Hello, hello, hello everyone! I know that it has been a little quiet on here recently but I am back and ready to rumble. And I want to go straight ahead and talk about a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately.
Funny enough this has been on my mind for different reasons. First, I read an article on popsugar which introduced the term Food Freedom to my vocabulary. I’ll catch you up on that in a minute! The second thing that happened was an innocent dinner where there was low-key fat-shaming involved. I am starting with this right away to anticipate in someone being triggered. So if this is a difficult topic for you feel free to skip to the end of the article for a happy ending!
So, let’s start with Food Freedom. This term is used by those in the anti dieting movement as well as “intuitive eaters”. And it means that you are able to enjoy the pleasure of food without stressing about it or feeling guilty. The article is really good and you should definitely check it out!
But seeing this made me really mad. Why do we need an extra word to describe feeling pleasure while eating? Which means feeling pleasure while surviving, basically. What’s wrong with our society? Let’s not open that door just yet, shall we?
What also absolutely blew my mind is the fact that there are fat-positive dietitians. The fact that there’s a need for that because you can’t just go and see a dietitian who will help you eat healthier if you’re overweight. No, you have to spend hours on the internet to find someone who is not going to tell you to lose a ton of weight even though you fell good in your body.
Before I start to go on and on I also want to catch you up on the dinner I previously mentioned.
We were 5 people at the table, one over the age of 60. And this man over the age of 60 was talking about a teenage girl that was overweight. I have never met this girl so I can’t really say anything about that. But what he said was that she will always look like that, that she ruined her skin because it’s loose already and it was not a pleasant conversation. I have to tell you that I did not say enough on her behalf. That I didn’t find the right words in that moment. Because what I should have said is that it doesn’t matter what size she is and that she is beautiful no matter what. Along with asking if he knew where the fat in her body was located if he could even know if she had any extra health risks because of her weight.
And what also bothered me is that that night there were only more or less skinny people at the table and I am going to bet that at least two of them don’t have a good relationship with food.
But because being skinny fits the current beauty ideal it doesn’t matter if they eat enough. They also told us that the teenage girl was hungry more often than they expected and when she was hungry she asked for food…………tell me again what the problem is here? Eating when you’re hungry? Being used to eating a lot so when you like the food you also eat more than others?
I also eat more than others. Not once have we had that conversation. Why is it ok to tell someone who weighs more that their size is wrong?
Who are we to judge? And where did we even get our information? Have we tested where the fat is located in the body of said person? Probably not. Have we taken in all the factors to make an informed decision? We proooobably didn’t.
Because it’s really hard to tell if someone even is overweight. And the measurement is bs. The BMI? Come on, people. What about muscles? Wladimir Klitschko, boxing world champion would be overweight according to his BMI. Because muscles are heavier than fat. BMI doesn’t care. At this point I would like to point out that seeing muscles on a really skinny person that doesn’t work out is not an achievement. That is just low body fat. But society doesn’t care, right? If you can’t see the muscles they probably don’t exist. I believe that this is deeply anchored in our subconsciousness. So if you’re overweight you can only lose in the eyes of our society.
Did you know that you don’t necessarily have higher health risks if you’re overweight? Well, now you do!
I just want to say real quick that this is not about promoting an unhealthy lifestyle or not working out and eating all the sugary food from the grocery store.
Avoid saturated fatty acids because they do nothing for your health, and try to move your body even if you’re just going for a walk.
But this is about society not considering any of the facts and just looking for someone to judge.
Always remember you don’t know a person just by looking at them. And even if you know that person who gave you the right to judge another person.
So this was my rant on that topic. I’d love to hear what you think, let me know in the comments or via the contact form on the right. You can also reach out to me via instagram to tell me if you have been confronted with fat-shaming before and how you reacted.
Stay safe everyone and see you soon,
Ingalisa