From the Guelph Mercury:
Body image concepts need rethink, health adviser tells Guelph audience
GUELPH — People need to rethink their
concepts of body image and obesity, educator Jonathan Robison told
local health care professionals Thursday.
“We know people can be fit and fat,” he told those attending a Health At Every Size forum organized by the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition.
The keys to a healthy weight is
“normal eating,” described as natural, relaxed, appropriate consumption
that avoids overeating; as well as an active lifestyle and a
self-acceptance of the body a person has by rejecting seductive
idealized images of skinny models in the media, said Robison, a Michigan
professor with expertise in health education, exercise physiology and
human nutrition.
Among the 55 people attending the
forum was University of Guelph honours psychology student Ashley
Skinner, 26, who struggled with anorexia from six to 20 years of age and
today runs the campus Acceptance Without Limits group focused on body
awareness and eating disorders.
Skinner, raised in Newfoundland, said
in an interview it was vital for her to improve her attitude toward her
body and build self-esteem to overcome anorexia.
“I really wish I had heard messages
like this when I was growing up,” she said, relating to much of what
Robison addressed in a lengthy presentation at the Italian Canadian
Club.
Robison, using projected images of
sickly thin magazine models, called for a “new peace movement” to make a
societal shift from weight-centred to health-focused, where “thin is
not in” and fat is not seen invariably as leading to an early grave.
People, he stressed, come in all
weights and sizes and need not spend their lives struggling
unsuccessfully to lose pounds and keep them off. (Ninety-five per cent
of dieting people gain the weight back within five years, he reported.)
Robison described a healthy weight as
where the body settles when people transition into active, fulfilling
and meaningful lives where they feel comfortable with their fitness and
eating habits. He termed society’s obsession with thin bodies as
“weightism,” and put it “on the same level” as racism, sexism and
homophobia.
“There’s a lot of body dissatisfaction,” coalition chair April Gates said in an interview. “It gets to an unhealthy level.”
It’s an issue not only for the
public, but health professionals seeking what’s best for people, said
Gates, who works at the Homewood health centre.
Along with Robison, she brushed aside
public concern about an ‘obesity epidemic.’ “There’s no reliable
research to support it,” said Gates, whose organization is now
celebrating its 10th year. Fear, she said, merely energizes the dieting
industry.
Robison dispelled common myths like
obesity leads to adult-onset diabetes, also known as Type 2. “Eighty per
cent of fat people don’t have Type 2 diabetes.”
He also warned against making a link between overweight conditions and illnesses, saying that’s proven elusive to assess.
Further, someone may tip the scale above a perceived ideal weight and still be healthy.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Robison advised.
He attacked Hollywood’s obscenely
idealized image of a female model with a 23-inch waist, which he said is
the same circumference as a soccer ball.
As to losing weight to improve health and longevity, Robison was succinct. “This is an unsubstantiated hypothesis.”
Robison, warmly received by the
coalition, was also slated to give a free public address Thursday
evening at the University Centre, titled Weight, Health & Culture: Exposing the Myths; Exploring the Realities.
vkirsch@guelphmercury.com
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Eating Disorders Awareness Coalition
