Thin Doesn't Necessarily Equal Healthy

Why fat shaming gets us nowhere, and instead we should be kind to ourselves.

Obesity, defined as having a BMI over 30, became an “epidemic” in the 90s. Here’s the problem: BMI is garbage. The BMI was originally created in 1832 by a Belgian mathematician and astronomer who was trying to find a quick and easy formula to categorize “the common man,” He decided to compare weight against height, thinking that if someone is taller, they will naturally weigh more than someone who is shorter, and thereby could create a scale for the census.

Unfortunately, this is overly simplistic not how humans work. Human bodies are more complex. It was also never intended to be used for medical purposes, the way it has been since the 1970s. According to the BMI, the actor Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is obese (probably morbidly obese), even though he has very little body fat on him. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it will throw off the weight vs height measurement when compared to someone else who is 6’5”. And herein lies the problem. The BMI doesn’t take body composition into account, only weight vs height.

This is why focusing on BMI is problematic when it comes to health, as it has nothing to do with health. There is a now ingrained idea that fat equals unhealthy while thin equals healthy, probably based on the BMI nonsense. This is not always true. You can eat nothing but junk food and have a smaller body, and you can have a meticulous diet and have a larger body.

I have known many people in my life, including patients, who eat healthy and exercise regularly, yet have a high BMI. According to their blood work they are healthy: blood pressure and blood sugars are within normal range, no heart disease or diabetes, etc. If we let go of the BMI (which we should), these are healthy people with larger bodies. There is nothing wrong with this.

Focusing on health instead of size

Let’s step back from size and focus on health. When you pay attention to what you eat and what you do with your body, that will have a much bigger impact on your health and longevity than dieting for weight loss. Once you stop the diet, the pounds come back anyway.

Focusing on health will bring your body to a comfortable size. You will not have 5% body fat, because that is not actually healthy. According to the NIH, a healthy body fat percentage for men is between 12-20% and 20-30% for women. As humans, we need body fat to survive. Fat is necessary for creating hormones and brain cells, as well as for processing certain nutrients.

Changing our idea about fat=bad and thin=good will benefit us in the long run. Letting go of fat shaming and embracing bodies of all sizes creates a kinder, healthier world, bothy outwardly and inwardly.

What if you didn’t feel ashamed of how your body looked and instead focused on how if felt? If you feel physically uncomfortable in your body, focus your attention on your eating and exercise habits. Going on a restrictive diet will help in the short term, but isn’t sustainable. Eating a diet with foods that give your body the fuel it needs will bring you to a healthy weight. Focus on foods that give your body the fuel it needs, without leaving you feeling bloated or sluggish.

Mindset shifts

Here are three mindset shifts to move you away from fat shaming and toward health:

1. Hunger is good

As I wrote in this post and this post there are different types of hunger, and no type of hunger is bad. Physical hunger is a signal your body gives you to tell you that you require more food. It’s just like thirst which tells you that you need water, and fatigue that tells you to rest.

People often confuse emotional hunger with physical hunger, and try to feed their emotions with food. No amount of emotional hunger will be sated with food, so you end up eating more than your body requires, as well as turning toward comfort foods rather than nutritious foods. If instead you feel your feelings and feed your hunger, everything will work out the way it should.

2. There are no “good” or “bad” foods

There are no good or bad foods that were grown on a farm or caught wild, but there might be some foods that are good or bad for you specifically. While nuts are a healthy food, if you are allergic, they are not good for you. Whole grains are also healthy, but if you feel bloated and sluggish after you eat them, they are not good for you.

It can be tricky to figure out which foods are good and bad for you specifically, and there is no “right way” to eat. Each person is different and has different food requirements. Be a detective and pay attention to how you feel before, during, and after eating. Notice how certain foods make you feel and add or subtract them for your daily diet as needed.

3. “Perfect” eating doesn’t exist for most humans, and that’s fine

Even if you focus on health when you eat, you don’t need to be perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist. Eating for health 100% of the time is unreasonable and in attempting to do so, you will come up against a few issues: shame, rigidity, and lack of pleasure.

Holidays happen, and if you eat for health 100% of the time, you might feel shame for having “blown” your diet. Deciding you might as well just give up, you might turn to binge eating or emotional eating, which will leave you feeling terrible, both physically and emotionally.

If you decide to stick to your diet and not indulge, you will miss out of allowing yourself the pleasure of food. Food, in addition to being fuel, can also be pleasurable to eat! The textures, smells, and flavors that you experience while eating are one of the joys of being human.

Being rigid and avoiding pleasure from food makes for a small life with less joy. While you shouldn’t indulge all the time, give yourself permission to enjoy delicious food from time to time. Giving yourself permission helps you stay out of shame, and tasting your food will help you eat an appropriate amount of it.

Yoga and Eating

It is always beneficial to be kind to yourself, and that also applies to eating. When you feel ashamed of what you eat or how you look, it affects how you feel. If you tend to feed your feelings rather than feel them, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of shame. Applying yoga principles such as Ahimsa (Non-harming), Santosha (Contentment), Karuna (Compassion), and Brahmacharya (Non-Excess/Enough) to how you eat can change how you feel about yourself and your approach to eating.

Intentional Eating: Finding Peace and Balance in Your Relationship with Food starts Wednesday, March 12, 2025! This 6 week online program will help you have a healthier relationship with food by focusing on your mindset. Using principles of yoga and brain science, learn why you eat when you’re not hungry, and skills and strategies to regain control over your eating. This is not a diet, but a mindset reset! Limited to 5 people for individualized support. Click the button below for more information!