Health + Weight

This morning we trekked to church and enjoyed a stop at our favorite coffee shop afterward (coffee is our favorite thing). We may travel further than most people do for everything but when the view is as beautiful as it is here, we really don't mind. Except for the fact that it takes more effort to actually be on time for everything (ok, to be fair, that is mostly because we have eight kids to get ready as well!).

The kids had hot oats with toppings before church. Mom? Oh ya know, yogurt with berries and an "energy" bite on the way to the car. #wouldnttradeit

Two things: we love pour over/drip coffee (no kuerig or fancy machine here) and who knew that there were disposable pour overs? Genius.

Second: I love these hanging bottles. As we waited for our order I studied how they were hung and I am pretty certain the only thing keeping them afloat is the knot in the rope. Where could I put this in my house?!

Now, I don't have any pretty photos to accompany this next set of info, be warned! A few months back I started reading a blog written by a dietitian not far from me in upstate SC. Frequently I saw her referencing "health at every size" or "HAES" and ditching diets. Assumably dietitians and "diets" go hand in hand, so I started looking more into HAES and ordered the book. I should clarify that dietitian does not = dieting, but DIET in the form of everything that you eat: your daily "diet".  Also that dietitians play a number of roles from working in school settings to working in the NICU to nursing homes, not every dietitian works in a field that involves weight and weight loss.

Book in hand, I was amazed. As someone who has gone through my own season of weight loss, years of my early adult life obese. As someone who aids women through their own periods of weight loss and health basics, the facts and the research behind the harm of purposeful calorie restriction intrigued me.  My entire life I've always "heard" and "known" that fat=unhealthy. With the billion-dollar diet industry and advertising, it is safe to assume that the general population agrees, if you are overweight you are unhealthy.  The HAES organization debunks that myth.

Here are a handful of facts that intrigued me the most while studying this book (which is available for you/anyone to read for yourself and I encourage you to do so!):

-We are not experiencing an "obesity epidemic". As a matter of fact, obesity rates have been the same for women and children since 1999, men since 2003. As a nation, we are all getting larger, not just in weight but in height as well. There is no evidence to support the claim that this weight gain is a crisis, and to quote the book... "our bodies have adjusted to our current lifestyle habits and environmental conditions and are now kicking in to maintain us at a new setpoint, albeit a higher one than our ancestors, who experienced different conditions."

-The idea that weight plays a large causal role in disease is unproven except with sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and a few cancers in morbidly obese individuals. The author has full chapters where she digs into all of the science, the studies, the articles and the evidence that would be impossible for me to relay into a blog post. She digs into obesity and cancer, obesity and type 2 diabetes, obesity, and atherosclerosis, obesity, and hypertension and more. At the end of the section about cancer she quotes the CDC epidemiologists that there is "little or no association of excess all-cancer mortality with any of the BMI categories".  To sum it up simply for you- there is no evidence or research that actually proves that being obese increases your risk for the above-mentioned diseases. Obesity has been greatly misrepresented and exaggerated as a risk.

-The only way for overweight individuals to improve health is to lose weight, is false. "Most health indicators can be improved through changing health behaviors, regardless of whether weight is lost". 

-Overweight and obese people die sooner than leaner people, also false. "Almost all epidemiologic studies indicate people in the overweight or moderately obese categories live at least as long or longer than people in the normal weight category". 

You guys, there is just so much good information in this book. I could go on and on, but if you have any interest in health, weight, diets, or nutrition snag this book and read it. It is not just chock full of opinions, no. In the back of the book the author has listed 437 references and eight pages of resources. Not to mention that the HAES studies were also government funded.

-Lower body weight and/or BMI does not equal healthy.
-Losing weight does not make you "healthier" (actually, you may be surprised to find out what kind of effects losing weight actually has on the body).
-Health does not equal weight/vice versa.
-When people say "healthy", they usually just mean "thin", assuming that "thin" means they are healthy.


*please note that these studies, research and reference is to the general population of people. Not the tiny percentage of people who are so obese they can barely walk or stand, etc. That is not the majority of our nation.* 

If you have an opinion or question or thought to share about any of the above quoted from HAES with me, reach out! I love talking about this stuff with people. Now, we are off to my nieces 2nd Birthday Party!

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