Est 5 min read
Today, we're talking about how the medical system is likely gaslighting you or someone you love, if you or someone you love has a fat/larger body. By larger, I mean a size that is considered bigger but can even be someone who is an average body size. But for the purpose of categorization for this blog post, in terms of the people who are likely to get treated poorly in the medical field due to weight stigma, the categories of BMI called overweight or higher; overweight, obese and beyond. Remember, we know that the BMI is bogus, and it's harmful. But when you go to the doctor, they're still going to put you in the BMI categories, either by being weighed that day, or if you refuse, which you're allowed to do, the weight that was already in the system, or simply by looking at you…even though they can't measure your BMI by looking at you. But they'll still put you into that category mentally. This categorization leads to weight stigma and Anti-fat bias in healthcare. The BMI is the standard measure of health because of systems of oppression and the BMI categories were created by pharmaceutical companies who were trying to sell weight loss drugs.
These are the systems of oppression that contribute to this stigma. It's a problem because you're not likely getting the kind of medical care that you actually need or deserve.
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Est 3 min read
I want to talk about one of the ways that our systemic culture of capitalism adds to challenges with food and your body. One of the ways that this capitalist culture manifests is through this idea that food is optional, eating is not necessary, that if you need to take breaks to eat, if you need to have lunch, or snacks, or any of those sorts of things, somehow you're weak or weird; You should be able to just drink coffee, push through, and work the whole time you're at work. How damaging that culture is! I have a client who works for a software company and we were talking about how challenging it is to actually break away from the team group work that they're doing, and go have a lunch break, and how no one else seems to think that food is necessary. This is something that really makes me angry because food is absolutely necessary! Est 4 min read
How often do you override or ignore it when you're hungry? Do you even know what it feels like when you're hungry? Or, do you have to wait until you get hit over the head with hunger? When you're thirsty, have to go to the bathroom, or working, and you want to just push through and keep going? There's probably a lot of ways that you do this all day long. Most of us do this because our systems of oppression condition and encourage us to do this. I love the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski. They talk about being a human giver versus being a human being; how human giver syndrome is designed to make you feel your value and worth is dependent on serving the human beings. This dynamic is tied up in all of these systems of oppression, patriarchy, capitalism, white supremacy, diet culture, and ableism. All of these systems of oppression want to keep you overworking, busy, ignoring yourself, feeling small, and just terrible, so that you don't do anything you really want to do, and so that you can't speak up about things or fight against any of the terrible things that are happening. Est 5 min read
Cake is my very favorite, I love cake. So, so much! Prior to intuitive eating, I would restrict food and I would do this for a lot of reasons:
For all of these reasons, I restricted food. Cake was always collateral damage. And, my love for cake really made this a struggle. After doing a restrictive diet for a while, it would be my birthday or a special occasion, and I'd think, I'm going off of my diet and I'm going to eat all the things. I would get a cake and I would be so preoccupied with it. Typically, I couldn't pass the kitchen without going in and eating at least a few bites of it. I would eat a much larger slice than what actually would feel good to me and feel really bad. And then I would eat more. I would constantly think about it until I would either have to finish the whole cake or it would have to be taken out of the house. Basically I couldn't stop thinking about it until it was gone. Sometimes I would give it away because I'd think, I can't trust myself with this. I’d literally say to people, please don't leave that cake here, take it away from me. |
Download your free hunger scale now!The first step to healing your relationship with food is reconnecting with the signals your body gives you. One of the ways to do that is by checking in with your hunger before you eat. Here's my spin on the traditional hunger scale..
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