When does weight actually impact health, and how can we have constructive conversations around weight and health?

Humans have moved very quickly from being low-level primates trying to find every morsel of food they could, to the dominate species able to summon as many calories as desired by pressing a few buttons. This change has happened so quickly many scientists agree that we still possess a gorging gene that drives us to take in as many calories as possible to protect against starvation. However, when food is so easily accessible this can lead to over-consumption. But when is enough too much? When does weight actually impact health, and how can we have constructive conversations around weight and health? Repeated studies show that our current approach which puts heavy emphasis on weight and BMI do not produce long-term results, and can lead to greater weight gain than when started.

Instructions for post:
Id like you to read the following article about Health at Every Size nutrition. This article does a good job of presenting the basic tenets of this approach while laying out its limitations for public health. After reading this article Id like you to reflect on how our current social commentary on weight and body sizes impacts our ability to have productive conversations and help patients on their health journey. I personally have dealt with disordered eating and used an HAES nutritionist to help me. I found it incredibly helpful to stop thinking about weight and size and what I was eating, and instead learn to focus on how I felt before, during, and after to guide my habits. However, at a certain point, some people will benefit from gaining or losing weight and that cannot yet be ignored.

I ask that you practice empathy with this, remember that we all experience body image issues at some point. The words skinny and fat will mean different things depending on the culture and the person. I have friends who identify as fat and this is the word they prefer to use, and I also know people who are not fat that get upset by being called skinny. Helping others requires meeting them where they are comfortable.

Read:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4386524/#! po=1.56250

Grading Criteria:
Post must reach word limit (300-500 words) (30 points)
There must be at least 2 examples from the article (or articles cited within this one) to support your response (30 points)
Response must be relevant to the questions asked, the prompt is intentionally vague as I assume we all have experiences with this to some degree (30 points)

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