Feeling Fat is Worse for Your Health Than Actually Being Fat

 

Binge Eating Disorder Association–  stated:

“Scientific study of 170,000 people: feeling fat is worse for your health than actually being fat. Why does our culture promote making people feel that way?”

So rather than just seeing another awareness week and nodding why not take a moment to pause. Let’s think about this for a moment and consider what the not so small study of 170,000 people, found.

“The obesity ‘epidemic’ might have a lot more to do with our collective preoccupation with obesity than obesity itself,”

the study’s lead author, Dr. Peter Muennig of Columbia University in New York City, told Reuters Health. Muennig also stated:

“We still need to focus on healthy diet and exercise as public health officials, but we need to take fatness out of the equation. Were we to stop looking at body fat as a problem, the problem may well disappear.”

The researchers noted that women experience more stigma for being fat than men (although I have to say that in my practice this is changing at a remarkable speed), and that excess weight may be less acceptable among white people than among African-Americans or Hispanics.
The study  found that being overweight doesn’t increase mortality in ethnic groups that are more accepting of heavy people. Muennig stated:

“For instance, African-Americans as a group experience almost no excess mortality, even for women who are 5’5″ and 250 pounds.”
“There needs to be a realization among public health officials and medical professionals that the messages we are giving the public could be doing more harm than good,” Muennig said.

Please note: this is not a new study it was conducted in 2008, with that in mind lets not let it get swept under the carpet yet again. Start where you have real control and power, your body and mind!
Help yourself  to be healthier by:

• consciously feeling how you feel about your weight (regardless of what it is)
• asking yourself why you have those feelings and where they came from
• considering what part other people and the media play in how you look at yourself
• being aware of your body self talk and making an effort to question thoughts and beliefs
• using your strength to regard your body as your business
• being compassionate to yourself and others as you journey on this planet   

SOURCES: http://nourishingbyheart.com, American Journal of Public Health, March 2008, REUTERS.com 

Photo credit: www.chickrx.com