According to my BMI I'm obese. According to google I'm smaller (thinner) than the average British woman. According to the NHS guidelines I eat, drink and exercise in a healthy range. According to some shops I'm "plus size". According to my step counter I don't move enough. According to the cereal packet I eat multiple portions in one sitting. It's tough to know whether I'm getting anything right and not a surprise that I have conflicted self-esteem in terms of my health.
IT's been a tough few weeks for the Body Positivity movement. Recently we had the backlash against Nike's realistic mannequin which caused arguments over whether or not Nike were encouraging women to stay this size and even comments saying women of this size shouldn't even be wearing exercise gear.
Following on from that Cancer Research UK have launched a campaign around obesity and its links to cancer. These kinds of stories are pretty unhelpful in changing the narrative around self-esteem. They scream the message that health=body size and I scream back "Nooooooooooooooo!!!!".
The World Health Organisation defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing." Cancer Research UK, whilst trying to improve physical wellbeing have completely ignored the mental and social wellbeing of people struggling with their weight. IN 2011 THE UK government published a paper "No Health Without Mental Health" aimed at addressing the lack of parity in how physical and mental health are treated within the NHS. It was a really positive step in terms of improving access to mental health support but what it failed to identify was that the mental and physical health are intrinsically linked. People who are in a healthy mental state, a state of positive wellbeing, are able to better physically care for bodies.
What does that mean for me, the thirty something year old woman who's feeling a bit fat and probably giving myself cancer every time I reach for a Mars Bar?
That woman needs a solution that can help her address the mental as well as the physical. Just before she picks up the phone to call Weight Watchers (probably on speed dial!) she needs to give herself a check up. Where are my thoughts coming from? How have I been feeling lately? Is there anything going on that might be making me feel off kilter? Am I looking after myself? Maybe she needs to indulge in a bit of self-care. Maybe she needs to check in with a professional if self-care isn't enough. There's a lot of help out there from places that don't have an agenda to keep you trapped in their diet cycle (I'm looking at you Slimming World and Weight Watchers).
Am I healthy? Not all the time, no but when I'm not it has more to do with my negative self-talk and neglecting my emotional wellbeing than it does the Freddo I'm eating as I write this.
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Click here for one of the tools I use to remind me of ways I can look after myself.
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