People want to shout “Fat is bad” with the same zeal that they would have shouted “The sun revolves around the Earth” just a few years ago and pretend that it’s not possible that they’ve got it completely wrong. But history and the evidence points in another direction:
Habits, not weight, are the best determinant of health. [1]
Fat people are not the cause for the rise in healthcare costs. [2]
Intentional weight loss almost never works in the long term. [3]
You can absolutely be fit and fat. [4]
Those who espouse Size Acceptance and Health at Every Size are just the new Galileo on the block. It wasn’t easy for him either but the fact that he was put under house arrest and told to sit down and shut up didn’t change the fact that what he was saying was true. It’s up to us to keep reminding people that “Everybody” very rarely knows anything and that if your arguments are based on what “everybody knows” then it’s time to check your sources. In the meantime, we can employ strategies to deal with this emotionally and decide that if they want a war on obesity, we’ll give them one!
