Just So We’re Clear . . . Some Fat Facts

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by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

Recently, this blog has gotten a lot of new readers who may be new to Fat Acceptance & Health At Every Size.

As a consequence, I’ve been fielding lots of comments of the “how can you be promoting fat?!” and “haven’t you heard of type II diabetes?!” variety.  So, rather than trying to respond to these commenters individually (and as a way to provide support to people who want to respond to these comments in their own lives and blogs), I’ve decided to write this post.  I’ve outlined 9 typical statements by commenters, together with an explanation of why each statement is wrong, wrong, wrong.

1) Fat is unhealthy. Fat is not inherently unhealthy.  In fact, being underweight, in many ways, is more dangerous than being overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.  Furthermore, a great deal of evidence suggests that health problems linked to fat are actually a result of dieting, and the incredible strain that dieting puts on the body.  A recent study found that people who lost 15% or more of their body weight had an increased risk of death compared to people of the same size who didn’t lose weight. In addition, fat people live longer than thin people and are more likely to survive cardiac events and not suffer as much blood loss due to treatments such as angioplasty.  Fat has even been shown to protect against a variety of problems, including “infections, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, osteoporosis, anemia, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes.” Fat people also have lower rates of emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hip fracture, tuberculosis, anemia, peptic ulcer and chronic bronchitis.

If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard any of this before, that’s because this information doesn’t make anyone money.  It doesn’t support the $60 billion a year diet industry nor the multi-billion dollar weight loss surgery industry nor the multi-bajillion dollar pharmaceutical industry.

2) Fat people all have eating disorders, eat poorly, and don’t exercise. No study has ever supported this conclusion.  And let’s just get clear on something.  You cannot tell anything about a person’s eating habits or fitness level or relative health from their size.  I have 300-pound clients who eat all organic, whole foods and train for triathlons, and I have 120-pound clients who are generally sedentary and have binge eating disorder.  People of all different sizes have all different habits, and a quick survey of your friends and relatives will show just that.

 

3) If fat people would eat properly and exercise, they wouldn’t be fat. Contrary to popular opinion, people come in all shapes and sizes.  Just like people are short and tall and in between, people are fat and thin and in between. It’s called diversity.  It’s called genetics. It’s called, in some instances, the result of constant dieting.

4) Weight loss is a healthy goal, deserving of promotion. Not true at all.  First of all, diets don’t work.  They really don’t.  The one or two people that you know that lost weight on a diet and kept it off for more than 5 years are statistical freaks.  Dieting wreaks havoc on the body, affecting everything from your immune system, to your cardiovascular system, to your stamina and mental health, to your body image.  Oh, and don’t get me started on the incredible dangerousness of weight loss surgeries.  If anyone tells you that their plan promises long term weight loss, they are lying to you.  If they promise weight loss and fail to mention whether it will be long term or not, they are deceiving you.

5) Promoting fat acceptance makes people fat. No studies have ever shown that approving and loving your body causes one to gain weight. In fact, Health At Every Size practices, which include body acceptance, actually make people healthier.  When you can show me that shaming people about their bodies improves health, then we can talk.  And by the way, the way we shame fat people has led to an exponential rise in discrimination against people in the workplace, health care and education.

6) There’s an obesity crisis going on and obesity is on the rise. Actually, it’s not.  Also, see item 1, above.

7) Childhood obesity is a serious problem. Actually, it’s not. Childhood life expectancy continues to rise.  And every attempt to make kids thinner has failed.  And, you might want to follow the money behind Michelle Obama’s obesity initiative to see how corporations are benefiting from the b.s.  The real danger for fat children is the threat of bullying, and the toll that that takes.  Finally, access to healthy, organic food and safe places to play are important for all children, not just fat ones.

8) BMI is an appropriate and scientific way of determining health. If you consider the way BMI works for more than a minute, you realize that it so flawed as to be completely useless.

9) But all of this goes against the conventional wisdom that fat is bad and deadly! Your “conventional wisdom” has been paid for by the diet industry and pharmaceutical companies for decades and decades.  It’s time to get over it and start thinking critically.  I encourage you to read this blog and other fantastic fat acceptance blogs and begin the process of unraveling your internalized and externalized hatred.

Additional Recommended Reading:

P.S.  This post was inspired by Kate Harding‘s excellent post “But Don’t You Realize Fat Is Unhealthy?”
P.P.S. There is an updated version of this post, that you can check out here!

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© 2010 Golda Poretsky.  All rights reserved.

71 thoughts on “Just So We’re Clear . . . Some Fat Facts”

  1. Thanks!@Sherry — I actually don't know if it's in the public domain. My client sent it to me as a postcard a while ago. :/ But thanks for sharing the post!

  4. Loved this. I linked to it on a non SA board I frequent and would encourage others to do the same! Nice concise way to get the message out!p.s. Is this image in the public domain? I have this on a magnet on my fridge, would love to use it as my avatar.

  6. I love this post. You are so right about diets, I know it from my own experience. I have tried different diets, I went to the gym 3 to 4 days a week, but it didn’t change a lot. But i finally learned to accept myself the way I am and it’s so much better now that before.
    Keep promoting size acceptance by teaching people, just like you do on this blog! You’re doing a great job, thank you!

  7. Golda, you mentioned the Diet and Pharmaceutical industries being invested in the false information about obesity. You forgot to mention the Insurance industry, the Fashion/Make-up industries, and of course Big Food, who are all invested in keeping us the consumer mis/un-informed.

  8. Great post, Golda. I think when you are forced to confront people who want to beat fat people over the head with scary statistics it’s important to have this kind of information. I think the real issue is how you feel and what you’re eating. If you honestly feel great in your body and you’re eating good, nourishing food then that’s what counts.

  10. Kjen, diets don’t work because your body works to keep you at a certain weight (which gradually increases through your forties, then gradually decreases after that again, for most people). If you feed it fruits and veggies, then it will use the calories from those to maintain your weight where it should be; but you will still benefit from the fiber and nutrients in those fruits and veggies. So you can improve what you eat, while not changing your weight; and improve your health. Getting an appropriate amount of exercise (and it is possible to get too much) will also improve health, bodies like to move; but is unlikely to change your weight significantly. However, you will feel better.

    I think one of the most pernicious effects of thin=healthy meme is that when people can’t get thin, they do give up and fail to notice the actual happiness of their body when they treat it well. Please don’t give up!

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