Can You Be Healthy at Any Weight?

 

Is it possible to enjoy good health and nurture a positive self image no matter what you weight?  Why is it so difficult for people in our society to feel good about themselves?  Our society makes a concerted effort to reject anyone whose body shape or size does not conform to an impossible ideal. 

 

The book “Health at Every Size,” by Linda Bacon PhD delves into this cultural anomaly and becomes a “must read” for every chronic or even occasional dieter in the universe.  At a time when there is a tremendous pressure on all of us to be extremely thin, Dr Bacon insists that the focus needs to be more on health, acceptance and self respect rather than on weight.  Dr. Bacon explores some of the myths associated with weight loss and notes that a lot of these so called “overweight” people live longer than so called “normal weight” people do.

 

 Have you ever noticed that no matter how often you diet your body eventually resets itself to a certain weight, which is probably 5, 10 or more pounds more than you think you should be at?  Constant dieting isn’t healthy. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky that we made it through our younger years without destroying ourselves all together.  Remember the 500 calorie diets, the liquids only, the rice diet, the egg and grapefruit diets and a zillion other ways that we tortured ourselves?  How about jaw wiring and stapling and diet pills not to mention bulimia and anorexia?  When will we ever learn that being thin isn’t everything? 

 

‘Health at Every Size’ is common sense book that should be on every bookshelf.  It is designed to help you break free of the weight-loss mentality and embrace the health and happiness mentality instead.  She isn’t saying that it is okay to weight 300 pounds but she does say that learning to love and take care of yourself no matter what your size is what is really important.  The focus should be on improving your health regardless of whether or not you lose weight.

 

Exercise is one of the keys for making good things happen to you.  Studies show that weight differences between people who exercise and those who do not, are fairly insignificant.  Could it just mean that people who exercise are more apt to give themselves permission to eat more? Well, what is this healthy lifestyle routine? If you aren’t starving yourself with the latest diet plan and you aren’t spinning until your legs feel like they are going to fall off, what are you going to do?

 

Look at your lifestyle.  We are pressured both to lead a more wholesome lifestyle and to be thin.  The American lifestyle is awash with programs that support poor health habits.  Your goal may very well be that you want to be thin, but if this goal undermines your ability to eat nutritiously it is rather counterproductive.  So guess what, we are back to figuring out how to integrate movement (exercise) along with nutrition and stress reduction.  The only difference is that the focus should be on being healthy rather than wearing a single digit dress size.

 

I love sports so of course am going to launch into a discussion on physical activity.  We all know that physical activity tops the list of habits that most influence your health, but if you think hitting the gym or jogging around the block is required, it isn’t necessarily so.

 

Surprisingly enough, vacuuming the living room can actually be an aerobic exercise for some people (and how boring is that?)  Think of exercise as just being active.  It can just mean taking the stairs instead of an elevator, raking your own leaves instead of hiring someone or using a leaf blower.  Studies show that it is easier to stick to an activity program if you do short burst of exercise throughout the day, rather than and hour long workout at the gym.  As you move more and find yourself getting stronger you can get involved in something that is actually fun (tennis, hiking, running, cycling, golf).  Many gyms are becoming more progressive about making exercise more fun for people of all sizes.  The key is to stop associating exercise with”working out” or with weight loss.  Notice instead how good it makes you feel.

 

Size is a sloppy and unscientific way to judge someone’s health and character.  The emphasis should be on promoting healthy behaviors for all instead of making blanket statements that being overweight kills.  The pursuit of weight loss rarely produces the thin and happy life that you dream about.

 

 

Comments

[Online Doctor Consultation]

A friend of mine do have a copy of that book. She told me that should have a copy too. Now I'm curious about that one. I think I should really do have a copy.

[Acai]

I enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for a wonderful job!