations is accurate.
One of my intentions with this article is to unravel fact from fiction, and identify some myths fabricated by industries to further their profits.
Much mainstream health information and statistics is highly biased. Here are some examples of the dirty politics behind mainstream nutrition information:
- The officeholders in The Obesity Society all have financial ties to pharmaceutical or weight loss companies. (As of publication of Health at Every Size in 2008.)
- At one point, seven of the nine members on the National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) Obesity Task Force were directors of weight loss clinics. Financial ties to private industry often leads to bias.
- The recommendations by the American Dietetic Association (ADA) are influenced by the funding (otherwise called “sponsorships”) they receive from institutions like The National Soft Drink Association.
- The American Heart Association stamps its Heart Healthy label on food products, regardless of nutrition value, for corporations that pay for it. For example, Kellogg’s Cocoa Frosted Flakes proudly flaunts the label. The ADA received more than $2 million for the use of this “heart-healthy” label in 2002.
- Government subsidies ensure that certain agricultural crops, like corn and soybeans, remain cheap no matter the market’s supply and demand. This subsidy system influenced the original Food Pyramid (which has disastrous health consequences) and continues to impact governmental nutrition recommendations.
The consequences of fat fear
Why have we been so mislead about the dangers of fat? One reason is weight loss is a highly lucrative business, raking in approximately 60 billion dollars a year.
The weight loss industry uses fear-based motivation, promoting the underlying message that if you have body fat you are unhealthy, unattractive, and lazy.
We internalize this message, unconsciously accepting it as fact, and continually try to become thin to prove we are healthy, attractive, and successful. It also leads to judgements made toward heavier people and very real prejudicial consequences, such as in workplace and hiring situations.
The “get thin at any cost” game creates serious consequences for our entire culture.
For instance, weight loss surgery and liposuction are growing in popularity. For both these procedures, the side effects and death rates are severely underreported.
Intestinal stapling is a weight loss surgery in which sections of the intestines are sealed off to prevent nutrient absorption. The so-called “side effects” — more like primary effects — include severe malnutrition, liver damage, liver failure, brain damage, stomach cancer, and a mortality risk increased by nine times. (Sources: The Beauty Myth, Health At Every Size)
Liposuction, one of the fastest-growing cosmetic surgeries, carries a risk of death rarely discussed by the surgeons.
[One] study, which appears in the latest issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, showed a death rate of about 20 in every 100,000 patients who underwent liposuction between 1994 and 1998. The authors point out that this number is higher than the death rate for motor vehicle accidents in the United States. But it’s a dramatic improvement from what most would consider the “bad old days” of liposuction — the 1970s — when death rates were eight times higher. (Source.)
(As would be expected, many weight loss surgeons disagree with the worrisome statistics in that article.)
It’s valid to ask: “But doesn’t weight loss surgery improve health, because fat is such a risk to health?” That’s what the medical industry — and I mean industry, not simply profession — would like you to believe. When medical doctors take the Hippocratic oath, they swear to “First, do no harm.”
In order to perform weight loss surgery, they must argue that the health risk of obesity is greater than the health risks associated with the surgery. To justify this position they must turn obesity into a disease and fat tissue into damaged tissue.
Paraphrasing Eric Oliver, author of Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic, Dr.Linda Bacon writes, “Bariatric surgeons actually create disease, by damaging a healthy organ, and justify this practice by asserting an imaginary disease, obesity.”
Further, many women, and a growing number of men, turn to disordered eating to “earn” beauty, success, and admiration. I believe eating disorders all begin with the desire to achieve control in a situation where feeling out of control predominates. It follows that if self-worth is tied to being thin, it can be controlled by achieving thinness.
Eating disorder rates are climbing off the charts, with deathly consequences. Anorexia is currently the leading cause of death in women aged 15 to 24. (Source.)
Is fat-acceptance a health-destructive viewpoint?
So, are you shaking your head thinking that Dr. Bacon’s Health at Every Size, and my blog post promoting it are dangerous? You may think that by countering fat-shaming, I’m encouraging unhealthy behavior. You may think I’m giving people permission to treat their bodies poorly.
Actually, that’s not what I’m doing. Through writing this I’m offering liberation from fear-based motivation. There’s a tendency to believe fear is a necessary driver toward improving our health and wellbeing. As a result, we criticize, shame, and blame ourselves subconsciously thinking it will motivate us to do better.
But this doesn’t work. In the words of Louise Hay, bestselling author and founder of Hay House publishing,
You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.
I believe love-based motivation is a million times more effective than fear-based motivation in facilitating positive transformation. Why? Because it’s reasonable to assume the more we love someone, the better we’ll treat them. The more we love our bodies, no matter their size or shape, the better we’ll treat our bodies.
Most of us have room to improve regarding our health (which is not necessarily the same as losing weight). And no matter our shape and size, health can be improved by radically accepting our bodies.
Radical body acceptance precedes radical health.
Where do we go from here?
In order to move toward greater self-acceptance of body image and weight, I recommend the following actions:
1.Rather than exercising to burn off calories, move in a way that makes you feel good. Our culture has bizarrely intertwined food with exercise, making exercise a “punishment” or “penance” for eating too much. We also tend to eat more food than usual if we believe we’ve burned off calories through exercise.
A practitioner colleague once recounted, “Some of my female clients tell me they feel guilty for not wanting to have sex with their partners. I ask them if they are attracted to their partner. They look at me stunned, start sobbing, and say, ‘No, I’m not.’”
The moral of the story: find the movement you are attracted to, and it will be a pleasure, not a guilt-inducing chore.
2. Learn about intuitive eating. If you feel stressed about your weight and constantly obsessed with food, intuitive eating will set you free. In my coaching program Food without Fear I help spiritually-minded women permanently heal their relationship with food and weight.
