diet culture did not start with science and work its way into popular culture — it moved in the opposite direction. given that fact, it’s unsurprising that diet culture is medically unsound.
for example:
– dieting often causes weight cycling
– weight cycling can cause insulin resistance
– insulin resistance increases the risk of type 2 diabetes
– yet dieting is what’s prescribed to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes
isn’t dieting important if you’re overweight, you may be wondering? that’s what we’ve been told by doctors, taught in school, heard from our families and friends and colleagues, seen on talk shows, and definitely what’s been modeled in mainstream entertainment.
the answer is NO. not only do 97% of dieters regain their lost weight (and then some) but the relationship between weight and health is correlative, *not* causative; that means your weight in and of itself is not a negative health outcome.
medicine is fatphobic; the same eating disorder behaviors that are guarded against in smaller bodies (when they are screened for at all) are condoned for larger bodies. whether western or holistic, most wellness practitioners (including me) were taught that weight was a super important measure of health — and it’s really, really not.
the good news is that many of us have been learning the anti-diet and health at every size paradigms that allow us to provide comprehensive, compassionate and medically sound care to our patients, regardless of their body size.
by the way, a big part of how you actually reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes is keeping your blood sugar regulated — and that’s done by eating, not starving, and by learning to hear your body’s hunger and fullness cues đź’›
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