But… what about health?

Everyone has always assured me, that they were reeaally caring about my health when they advised me to lose weight. My mother, my doctor, my family, my friends, my colleagues, and the people I hardly knew – all of them always talking about healthy eating and exercise as the only means to achieve so called “health”. If I were lucky, they were only referring to their own “health” status and the need to be “better” at it. And you do not need to go far to see health-concern trolls commenting on every single body-positive post or article. The question everyone asks is: what about health?

At Body Trust certification training, we were asked a different and very valuable question. What is your definition of health? Try to take some minutes now and answer it for yourself!

……

Now go online and look for a definition of “health”. I bet you will find a long list of very different definitions, because the concept of health is extremely difficult to define. You may ask yourself, for example:

• Who does the definition exclude and include (people with any illness are excluded, or only some illnesses?)
• Which health do they exactly care about (physical, mental, emotional, social)?
• Can people with disabilities be healthy (if not caused by illness of any kind but just by accident for example)?

So, what about health?

I think we should call the animal that quacks by its name. When we talk about health-concerned people, we really talk about “healthism”. The people who talk about their diets and exercise, their supplements and their special cleanses and their juices and all that jazz… they strongly believe that the most important, even primary goal of their lives is the achievement of well-being through a certain “healthy” lifestyle.

Unfortunately, most people believe in the idea of meritocracy as it relates to health. According to that belief, we not only have the responsibility for our individual health, but we also can control our health through a set of prescribed individual behavioral choices.

Sadly, most people completely disregard an array of factors beyond our control, just to name a few:

• Genetics
• Poverty / economic status
• Oppression, discrimination, stigma
• Trauma of all kinds
• Stress of all kinds
• Environmental pollution

I love this quote from Sonya Renee Taylor:

“Health is not a state we owe the world. We are not less valuable, worthy, or lovable because we are not healthy. (…) there is no standard of health that is achievable for all bodies.”

So, focusing on your lifestyle choices or behaviours can be problematic. But it does not mean you should be discouraged if you enjoy eating your favourite fruits and veggies and love moving your body. Let’s be grateful if we have access to safe foods and sport facilities or lovely parks and forests! But let’s also remember, that not everyone has the same access or ability and not everyone can substantially affect their so called “health” outcomes by simply changing their habits.

So, how can we take care of our well-being to the best extent possible, if we do not necessarily have access or ability to change our environment, habits, genetics, and any other circumstances? The answer is: harm reduction. We make the best choices we can and relax and accept the reality. This process is not easy and typically involves working through lots of grief. We grieve our dream ideal of “body size”, “health”, “fitness” or whichever goal we were pursuing. If you need some support in that journey and are curious how I can help, get in touch 💙