Finding some real creepy misinformation in Association for Size Diversity and Health's website.

What’s worse is this thin-centric healthcare is not benign. It causes harm. One study showed fat women who intentionally lost at least 15% of their body weight were over two times higher risk of death compared to fat women who remained weight stable. Another study found that risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was higher in people who lost weight. That risk increased with more weight lost and the group that lost over 22 pounds was at 3.5 times higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to the weight stable group.

Yet, many healthcare providers encourage weight loss for all fat patients despite this evidence. Some healthcare providers refuse to offer care like medication, referrals to physical therapy, and even deny surgery unless patients pursue and attain weight loss. This unethical approach to healthcare may account for all of the health disparities seen in fat people, and body size may not have any direct effect on health.

https://asdah.org/health-at-every-size-haes-approach/

I'm in favor of body positivity, broadly, and stuff, but the mechanics behind obesity causing joint & heart problems are so basic and observable that denying it puts you on par with like, a flat earther. I'm sure there are other organizations which do similar advocacy but aren't run by quacks. Fat people really can't catch a break, can they? They have to deal with constant stigma and mockery from the broader culture, the food industry fights tooth and nail to make healthy eating harder for them, and then one of the organizations positioning themselves as their allies are malignantly batshit crazy.

Top | New | Old

Scribbles · 36-40, F

Good post!

Obesity is linked to various health problems and early death. That is simply fact. I had not heard that losing weight increased cardiovascular problems. I know some diets and pills can do harm. And yoyoing causes stress on the body.

Being smart about losing weight is important. A friend of mine who passed away from COVID, did a lot of damage to his body and health through a lot of diet pills and other things he hid. He ate all organic food and tried to limit calories and took up martial arts again. He didn't make the gains he wanted. He was desperate to lose weight. We congratulated him when he lost 50 pounds. We never realized how serious of a problem it was until He was found one day wandering the neighborhood in a delirium. He did so much damage to his body that he was at high risk and died before the vaccine came out. I know a few other people who ended up with cardiovascular problems because they overdid pills that were not meant for long-term use. One person I know was overweight and had a heart defect and did get support in safe dieting and nutrition leading up to surgery.

Good nutrition and stable safe exercise is key. Taking responsibility for what you eat is important, I think. But I wish it was easier. There is so much crappy food out there with extra sugar and junk in it.

It's partly why I eat what I eat now. I feel so much better when my diet is mainly honest vegetables and fruit and beans and rice, and I get rid of all the processed crap. I had a friend, thin as a rail, but was always sick because she ate processed crap all the time.

When I taught kids, I always did some project where we saved our nutrition labels from things and we noticed how bad some foods got. Like some yogurts have obscene amounts of yogurt. Some kids actively tried to tell their parents they wanted a different kind. I got chewed out a few times because said parents were upset that their kid wanted a yogurt that was a dollar more expensive and 20 grams less of sugar. Or they suddenly wanted the cut up fruit at the gas station that was five dollars rather then the 1 dollar donut. Weird priorities, man..

View 2 more replies »

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Scribbles Breakfast clubs are a very good idea. Teachers here sometimes fund them out of their own pockets because you can't teach children who are hungry/malnourished and distracted. We have celebrity chefs who will campaign for better food in schools and hospitals. Everyone gets enthusiastic for a while, then the conservative government decides the state has no role in telling people what to eat (even though poor diet places a massive burden on public health services) and the funding is withdrawn again 😕

Scribbles · 36-40, F

@SunshineGirl Same here sometimes. Conservatives always say no. People have the right to feed themselves and their kids with all the fast food they can afford. And the right to pay the huge medical bill later. Which just reinforces the idea in their mind that Universal healthcare is too expensive to have in America. Even though we spend more then other countries, I hear.

I sometimes think about making an online cookbook for parents with really easy kid friendly healthy breakfasts, lunchs, and dinners. I may still do that. I have a notebook dedicated to that. But the people most prone to look at it are the ones who don't need it the most. I also had the idea of figuring out a way to make a nonprofit that partners with local businesses and catering companies that could deliver healthy breakfasts to schools each day and have like a big electric cooler near the entrance of schools. But such an idea would need a lot of capital and it carries the risk of being a failure if it doesn't catch on.

Companies that deliver preportioned fresh ingredients with directions to wash, chop and cook it, or to make a smoothie out of certain vegetables and fruit and oat milk are becoming really popular in America. Couldn't be too hard to tweak the model to be targeted to healthy meals for kids. And some sort of educational reading material with it. Idk.

Thanks for listening to my rambling. Lol

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Scribbles That sounds terrific, thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I would like to go into partnership with you for your proposal 🙂

Our local foodbank had 200 electric slow cookers donated by an electronics company. They are so useful because you can follow the very simple recipes provided to produce great meals from the cheapest and most easily available vegetables and pulses, using very little electricity. Some people had to get used to the idea of peeling potatoes, etc, but in return they get to eat good food affordably. People were ok with that idea, but when you bring children into the equation logic seems to fly out of the window.

My 12yo loves cooking and planning nutrition. She learned to cook helping out in the kitchen of her childrens home with the added challenge of feeding eleven other kids on a budget. Her trick is to select the most colourful ingredients available (if it's brown, it's generally processed) and that usually helps to get the youngsters on board 🙂

Graylight · 51-55, F

There’s a lot of science – and pop science – going on here. Yes, it’s been demonstrated that women who yo-yo diet and lose unhealthy amounts of weight in a short time are prone to serious medical conditions over time. It’s also true that the “standards” by which weight is measured are woefully inadequate at best. There are an many body types as names and applying a single template to all of them is absurd.

But…that’s not exactly what the article says. It’s a cherry-[icked argument to make one side appear stronger.

I think the point the more honest part of them wants to make is that being overweight does not inherently make you less healthy. Its risks are well-known, but what is often ignored is the consistently poor nutrition and physical state the average human body is in.

Playing devil’s advocate for this group (which I’m not familiar with), I’d say they’re message is to love and accept yourself first by banishing some of the most constant chiding and stigma; once a person is ready to tackle a problem he or she can learn more.

BlueVeins · 22-25

@Graylight Yeah, the rest of the article is fine, and the group stands for some cool stuff. Fat shaming bad and the individual responsibility framing of obesity definitely causes some problems. But saying that being obese doesn't hurt your health in itself? Yikes.

HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F

I've never heard of this, I mean if there's a good amount of evidence and not just a few studies with a small sample size, it's important. There are sure problems when one loses weight steeply and especially with extreme diets, but here they're talking about all people who have lost weight I assume. Unless they are hiding this "detail".

BlueVeins · 22-25

@HannibalAteMeOut I don't find that part so ridiculous, just included it for context. I haven't dug into that claim, but it makes sense intuitively that extreme weight loss could go hand in hand with nutrient deficiencies and stuff idk.

HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F

@BlueVeins true, but to the point of discouraging people from losing weight when they're obese (and have other health issues waiting for them)... that's quite extreme.

Add a comment...