1/8 I'm a 35 year old woman, who does not and has never lived with obesity. I have never seen this has a personal achievement. Why? Because to date the odds have been stacked in my favour. I'm incredibly fortunate that....
2/8 I don't have an underlying physical or mental health condition that causes or exacerbates obesity (or take medication that induces it)
3/8 My socio-economic position (now and as a child) facilitates options about whether/what/how/when & why I eat and move
4/8 My built environment has never been saturated with fast food outlets or harmful marketing & I haven't lived in a food desert
5/8 And I've always had access to green, safe & inclusive spaces to undertake physical activity & participate in sport (which was the norm in our family)
6/8 My weight status therefore reflects a complex array of biological, social, economic, cultural & environment conditions, in which I was born, raised & now live.
7/8 The inappropriate and misplaced emphasis on personal responsibility for obesity generates more ill health & increases health inequalities. Obesity is not a lifestyle disease. A person living with obesity hasn't failed. Society has.
8/8 So we need a) a fundamental change in the discourse & attitudes about obesity, b) greater recognition of the causes of the causes of obesity, c) a monumental shift towards reducing obesogenic environments, d) holistic & non-stigmatising support for people living with obesity
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