HealthNotDiets Digest, Issue 41, 2018
October 5 - October 11, 2018
As always, if you like what you read here, please support the original author by liking/sharing/following/up-voting/subscribing directly to their feed.
Happy reading!
Articles & Blogs
3 Ways Public Health Professionals Can Combat Weight Stigma
by Kendrin Sonneville and Katherine Bauer
“There is a perverse fear that if our society accepts larger bodies, the health of our population will plummet. Meanwhile, over a decade of research demonstrates that weight stigma harms individual and the public’s health”
Weight Stigma Is One Of The Last Socially Acceptable Forms Of Discrimination
by Michael Hobbes
“One of the tragedies of stigma is that it’s always the people most victimized by it who have to do the work of solving it. Even though it was never their problem to begin with.”
Note: if only we had so few forms of socially accepted discrimination that this could be one of the last ones- it’s a terrible title!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/obesity-health-fat-shaming...
Take the Cake: Why Fat Liberation Isn’t About Whether Fat People Are Healthy
by Virgie Tovar
“I see the path to fat justice as one paved through the assertion of and insistence upon fat people’s full humanity and our right to a life free from discrimination — not our health status.”
https://ravishly.com/fat-liberation?utm_sq=fvgurfc76g&utm_source=Weekly+Digest&utm...
The Australian Health Curriculum – Is it helping or harming our children?
by Kelly, Embracing Nutrition
“To children, food is part of their daily routine, rituals or celebrations and something that engages their senses. Food is not understood with abstract dominant adult-like nutrition messages. Children connect to food with their relationship to food rather than what’s considered healthy and unhealthy. Complex health messages like nutrients....require a level of understanding beyond a child’s cognitive ability.”
Diet mindset and exercise: Are you mixing the two?
by Jodie Arnot
“Physical activity has so many wonderful benefits for our mental and physical health, however these are often overshadowed by the perpetual focus on weight and appearance.“
https://www.jodiearnot.com.au/blog/diet-mindset-and-exercise
Deep Work: How to Develop the Most Valuable Skill of the 21st Century
by Dan Silvestre
“We constantly engage most of our time on shallow work activities, thus reducing our capacity to perform deep work. As a result, this ability is becoming increasingly rare and increasingly valuable in our economy.”
Pressuring your picky eater won't work
by Sandee LaMotte
"It’s not new that parents should not pressure their picky child but they continue to do it...So hopefully studies like this can help hammer the message home.”
https://edition-m.cnn.com/2018/07/30/health/picky-eater-toddler-study/index.html...
The strain of carrying the 'mental load' is a serious health concern
by Kate Gregorevic
"I am not alone in feeling the weight of the mental load of being the primary parent for my wonderful children and managing a career that I love.”
Life drawing ‘can boost teenage body image'
“life drawing has a positive effect on body image, with evidence coming from cross-sectional, experimental and prospective studies in multiple university and community samples”
https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/life-drawing-helps-teen-body-image-issues/news...
4 Mantras to Improve Body Image
by Rennee Engeln
“You don’t have to love the way you look to treat your body with kindness and compassion.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beauty-sick/201809/4-mantras-improve-body-image
Raising Girls with Better Body Image: FAQs
by Lexie Kite
“We are more than bodies. We have work to do, and the world is desperate for every one of us to understand our purpose beyond our looks so we can lead fulfilling lives and contribute good to a world that needs us — not just a pretty vision of us, but all of us. Let’s teach and demonstrate this truth to the girls in our lives.”
https://beautyredefined.org/raising-girls-body-image-faqs/
Can Anorexia Nervosa Affect People of Higher Weights?
by Lauren Muhlheim
“Even in the absence of low weight, practitioners should remain attuned to physical consequences of malnutrition or eating-disordered thoughts and behavior.”
https://www.verywellmind.com/anorexia-nervosa-in-individuals-of-higher-weights-1138302
The (Not So) Tell-Tale (Fat) Heart
by Ragen Chastain
“It turns out that, just like “glorifying obesity” is a myth, so is this meme. This picture is actually a healthy heart that is about to be transplanted into a patient”
https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/the-not-so-tell-tale-fat-heart/
Take The Cake: These 8 Photos Of My Double Chin Helped Me Dump High-Angle Photos Forever
by Virgie Tovar
“It’s important to recognize the power of choosing not to participate in something that is ultimately about erasing you as you actually exist”
https://ravishly.com/double-chin-high-angle-photos
How We Feel About Being Fat
by Vanessa
"being queer suddenly gave me the framework to potentially love my body. It was like…okay, if I can be gay, what else could I be? If this can be okay, what else could be okay?”
