Body Weight Confirmation
May 17, 2008 — tfootitt“We are routinely and authoritatively told that fatness equals sickness and badness. We are also warned about a global obesity epidemic that threatens world health in general and the health of Ireland in particular. In such a context, we are urged to watch our collective waistline and take increasing personal responsibility for lifestyle choices which will presumably leave us all slimmer and healthier. What are we to make of these claims? Contrary to the conventional view, critical contributors to the obesity debate have recently argued that the science legitimating the war on fat is highly uncertain and founded upon problematic assumptions about what actually determines health. It has also been argued that medical and popular solutions to ‘excess’ weight are often ineffective and, rather ironically, the current moral panic around body fat may contribute towards eating disorders and other health problems. Even so, the message is continually conveyed, with certainty, that most people are too heavy, that it is unhealthy and unacceptable to be fat and that ‘the obesity epidemic’ should be tackled.” http://www.ul.ie/sociology/obforum.html
I have memories of going to see the school nurse for regular weigh in sessions and being told to cut out certain foods, fortunately, my parents encouraged me to ignore this (which I did) and continued to eat as I had been doing because I would lose it in my teenage years, Guess what - I did!
You can’t have one measurement and apply it to all without taking other factors in to account because as in my case, it doesn’t work.
I always did a lot of exercise and was very active throughout my youth but my body didn’t conform to the governments measurements which at that time were based on height - weight ratio. I successfully joined the Armed Forces in my Teens, but yet again had to reduce my weight significantly to gain entry to the point of being told that I was still over weight when all that was on me was muscle. I had significantly cut out a lot of food and was exercising hard daily to be able to achieve this target which looking back was unrealistic for me. The smallest size as an adult that I have been was a 13 but this was during my teens and Armed Forces training which saw me doing a lot of physical activity and living off Jaffa Cakes (not really healthy).
I think the current way we are encouraged to view our bodies lets us perceive it as a seperate entity and not part of us as a whole.
I recently went to a TCM class with a number of my peers, we got to have a go at taking pulses combined with tongue diagnosis and did some cupping - it was great.
We broke up into smaller groups and diagnosed each other. The teacher then came around and discussed our diagnosis with us. I was diagnosed as having a Damp SPleen constitution which the teacher explained really well, he said that I might well be feeding my body really healthy nutritious food but if we compared it to a factory, the goods were being delivered to the warehouse but the staff were just sitting around looking at it because they didn’t have any energy to move. He went on to explain that my body would benefit more from hot food rather than cold food as this took less energy to process and get the nutrients from it.
I love TCM and the fact that it addresses the individual rather than trying to apply an average measure to all.
It was also wonderful to get confirmation on how my body worked, after observing it all my life but never having a true explanation of what I knew.
So taking all this into account, I’d long accepted that a healthy size for me is a 14 and that the best person to understand my body is me, beacuse it’s part of who I am.
There’s an interesting post on weight and body shape here:
http://www.slimdynamics.com/body-types-and-weight-loss.php
”Is it possible that the current ‘obesity discourse’ may actually be detrimental to the public’s health? We argue that whilst obesity can be and often is a serious problem, for some people, the current discourse around obesity may rather ironically be shaping public understanding of health, the body, diet and weight in often negative and harmful ways. There is a great deal we do not know about obesity, weight and its effect on health (see European Youth Heart Study Symposium, 2005). “ http://www.ul.ie/sociology/obforum.html#Evans