I once took my daughter to a luxury brand event, she experienced the air kissing and the ‘hi, how have you been, (pronounced hi havu bin) lost so much weight yaar, what have you been doing?’
In the course of one hour, this was the opening line to all conversation in permutation and combinations with several ladies.
They say that first impressions are the most lasting impressions.
Yes, people do look at you head to toe and make their comment or judge you in their heads, not always praise, in fact it can be ruthless too.
I am a victim to passing judgment as well as being hard on myself for weight gain and have worked through it for many years now.
Today, I cut short my judgment with the questions —
Have you walked in his/her shoes?
Do you know what is going on in their lives?
Everyone needs to be treated with respect and dignity despite their looks, colour and body size.
What do you think when you see a severely overweight person?
Do you feel you could help them?
Could you encourage them to eat better, or do something different to lose the weight?
Do you tell them or brush it aside?
Not everyone has the ability to be of help in a positive way. That’s why we have professionals. But you can be empathic.
I once read a saying — ‘People will always remember you by how you made them feel.’
And yes fortunately or unfortunately society does have a fat phobia.
This can motivate you to lose weight by making healthier choices or send you deeper into your hole where you find comfort in your own bubble. The stigma, the prejudice, the harassment attached to obesity is alarming.
Body Mass Index (BMI), devised in the 1830s by a mathematician has no medical basis, yet it is a standard way to categorise a person’s body weight by simply plotting your weight against your height and subsequently titles you as lean, overweight or obese, without taking into account the level of fat in your body, your lifestyle or eating habits.
To give you more clarity —
- A short, muscular person could be in the overweight category, as muscle weighs more than fat, tipping the height weight ratio.
- An unfit person, who is a smoker and drinker and eats unhealthy, may have a BMI in the healthy range.
- A thin or average sized person can be in the overweight range too, often labeled ’lean unhealthy’
Given what’s proven, it is not important to depend on BMI scales to title you, instead look for long-term permanent results.
FACT FILE —
- People classified as obese can be metabolically healthy; they may not have signs of elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol or insulin resistance.
- ‘Unfit skinny’ people are twice as likely to get diabetes as ‘fit fat’ people.
- Habits, not your size are what really matter for good health.
- Vegetable and fruit consumption, activity level and grip strength are indicators of good health.
- Processed foods are the real villain, even if they are consumed in small quantities.
- An industrial process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil forms Trans fat, this causes the oil to stay solid at room temperature. Known as partially hydrogenated oil, it spoils less, giving products a longer shelf life. A boon for production houses but it’s LETHAL for the body.
- Research shows that fat people miss out on job opportunities and shaming in other ways, this goes on for their entire lives.
- Studies have found that higher weight patients, especially women die of cervical and breast cancer over normal weight women, a result partly attributed to them being reluctant to seek medical consultation.
- Fresh produce, which promotes health, is more than double the cost of processed, preserved food. It should be the other way around for healthy living.
- One in ten people consume trans fatty acids that exceed health guidelines.
- The World health organisation (WHO) is on a mission to eliminate Trans fat products by 2023.
- Belly fat is the most difficult fat to get dislodged. It surrounds your organs and goes into ‘preservation mode.’
- Unlike other dietary fats, Trans fats lower your good cholesterol and higher the bad cholesterol.
- With rigid diets, you will regain most of your lost weight. Opt for a sustainable life long food plan.
- Weight loss is basically the shrinking of fat cells, fat cells do not disappear they merely shrink. When fat cells shrink, they are able to absorb glucose and store fat more efficiently to be used as fuel for the body. Hence it is better to have more small fat cells than over-inflated (sick) fat cells.
- The hormones LEPTIN(inhibits appetite and increases your metabolic rate) and INCRETIN( regulates appetite) are hugely responsible for weight fluctuation. When LEPTIN levels plummet, your metabolic rate slows down and hunger increases. Less INCRETIN increases hunger leading to overeating. Keep these in check.
Why do we need to be sensitive to overweight people?
Know that they have probably tried every diet in the book already.
Know that they often do know what it takes to knock off the kilos but are stuck in a rut of disappointment.
Know that constant advice towards weight loss can drive them to stop seeing doctors for issues unrelated to weight.
Know that body shaming, discrimination and stigmatisation often has real effects on people’s lives.
Know that using terms such as ‘ obesity crisis’, ‘obesity epidemic’ are offensive and can lead to moral panic and fear about fatness and do not reduce the rate of worldwide obesity.
Know that when you encounter an angry overweight person, they are fighting bigger battles than what is present. Cut them some slack.
Know that racism and obesity are equally hurtful to the victim.
Know that you can make a difference to a precious life by being compassionate.
According to professor Lupton — ‘The key to tackle fat stigmas starts with you and public health campaigns.’
Slam all media that negatively projects obesity. Instead make informed choices, simple life long dietary changes that improve your health and wellbeing where weight loss is an added side effect.
Now that’s an inclusive society we all need to live in.
