Those of you who read my articles on a regular basis may have noticed a theme in the types of topics I cover. Some of you may have even perceived a discrepancy in the topics I advocate for. You may ask how I can promote positive body image at the same time as recommending calorie labeling and food policy. I am the first one to admit, that on the surface, these issues may seem contradictory, or at least, at odds with each other. However, below the surface, they are not.
There are several reasons why the fields of obesity prevention and eating disorder prevention can go hand-in-hand. The first and most prominent, perhaps, is that since many eating disorders develop after a diet, there is more incentive to promote healthy weight management and eating without dieting.
Eating Disorders can emanate from a diet that goes too far or even when deprivation leads to a person over-indulging or finding other ways to compensate for their intake. Therefore, if we can prevent considerable weight gain in the first place by ensuring that food policy makes healthier foods more accessible, affordable, and desirable, we may also be able to prevent a subset of eating disorders.
Another facet of the connection of the two topics is the relationship people have with food. Our culture is so focused on food that our relationship with food and the importance of food in our lives has become severely distorted. Therefore, a movement in mindful eating has begun, advocating for the treatment of eating disorders and obesity in order help us savor and be mindful of what we are eating.
The last, and perhaps most important part of the connection between obesity and eating disorder prevention, is positive body image and self-acceptance. Although many stigmatizing methods have been used to encourage people to lose weight, such as displaying unflattering pictures of overweight individuals, this is not the healthiest way to motivate people.
Not only does it de-humanize the person to be harangued for being ‘fat’, but it makes them feel worthless and low self-esteem can lead to eating disorders, while not helping prevent obesity. If you do not accept yourself as you are, no matter how skinny you get, you will never love or accept yourself. Trust me, I have been in a similar situation. Self-acceptance and love of your body will do more to motivate you towards healthiness than any critical remark, demeaning photo, or incentive to lose weight.
I have been fortunate to learn some of these lessons from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Not only is the Rudd Center at the forefront of food policy, but is also leading the movement to reduce weight stigma. They have started to compile photographs of people at various weights engaging in healthy activities in order to start replacing the stock photos that are so demeaning towards overweight people and that are often seen in the news. There is considerable weight discrimination in the workplace, schools, and even in the home. This ‘fat talk’ and stigmatization has to end if we truly want to confront both obesity and eating disorders.
Therefore, some steps taken to curb the threat of obesity may also be a couple steps forward in the fight to prevent eating disorders and to ensure positive body image. We just have to make sure that the two fields work in tandem, making use of the research that is done on both fronts. I will continue to write on both topics, trying to tie together the seemingly disparate areas into a meaningful whole.
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