Are you ready to stop making weight the problem? Are you ready to start approving of yourself and your body, and see how your health and happiness transforms?
“Dr. Bacon”??? There’s a doctor proving that fat is ok and his name is Dr. Bacon??? I’m laughing so hard right now!
P.S. I loved this article and wholeheartedly agree, I’m not meaning this comment to sound judgey.
I know, it made me smile too! But my heart went out to her because I’m sure she dealt with some people hating on her name, given her field of study.
While I do agree that body fat in and of itself is not the problem I wonder if the pendulum of discussion is swinging too far the other direction where being very overweight is celebrated. I think it is a good thing that there are a variety of size models and mannequins in magazines and stores but my family members who deal with huge weight gain can’t go up and down stairs very easy, have a hard time breathing, picking up and playing with the children, can’t travel certain places. It makes me sad to think of people being trapped in their own bodies. While I am all for our culture to stop putting so much emphasis on appearance that is perhaps fantasy I don’t think being unhealthy should be celebrated. Not that I believe that is what you were saying I just wanted to add to the conversation.
Hi Jenny- My take away from the post is about finding your healthy sweet spot which is based on how you feel when you move, loving yourself, and not shaming yourself because you are not a size 0. I didn’t get that it is celebrating being overweight.
It’s a valid point to add into the conversation, but I believe we need to get really clear on what we mean by “celebrating” obesity. If we love our bodies, no matter their size, that is not celebrating poor health. We deserve to love our bodies, because our bodies never failed us. Even if we are “morbidly obese” it’s the culture and broken food system that failed us, not our bodies. Our bodies still deserve unconditional love. We can celebrate our bodies no matter their size, and at the same time we are not celebrating the corrupt cultural and political factors that led to obesity in the first place.
I am happy to see a much wider range of body types in advertising in recently. But I too fear the pendulum may swing too far in the opposite direction of where it’s been for years. The focus should be on a healthy body…not a skinny body, not a fat body…a healthy body. Some people are simply meant to have more meat on their bones while others are predisposed to thinness and there should be no shaming of either group. However, I simply don’t believe that being too underweight or too overweight is healthy. If you’re too underweight then you have no reserves to draw in should you become seriously ill for example. And you pointed out some of the drawbacks with being too overweight. A healthy body that we feel good in should be the goal in my opinion…for what it’s worth, lol!
What an excellent and comforting article! As a woman who has been on the diet roller coaster and struggled with body image for 50 years I applaude you. Thank you for giving us this freedom.
So refreshing to read this.
Watch “My 600 lb life” and see how much “celebrating” those folks are doing. SMH
If you’ve watched the show, you know that tragic circumstances typically lead to this person’s addiction to food as a means of comfort. Regardless of their weight, these people still deserve to love themselves. It isn’t our choice whether or not a person celebrates their body. Self-hate will get us nowhere.
Did you read this entire article?
Don’t be so silly
Thank you for this post!
Well I went and read the book, AMAZING, and judging by many of the comments, it is obvious that many are still “brainwashed” into equating “thin” with “healthy.” But that is just not the case, in fact Dr. Bacon illustrates in her book (with tons of studies proving her point) that thin people are often MORE unhealthy than fat people, and often (sadly) go under diagnosed by doctors because even THEY equate “thin” with “health”. That was one of the revelatory take-always that I got from the book. Also, did you know that being fatter actually PREVENTS certain diseases and helps you to survive them better? Yup. Many astounding (and disappointing) facts brought to light about the fashion, health, and medical industries (don’t forget industry’s first goal: make money) colluding and their twisting of facts and even outright lying to manipulate us into spending ever more money to “achieve” the “perfect” form. In order to do that, they must first “prove” that our current form is “imperfect”. To some of the commenters above: yes, you can be 300-plus pounds and have excellent cardio-vascular health, flexibility, and endurance, and many do, they just don’t get the press that fat unhealthy people do. Why do you think that is? $$$ Why would anyone in any of those industries want it to come out that fat people can actually be as healthy as, and in some cases, healthier, than thin people?
The book is aptly named: “Health At Any Size”
I encourage everyone to read the book. It’s time to stop judging people by their size and thinking we can also judge their health based on that. Our culture has been deceived for too long.
I’m glad you enjoyed the book, and thanks for your thoughtful comment!
Absolutely! I’m in my sixties and I’ve noticed that people my age and older who are thin are actually LESS healthy. Of course, this is not a scientific study, just an observation. But it seems that THIN older people tend to have osteoporosis, heart problems, etc. Perhaps this is because they are not eating enough to get the nutrients they need. One of my older friends said that her doctor is concerned about her weight loss, but she says it’s because she’s eating better. I.e., cutting out dairy, gluten, etc. But I think she’s cutting out essential nutrients. I love being a “pleasantly plump” grandma.
Thank you so much for this, Lauren.
I first cut out grains, sugar, processed foods, etc about 2 years ago. I really fell in love with the whole paleo/whole foods lifestyle. But since then I’ve gained about 15 pounds, and that’s been really hard.
I’ve really struggled with knowing I’m doing so much better for my body, but that not being manifested into physical weight.
But I am trying to love myself where I’m at. It’s definitely a process. So I’m grateful you had the courage to write about this subject.
Much love!!
Thank you Lauren, as an RD I’ve been questioning the validity of all that I’ve done over the years. I’ve always promoted loving your body well but never have I ever seen it described so thoughtfully and eloquently as you have described it here. You’ve done an amazing job. Thank you for making me think deeply about my own practice and my own struggles with food. xxx
Thank you for your comment, and I appreciate hearing how this post resonated with you!
Thank you for the article and for the recommendation of the book, Health at Any Size. It’s bringing me understanding and peace!
I’m so glad to hear that!