Hi. In today's episode, Katy Stoll looks at America's obsession with weight, how social media has made this obsession worse, and how we can be more empatheti...
Worth remembering - within certain ranges obesity isn’t actually correlated with poor health outcomes, the stress of trying to maintain a strict diet regime causes chronic stress damage by itself, chronic stress and environmental factors have at least as much to do with obesity as what you eat, poverty and things like food deserts or just not having the time, energy, or money to cook drives obesity, depression drives obesity, sedentary lifestyles drive obesity.
And, the most important one - considerably more than 90% of people who undertake a calorie restriction diet regain all the lost weight, or more, within 5 years.
Like don’t get me wrong, i hate the way I look and would be thrilled to drop 70 pounds, but the obsession with weight is anti-scientific, actively counter-productive, and viciously individualizes societal problems. For people who aren’t so heavy that it’s causing serious impairment in mobility cardio and a little strength training are far more important than worrying about weight, and the evidence pretty clearly says that struggling to lose weight is worse for your health than not doing that.
And, the most important one - considerably more than 90% of people who undertake a calorie restriction diet regain all the lost weight, or more, within 5 years.
That doesn’t mean much really. The failure rate for going vegetarian or vegan is about the same, between 80-90%. It’s about the same for any major dietary change. Changing what you eat is extremely difficult, no matter what the change is, weather it’s eating less, eating more, or eating different foods. Most people will fall back into old habits at some point. It’s not an individual problem, it’s a problem with the food industry and society, like you said in the last paragraph. That doesn’t mean individuals shouldn’t try change where they can though. It’s much harder than it should be, but it is worthwhile at the end of the day.
That doesn’t mean much really. The failure rate for going vegetarian or vegan is about the same, between 80-90%. It’s about the same for any major dietary change. Changing what you eat is extremely difficult, no matter what the change is, weather it’s eating less, eating more, or eating different foods. Most people will fall back into old habits at some point. It’s not an individual problem, it’s a problem with the food industry and society, like you said in the last paragraph. That doesn’t mean individuals shouldn’t try change where they can though. It’s much harder than it should be, but it is worthwhile at the end of the day.
I mean, it does mean much. It means that any attempt at doing so is more or less fruitless and people who say otherwise are just exhibiting confirmation bias and are almost certainly more privileged than the 90%. And of course I’d also say that’s why moralizing vegetarian or vegan diets is also nonsense for the same reason.
I know it’s not your main point but I think this is a bad argument against veganism. Yes it’s hard not to eat flesh in a flesh-eating society. How else are we supposed to build a society that allows people to be vegan? Even under socialism, governments won’t ban slaughterhouses or whatever without a movement asking them to. The presence of just a few resolute vegans allows other people the social space to do the same thing. One vegan goes hungry at the pizza party. If you have three, maybe you order falafel instead.
No, it really doesn’t mean much. Claiming it’s fruitless to try to make a lifestyle change because most people who try fail isn’t helpful to anyone. About 85% of former smokers relapse within the first year, but if a friend of yours wanted to quit smoking, would you tell them “oh, you shouldn’t even try because you’ll just fail anyway”? I would personally encourage them and try to be a support system they could lean on! Likewise, if I had an overweight friend who wanted to lose weight, I’d support them!
When I was obese and losing weight, I appreciated my friends who supported and encouraged me a whole lot more than the “friends” who tried to sabotage me by telling me stuff like “weight loss is impossible for most people.” (And both groups of friends had underweight, overweight, and normal weight people.)
Worth remembering - within certain ranges obesity isn’t actually correlated with poor health outcomes, the stress of trying to maintain a strict diet regime causes chronic stress damage by itself, chronic stress and environmental factors have at least as much to do with obesity as what you eat, poverty and things like food deserts or just not having the time, energy, or money to cook drives obesity, depression drives obesity, sedentary lifestyles drive obesity.
And, the most important one - considerably more than 90% of people who undertake a calorie restriction diet regain all the lost weight, or more, within 5 years.
Like don’t get me wrong, i hate the way I look and would be thrilled to drop 70 pounds, but the obsession with weight is anti-scientific, actively counter-productive, and viciously individualizes societal problems. For people who aren’t so heavy that it’s causing serious impairment in mobility cardio and a little strength training are far more important than worrying about weight, and the evidence pretty clearly says that struggling to lose weight is worse for your health than not doing that.
That doesn’t mean much really. The failure rate for going vegetarian or vegan is about the same, between 80-90%. It’s about the same for any major dietary change. Changing what you eat is extremely difficult, no matter what the change is, weather it’s eating less, eating more, or eating different foods. Most people will fall back into old habits at some point. It’s not an individual problem, it’s a problem with the food industry and society, like you said in the last paragraph. That doesn’t mean individuals shouldn’t try change where they can though. It’s much harder than it should be, but it is worthwhile at the end of the day.
I mean, it does mean much. It means that any attempt at doing so is more or less fruitless and people who say otherwise are just exhibiting confirmation bias and are almost certainly more privileged than the 90%. And of course I’d also say that’s why moralizing vegetarian or vegan diets is also nonsense for the same reason.
I know it’s not your main point but I think this is a bad argument against veganism. Yes it’s hard not to eat flesh in a flesh-eating society. How else are we supposed to build a society that allows people to be vegan? Even under socialism, governments won’t ban slaughterhouses or whatever without a movement asking them to. The presence of just a few resolute vegans allows other people the social space to do the same thing. One vegan goes hungry at the pizza party. If you have three, maybe you order falafel instead.
No, it really doesn’t mean much. Claiming it’s fruitless to try to make a lifestyle change because most people who try fail isn’t helpful to anyone. About 85% of former smokers relapse within the first year, but if a friend of yours wanted to quit smoking, would you tell them “oh, you shouldn’t even try because you’ll just fail anyway”? I would personally encourage them and try to be a support system they could lean on! Likewise, if I had an overweight friend who wanted to lose weight, I’d support them!
When I was obese and losing weight, I appreciated my friends who supported and encouraged me a whole lot more than the “friends” who tried to sabotage me by telling me stuff like “weight loss is impossible for most people.” (And both groups of friends had underweight, overweight, and normal weight people.)