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The Big Fat Thread of Quick and Dirty Fatphobia Debunks to use as a quick reference: // Doctors and health professionals have been socialized like we are and the greater health industry is inundated with bad science bc Capitalism needs to profit from our bodies.
Disclaimer: I look to qualified health professionals and researchers with field experience or some equivalent to it that are neck deep in this who are trying to debunk harmful (and deadly) myths for all this information. They're far and few in between and demonstrate praxis.
Let's begin:
Claim 1: Fat is unhealthy, can give you cancer and diseases, and kills you. Bad stuff.
Answer: Fat is pathologized and that pathology is well funded. Fat is scapegoated for profit.
Thread w/ sources: https://bit.ly/30pDhUp
Claim 1: Fat is unhealthy, can give you cancer and diseases, and kills you. Bad stuff.
Answer: Fat is pathologized and that pathology is well funded. Fat is scapegoated for profit.
Thread w/ sources: https://bit.ly/30pDhUp
Claim 2: The BMI is a good measurement for health
Answer: That's based on race science, actually. Where tf did you THINK not having body diversity came from?
Thread 1: https://bit.ly/30mMGw8
More sources: https://bit.ly/30qdwmQ
Answer: That's based on race science, actually. Where tf did you THINK not having body diversity came from?
Thread 1: https://bit.ly/30mMGw8
More sources: https://bit.ly/30qdwmQ
Claim 3: You get fat because you over-consume calories.
Answer: Your caloric intake isn't as straightforward as you think and our understanding of calories is misleading.
Scientific breakdown (ignore the exercise bits bc they don't have that information) ->
Answer: Your caloric intake isn't as straightforward as you think and our understanding of calories is misleading.
Scientific breakdown (ignore the exercise bits bc they don't have that information) ->
(Bc of the system we're in, a lot of the well meaning health professionals putting out this info are still going to fall into diet culture food traps so some info has to be taken w/ a grain of salt. Gotta use your Marxist brain) -
Source 1: https://bit.ly/2EG7l5O
Source 1: https://bit.ly/2EG7l5O
Source 2: The FDA actually told people that these base caloric intake measurements shouldn't be taken at face value but our institutions backed them up to make $$$. Put 2+2 together (I also highly recc this research blog) - https://bit.ly/2D6eImT
Source 3: The Minnesota Hunger Experiment; tldr; a research group starved out men that wanted to participate in an experiment to see how the govt could re-feed a starving population and had disastrous results.
I also recc this blog w/ this analysis: https://bit.ly/3i1VQnK
I also recc this blog w/ this analysis: https://bit.ly/3i1VQnK
The BMI framework used the racist The Quetelet Index as a base and was developed by American physiologist Ancel Keys, who was the lead investigator for that study. This is a critique of his methods and why caloric intake is a complex measurement: https://bit.ly/2Pm5buc
Long story short, its inefficient to attempt to use a universal framework for everyone's body and to even ASSUME that the human body will have a certain set of conditions to allow it to be quantified properly to begin with.
It's bad science. Also very fascist.
It's bad science. Also very fascist.
Great book references for the info so far are:
- Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics
- Fearing The Black Body by Sabrina Strings
// Note: WCC's author has diet-culture rhetoric in her books but she is an amazing cut and dry mundane info debunker.
- Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics
- Fearing The Black Body by Sabrina Strings
// Note: WCC's author has diet-culture rhetoric in her books but she is an amazing cut and dry mundane info debunker.
Claim 4: (Another variation of #3) - "If we eat and eat, we'll just get fatter and fatter."
Answer: You're most likely gaining weight because you've been weight-cycling. But, of course, a multi-billion dollar weight-loss industry will tell you it's YOUR fault, don't you think?
Answer: You're most likely gaining weight because you've been weight-cycling. But, of course, a multi-billion dollar weight-loss industry will tell you it's YOUR fault, don't you think?
Source 1: (3/4 links work but it's more than enough): https://bit.ly/2Pm0rop
Also, why does it MATTER that you're getting fatter? Who told you that it's wrong and who does that information serve? To what end? Think.
Source 2: Thread of studies/data:
https://bit.ly/3k5e2P3
Also, why does it MATTER that you're getting fatter? Who told you that it's wrong and who does that information serve? To what end? Think.
Source 2: Thread of studies/data:
https://bit.ly/3k5e2P3
Claim 5: "Dieting and exercise or just dieting can help you lose weight. You can do it. It worked on my cousin who lost 60 pounds in x-months!"
Answer: Nope. It's been proven statistically and with hard data for years that it doesn't: http://bit.ly/35PWqPL
Answer: Nope. It's been proven statistically and with hard data for years that it doesn't: http://bit.ly/35PWqPL
"We analyzed data for 76,704 obese men and 99,791 obese women." .. For 9 years.
That's hard data. Also, one of the reasons why a lot of 'counter' data to this is faulty is bc they're hastily made w/ a small # of participants, no control groups, or follow ups.
That's hard data. Also, one of the reasons why a lot of 'counter' data to this is faulty is bc they're hastily made w/ a small # of participants, no control groups, or follow ups.
These are also the effects of weight-loss and the cycle of all that, esp if it's done for long periods of time:
https://bigfatscience.tumblr.com/post/188886288330/hi-ive-lost-32-pounds-in-the-past-year-just
You aren't a BAD person for wanting to lose weight. Society HATES fat people. You are being COERCED.
https://bigfatscience.tumblr.com/post/188886288330/hi-ive-lost-32-pounds-in-the-past-year-just
You aren't a BAD person for wanting to lose weight. Society HATES fat people. You are being COERCED.
A pioneer of body-inclusive health, Lindo Bacon, has also created a really simple and educational bunch of videos you can pop in the background and listen to about this. They've been advocating for this for years. Recognize a real one when you see them: https://lindobacon.com/videos/
Those videos answer a lot of common questions and debunk equally common misconceptions about all of this from a nutritional and physiological perspective and they've spent decades perfecting how they communicate it.
I strongly recommend their Health At Every Size book.
I strongly recommend their Health At Every Size book.
The book is a bit dated in some language and old diet-cultureisms but if you just need a quiet place to kick back and read about it, that's a good place to start.
And because I'm a dirty commie, here: https://bit.ly/3frpS2C
An extract:
And because I'm a dirty commie, here: https://bit.ly/3frpS2C
An extract:
..Sigh, I wanna be done, but I'm not. I'm going to cycle through 5+ more common myths and start another thread. There'll be a follow up to a new one after this post~