CW: includes vivid accounts of self-fatphobia before body liberation
https://www.autostraddle.com/roundtable-how-we-feel-about-being-fat-433787/
Research &
Clinical Practice
NHS must get smarter at spreading clinical knowledge, says Dr Ben Goldacre
by Emma Bower
"This is not about bad doctors, it’s about bad knowledge structures...We need a coordinated machine for disseminating knowledge to frontline decision makers”
https://www.gponline.com/nhs-smarter-spreading-clinical-knowledge...
My final PhD study has launched at last!
If you're a resident of Australia, who is an adult with a body and who eats, I'd be so thrilled if you could consider participating in this research. I need a HEAP of people to do this 20 minute anonymous online survey in order to be able to answer my research questions.
Please feel free to share this with literally Aussie you know as the success of this research relies on people like you doing the survey and then sharing it with others.
Thank you!!!!
The direct link to the survey where you can access all the details is www.bodyfoodsurvey.com.au
Validation of the Intuitive Eating Scale in pregnancy
by Helen Paterson, Jean Hay-Smith, Gareth Treharne, Peter Herbison and Caroline Howarth
The Intuitive Eating Scale now has a version for use during pregnancy.
Paterson, Helen, et al. "Validation of the Intuitive Eating Scale in pregnancy." Journal of health psychology 23.5 (2018): 701-709.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105316671186
The Impacts of Weight Change and Weight Change Intention on Health-Related Quality of Life in the Korean Elderly
by Eun Sun So
"These findings suggest that weight maintenance or weight gain should be recommended rather than weight loss, whether unintentional or intentional, regardless of weight status, to improve [health rated quality of life] among the elderly.”
So, Eun Sun. "The Impacts of Weight Change and Weight Change Intention on Health-Related Quality of Life in the Korean Elderly." Journal of aging and health (2018): 0898264318761908.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0898264318761908
The Association between Adolescent’s Weight Perception and Health Behaviors
by Furong Xu et al.
"perceiving oneself as being overweight/fat regardless of accuracy was associated with more sedentary time for males and less [physical activity] for females despite higher weight loss intention.”
The Association between Adolescent’s Weight Perception and Health Behaviors: Analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data, 2011–2014
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobe/2018/3547856/
Soapbox & Shareables
"be a positive role model for your child around
food and eating"
Another great vid from Healthy Tasmania!
"Today is World Obesity Day. Weight bias is prevalent in society – including among health professionals. Our position statement calls for greater emphasis on optimising health regardless of weight."
https://www.racp.edu.au/advocacy/policy-and-advocacy-priorities/obesity
Take note all medical professionals associations: if the RACP can acknowledge the toxicity of weight stigma enacted by health professionals and call for care that supports health enhancement at any weight, so can you....
Calorie counting and regular self-weighing are not activities that support good health, particularly for young adults, as shown here.
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Weight loss programs often endorse both of these activities, either as an integral part of their programs (eg counting ‘points’ or ‘syns’) or as ‘helpful hints’ (‘stay on track by weighing yourself and writing down everything you eat’).
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In a practical sense this is an ‘eating disorder starter kit’. Time to call out the programs that recommend these harmful behaviours!
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Romano, Kelly A., et al. "Helpful or harmful? The comparative value of self-weighing and calorie counting versus intuitive eating on the eating disorder symptomology of college students." Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity (2018): 1-8.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007...
Like podcasts?
How about bite-sized podcasts that you can claim as professional development?!?
I've designed the Unpacking Weight Science Podcast to suit health professionals, health science students and anyone who wants to know more about human body weight, health outcomes, interpreting weight related research and the far ranging effects of weight bias.
Twice a month, my 20-30 minute podcasts unpack different elements of weight bias & stigma, weight research, BMI, health behaviours and weight neutral approaches. Paid subscribers (only $5/month!) get the podcast six months before everyone else, plus full show notes, reference list, self-test quiz and resource materials for use in practice. This equates to an hour of professional development each month :-)
Available for subscribers now is:
"Measuring Intuitive Eating: Why, How and When'
Ep 14: This episode covers how the Intuitive Eating principles were rendered into academic research in the form of the Intuitive Eating Scale (1 and 2) and why, how and when you can use it in your clinical work, including detailed information about how to interpret the subscale scores.
Subscribe now at: https://www.patreon.com/UnpackingWeightScience
and instantly access 6 months of episodes before the rest of the world
Episodes 1-3 are now on iTunes!
Search 'Unpacking Weight Science'
to listen to them for free!
AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOPS!!
Bookings via www.healthnotdiets.com
Want these 'live'? Then follow me on Twitter (@FionaWiller), Facebook (@HealthNotDiets) and Instagram (@FionaWiller)
Want some training in the non-diet approach or unpacking weight science? Resources include books, courses, workshops and handouts: visit www.healthnotdiets.com
See anything you think I'd like to share or comment about? Post in the comments below or email me at fiona@healthnotdiets.com