The F*ck It Diet. Caroline Dooner

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СКАЧАТЬ even more interesting is that their health markers and self-esteem became worse than they had been when they started two years before. For both groups, they were testing blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL, depression symptoms, and more. All that dieting backfired big-time. And, as you can imagine, they all felt horrible about themselves. So the diet group ended the two years less healthy than they started, even though they were still sticking to their plans. Dieting not only made them heavier, but it screwed with their health.

      And the intuitive group? The ones who strove to live healthfully and happily as they were? After two years that group had not collectively lost any weight; however, all of their health markers improved. (Again, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL, depression symptoms, etc.) They learned to live, move, and eat intuitively, learned to forgive themselves, and start doing activities for the pure joy of it, and they became healthier without losing any weight, while still being in the “obese” BMI range. They were able to improve their health without any weight loss at all.

      This debunks two deeply entrenched cultural myths: First, it shows that diets don’t work long-term. No matter how much support and willpower you have, even if you stick to your diet, there is a biological and metabolic backlash. We believe diets must work because we initially lose weight, and initially improve health. So when things go south and blow up in our faces, we assume it’s our own fault. We don’t understand the long-term effects of the diet: the weight regain, how bad it is for our health and metabolism, and the fact that we get into a miserable cycle of self-blame. Really, it’s our body’s weight-regulation system that is actually running the show all along.

      The second myth we can bust is the idea that thin is healthy and fat is unhealthy. These two groups of women show that you cannot tell someone’s health from their weight. You cannot tell a person’s habits by looking at them. Many fat people are actively on a diet—as they are constantly told to be—and they are trying and failing to lose weight. You just can’t tell from looking at a person.

      Weight is also not as in control of our health as we think. The Health at Every Size movement is asking us to switch our goal from weight loss to healthy, life-affirming habits. Our habits dictate the health we can control, and genetics and other social, emotional, or environmental variables dictate the rest.

      Blaming people for their health isn’t fair or productive, because healing is not easy, cheap, or straightforward. Wouldn’t it be nice if health were as simple as eating and exercising a certain way? But it’s not. There is no surefire way to avoid illness. Health nuts get cancer and heart attacks all of the time. And doctors and scientists disagree about the healthiest way to eat all of the time.

      Of course, we want to be healthy. Of course. Wanting to be healthy isn’t the problem, but it does ignore how much of it is out of our hands. It’s ignoring that right now at this very moment we are both thriving and dying, and that if we could actually control it, the little 106-year-old Italian woman who smoked and chugged olive oil every day and cited “not marrying again” as the secret to her longevity wouldn’t be the centenarian—we would be. We would be, and we would credit kombucha and sprouts and be so, so proud of ourselves. But that’s not how life works. And it’s not how health and longevity work either.

      There’s even lots of research showing that people in the overweight BMI category live longer than people deemed “normal” weight, and that people who are even moderately obese live at least as long as people with “normal” BMIs. Yep. It’s true.⁵

      Weight-loss studies rarely look at the impact of health and weight regain over time, because it’s hard and expensive to do. They usually just focus on immediate, short-term, and temporary weight loss and improvement.

      For everyone who is still sure that giving up on dieting means giving up on their health, here are some tidbits that will be helpful to hear:

      One of the biggest indicators of weight is genetics.⁶ We all have “set points,” weight ranges that the body will try to maintain. No matter how you are eating or moving, there is a weight range your body wants to be in—some people’s are higher, and some are lower. Your body will adjust your metabolism in order to keep you in your set point range.⁷ We do know that dieting has been seen to raise weight set points.⁸ Meaning that your body will have a new normal at a higher weight than it was before you started dieting. Survival.

      Exercise is one of the best things we can do for our health—but in moderation.⁹ Exercise doesn’t need to be painful or miserable. In fact, it is way better for you as joyful movement and something that feels good to you—not punishment. Too much forced¹⁰ exercise isn’t good for your body or longevity either.¹¹ Just like dieting, exercise won’t necessarily change weight long-term.

      Social status and feelings of personal power have more impact on your health than even your health habits.¹² Autonomy and control over your day, your job, your activities, your money, and your life leads to more contentment, which is great for your overall health. And the acute stress that comes from being marginalized or powerless, or feeling shame and prejudice, are all terrible for your health,¹³ regardless of weight or even the way you eat. The way you are treated, and treat yourself, affects your health.

      Not feeling you have any power in your life can make you sicker than any of your health habits¹⁴ . . . that’s huge. Experiencing discrimination, or even just perceived discrimination,¹⁵ is terrible for your health. And traumatic experiences that are completely out of our control can have major impacts on our health long-term as well. For instance, survivors of the Holocaust concentration camps had significantly higher rates of fibromyalgia,¹⁶ even decades later. And survivors of childhood abuse are at higher risk for having autoimmune disorders.¹⁷

      What this all really means is that we have been blaming ourselves for our health and our weight, when in reality there is so much that is out of our control. And what this also means is that social change, kindness, and empowering ourselves and others will end up being more helpful and important to our collective health than any “war on obesity.” There are unhealthy fat people and healthy fat people, unhealthy thin people and healthy thin people. Losing weight does not guarantee you good health, especially if the weight loss happens in a self-punishing way.

      The Health at Every Size study is eye-opening and liberating—but it can also freak people out. Because what lots of people hear is, “You mean . . . even if I learn to eat normally, I’m stuck in this body forever!?” What’s important to realize is that we can’t control our weight long-term. We’ve tried. You’ve tried. And if you’re reading this book, chances are you’ve consistently failed to keep control—and now here you are.

      The good news is, the calmer and more fed your body is, the better it will work, and the healthier and more stable your weight and appetite will be. Bodies end up right where they belong when you stop trying to control weight. The only thing we can control is how we treat ourselves, and learning to feed ourselves normally. And the sooner you can accept that your body will handle this whole weight thing for you, the sooner your health and life will improve.

GUESS WHICH INDUSTRY MAKES $60 BILLION A YEAR?

      Think about how much money you have spent chasing weight loss. How many books have you bought? How many plans have you subscribed to? How many protein bars? How much money on Fitbits and other weird gadgets? How many pounds of almond flour? How much money have you hemorrhaged for the diet industrial complex? And what have you gotten out of it? Chronic low energy, and a deepening distrust in your seemingly insatiable appetite?

      The СКАЧАТЬ