Health vs. Body Positivity
So. This is a bit of a can of worms. It's hard to even begin a discussion of this entire subject without misrepresenting every side of it!
Here's the thing: beauty is not defined by anything. It's entirely subjective. It comes in all shapes and in all sizes, all colours, all genders, all ages, and any other category one could supply. Anyone can be beautiful to anyone else. There are no textbook standards here. And it has nothing to do with health.
Health is something that an outsider can only make guesses about. It's something that concerns exactly two people: the individual in question and their health care provider. That's it. Having been at least chubby since puberty, I'm keenly aware of the incredible level of weight-based prejudice that exists unchecked in North American society, "justified" and hidden behind something people usually sanctimoniously claim as a concern for someone's health. While it's true that obesity is not generally a sign of perfect health, it's just one of the more visible symptoms of potential health problems - heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, PCOS, and type 2 diabetes, among others. That said, none of these conditions are limited to people who are overweight. There are also many, many other unhealthy practises that people who are not overweight do without being questioned or judged. At my heaviest, I was told by my doctor that I was frankly one of the healthiest people he'd ever seen for my weight, with none of the above conditions except for stress mimicking asthma-like conditions (which disappeared within about 3 weeks of beginning to change my lifestyle). I was already eating fairly well for a standard North American way of eating and relatively active. The point is, don't decide that you know what someone else's health conditions. The greater point is that it's none of your business, anyway.
Beauty is something which the body positivity movement champions, particularly the beauty of larger bodies. I support that. I'm all for it. A person and their body can be beautiful at any size. I absolutely agree with that. However, a friend of mine who recently lost a serious amount of weight found herself treated like a traitor by her local body positivity community, as though having made an active decision to change her size was a rejection that the notion of the potential beauty of a larger body in a way that sold out the rest of the body positivity movement in general. While I can understand the idea, I fully disagree. My friend made a choice regarding her own body and its health, and there is nothing wrong with that. Having made that decision for herself in no way negates her support for or participation in the body positivity movement. I understand that this is a bit of a tricky line to negotiate, and I've also unfortunately heard that some of the most fatphobic people out there are people who used to be overweight, themselves.
What I most support, at the end of the day, is the right for each person to make their own decisions about their own bodies, whether I personally consider them healthy or otherwise. Their body, their decision. This is why I will happily talk about what I'm doing with regards to my own body with anyone who's interested in my process or methods, but I will never evangelize said methods to anyone else, and would hope that people would show me the same respect for my own decision-making. I would suggest, if anyone wants my suggestions, that people make informed decisions, but even that's a personal decision. In nutrition it can be particularly hard to know who or which information to trust, but kudos to all of you out there looking for it!
As for beauty, it comes from the inside, anyway.
Here's the thing: beauty is not defined by anything. It's entirely subjective. It comes in all shapes and in all sizes, all colours, all genders, all ages, and any other category one could supply. Anyone can be beautiful to anyone else. There are no textbook standards here. And it has nothing to do with health.
Health is something that an outsider can only make guesses about. It's something that concerns exactly two people: the individual in question and their health care provider. That's it. Having been at least chubby since puberty, I'm keenly aware of the incredible level of weight-based prejudice that exists unchecked in North American society, "justified" and hidden behind something people usually sanctimoniously claim as a concern for someone's health. While it's true that obesity is not generally a sign of perfect health, it's just one of the more visible symptoms of potential health problems - heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, PCOS, and type 2 diabetes, among others. That said, none of these conditions are limited to people who are overweight. There are also many, many other unhealthy practises that people who are not overweight do without being questioned or judged. At my heaviest, I was told by my doctor that I was frankly one of the healthiest people he'd ever seen for my weight, with none of the above conditions except for stress mimicking asthma-like conditions (which disappeared within about 3 weeks of beginning to change my lifestyle). I was already eating fairly well for a standard North American way of eating and relatively active. The point is, don't decide that you know what someone else's health conditions. The greater point is that it's none of your business, anyway.
Beauty is something which the body positivity movement champions, particularly the beauty of larger bodies. I support that. I'm all for it. A person and their body can be beautiful at any size. I absolutely agree with that. However, a friend of mine who recently lost a serious amount of weight found herself treated like a traitor by her local body positivity community, as though having made an active decision to change her size was a rejection that the notion of the potential beauty of a larger body in a way that sold out the rest of the body positivity movement in general. While I can understand the idea, I fully disagree. My friend made a choice regarding her own body and its health, and there is nothing wrong with that. Having made that decision for herself in no way negates her support for or participation in the body positivity movement. I understand that this is a bit of a tricky line to negotiate, and I've also unfortunately heard that some of the most fatphobic people out there are people who used to be overweight, themselves.
What I most support, at the end of the day, is the right for each person to make their own decisions about their own bodies, whether I personally consider them healthy or otherwise. Their body, their decision. This is why I will happily talk about what I'm doing with regards to my own body with anyone who's interested in my process or methods, but I will never evangelize said methods to anyone else, and would hope that people would show me the same respect for my own decision-making. I would suggest, if anyone wants my suggestions, that people make informed decisions, but even that's a personal decision. In nutrition it can be particularly hard to know who or which information to trust, but kudos to all of you out there looking for it!
As for beauty, it comes from the inside, anyway.
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