12 pounds Christmas: Weight does not define health

At the moment there are a lot of people promoting it, including Sky News, that you need to lose weight over the holidays, even though it is believed that the average person gains weight (link removed) - my husband lost more than that after a trip to the bathroom (I'm not being facetious here, the (link removed)).

Where does this all come from and what can we do about it?

First, I need to be clear, no matter what anyone says, weight and health are largely mutually exclusive. For most people on this planet, there is no causal relationship between weight gain and health - in fact, a study conducted over seven years in the US showed that nearly half of Americans (link removed) classified as overweight, 29% of ob*se and 16% of super ob*se participants were cardio-metabolically healthy, but 30% of those classified as normal weight were unhealthy. This one study showed that more than 74 million Americans were incorrectly classified as unhealthy.

There are countless other studies that I can quote from and use here, but the logic is the same: weight and health are two different things, and your health is not determined by the weight of your body.

In fact, the World Health Organization itself defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This definition takes into account or mentions not only your weight, but also other factors that can affect your health, such as psychological well-being and social well-being, and it is not just about being free of diagnosable diseases.

Why do we define ourselves by our weight?

If the WHO doesn't use weight when defining health, then where does all this hullabaloo come from? Why are we constantly told, not just by personal trainers, but also by media and doctors in the Western world, that our weight is the core of our health?

To answer this question, I need to take you back a few years to what we now know as pseudoscience, but at the time it was considered the pinnacle of science and good logic. Please remember that at the same time, white European men were thinking about the differences between people and how to classify them - we also believed that cancer and anemia could be cured by leeches, and cocaine was a regular ingredient in store-bought cough medicine. What wonderful times they were...if you were white and rich - the rest of the world, not so much...

However, during the Victorian period and earlier, “scientists” were fixated on what made people the way they are. During this time, people thought being a different race was akin to being a different species and people believed in (link removed) - the practice of judging a person's character or personality based on their physical appearance. This was so common that guides were published explaining how to judge people based on their appearance and body type.

At this time, in the 19th century, a Belgian astronomer (Adolphe Quetelet), who was also obsessed with physiognomy and how our appearance determined our criminal tendencies, developed a formula to determine the relationship between height and weight in men, and when his first formula didn't fit the data he had. He changed the formula and called it the Quetelet formula.

Later, in the 1970s, Ancel Keys, a cardiologist whose studies and work do not stand up to modern rigorous scientific testing, wanted to move from the Metlife height and weight tables used by the insurance industry to something more accurate and, after using data from 7400 white men, the Quetelet formula, now called the Body Mass Index, was simpler than other indices used and a somewhat more precise for population groups.

This work, combined with the legacy of the Temperance movement led by Dr. Kelloggs was propagated - yes, Kelloggs - gives us health. At this point I advise you, based on a certain word count, Dr. Googling Kelloggs and what he originally planned to make cereal for.

give up health status

Health protection has been defined as “the concern with personal health as the primary – often primary – focus for defining and achieving well-being.” by Robert Crawford. And you can see how this has been woven into the fabric of our society - we judge ourselves and others based on their perceived health, and so does the media. You can see this because people who live in larger bodies are considered unhealthy and are portrayed as lazy and stupid. However, other types of proven unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug use, are often portrayed as sexy or “rock and roll” behaviors.

We live in a world where wellness is viewed as a moral obligation, even though this takes into account nothing other than our physical appearance, which largely has nothing to do with our health.

There are many factors beyond our control that can affect our health. In fact, the UK government published the (link removed) It shows that there are over 100 factors that lead to a person's weight, and approximately 30% of the factors are within our control, meaning we have no control over 70% of the factors that lead to our weight.

With that in mind, you shouldn't pay too much attention to people who warn about the dangers of gaining weight during the holidays. While you're at it, also miss out on the latest celebrity-endorsed workout routine and throw away any dietary recipe books someone buys you as a gift. Have that extra mince pie and/or kugel without the guilt!