The topic of weight remains one of the most thought about and most talked about, not only in the general population, but in public health policy and health care practices. There continues to be an assumption that dieting and other weight-loss behaviors are the solutions to better managing chronic health conditions, improving self-esteem and body image and generally living a longer and happier life. The problem is the science does not support this assumption. Here are three myths and three facts about weight:
Myth #1: Fatness increases health risks and mortality.
Fact: While research has shown an association between body fat and some diseases, causation is less established. When researchers study weight and disease, they rarely account for factors like physical fitness, nutritional quality of diet, weight cycling and socioeconomic status. Yet all of these play a role in determining a person’s health risk. When these factors are accounted for, the increase risk of disease disappears or is significantly reduced. In fact, these other factors (especially weight cycling) actually can increase a person’s risk for disease, independent of their weight.
On a side note, the prevalence of hypertension dropped by half between the years of 1960-2000, even while the average person’s weight increased. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is typically assumed to be a disease of fatness. Now how do you explain that?
Most studies find that people who are “overweight” and “obese” (according to the BMI scale) live at least as long as “normal” weight people, and sometimes even longer. The only exception to this is for folks at the extremes of the BMI scale, in other words, “underweight” and “extremely obese”.
Myth #2: Losing weight is the best way to improve health.
Fact: The biggest problem with the idea that losing weight is the best way to improve health is that, frankly, no method of weight loss that produces permanent results exists. Hmmm, think about that for a moment. If we know that permanent weight loss is not possible, and all the studies that look at weight loss find that eventually people regain weight, than how can anyone recommend weight loss as a method of treating any chronic disease or illness?
More and more research is revealing that most health markers, i.e. blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, can be improved through changing health behaviors, regardless of whether a person loses weight or not. This explains the growing interest in a weight-neutral approach to health!
Myth #3: It won’t hurt to diet.
Fact: Dieting and intentional weight loss causes more harm than good. Dieting is known to actually increase factors that contribute to disease risk. For example, intentional weight loss increases psychological stress, inflammation, risk for cardiovascular disease and reduces bone mass (think osteoporosis).
Weight loss also increases anxiety about weight and body image, which promotes eating disorders, increases binge eating and actually makes a person less likely to be active. In other words, the more you think about your weight the less happy you are with your body, and the less likely you are to take care of it.
The best thing you can do for your health is to never diet again.
Focusing on physical activity, quality of diet and stress management while allowing your weight to be as it is can help you optimize your health and improve the quality of your life.
Here’s to saying sayonara to diets,
Rebecca
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