“Healthism,” is the moral righteousness we attribute to a lifestyle that prioritizes health and fitness over anything else.

Put bluntly, healthism involves seeing health as an individual matter, a primary value, and a moral index: basically, "if you get sick, it’s your fault."
 
Health-related social stigma, … unfairly judging the character of ourselves or others based on health status or health choices, … has become a problem within our present culture.
 
“I’m doing this for my health” has become the standard new-age bullshit excuse for whatever dieting or eating behaviors we choose for ourselves.   Like, no matter how bizarre that behavior might be, how could any reasonable person ever object to such a Noble Purpose?

We make judgment calls based on what we assume health is.  We condemn and bless and decide who is with us and who is against us. We cast out the sinners,  embrace the saints of Healthism, and preach it on every street corner.

In our culture human beings now have the duty to be perceived as “Healthy” individuals.  Healthy is the new good. Unhealthy is bad.  Celebrities, athletes, and nutrition gurus are our idols and preachers. Fast food places and fat or unhealthy people are our outcasts and enemies.

There is nothing wrong with desiring to be healthy.  That is a normal wish for a happy life.  However, it becomes a problem when we turn being healthy into an obligation … making it a standard that applies to everyone in our culture.

Turning health into an obligation, or a standard of morality, belittles people who fail to measure up to the standard of whatever might be considered healthy. Whether or not a person is healthy is NOT something that each of us gets to decide.  Some of us are born with disabilities, others with chronic illnesses, others fall sick later in life or have trauma or mental health issues.

Most of the people who suffer from these conditions would rather have them gone, but the fact is that many people are forced to live with the fact that … for them  … poor health is here to stay. 
 
An unhealthy person isn’t always the fat person in a wheelchair that you saw go into McDonalds. Even if it was, how do you KNOW if they are unhealthy because they are fat or if they were born unable to walk and became fat because of it?

WHY a person is unhealthy should not matter. THAT a person is unhealthy should not matter. WHAT should matter is that unhealthy people want to live their life just like everyone else, without the added difficulty of having to prove that they are not to blame for their condition.

Nowadays, even people born with disabilities are told that they would be better if they just think positive, exercise more or eat differently. Millions of dollars are being made by milking ‘cures’ for conditions like Autism, Down Syndrome etc, even though they are known to be genetic conditions. A diet won’t change a genetic condition. By shifting our focus toward the Behavior of the disabled, we make them responsible for their condition. We tell ourselves that if the disabled really wanted to be healthy they would change.

Our culture has an obsession with weight loss and thinness.

People are told they should attempt weight loss “for health reasons”.  Why?  Since there is no actual scientific proof that weight actually CAUSES any health issues, exactly how would losing weight be a way to CURE health issues?

There is no level of “unhealthy” that requires anyone to diet or to hate their body, and there’s also no reason to believe that either dieting or self-hatred will help them become healthier or happier. 

The fact is that most dieters are NOT successful at losing a lot of weight, ... and more than 95% of those few dieters who ARE successful at losing a lot of weight ... cannot keep that weight off long-term.

This means that weight loss fails almost all the time.  When a prescription fails almost all the time, … consistently for more than 50 years, … the solution is not to keep prescribing it as a “healthy” intervention.  The solution is not to tell people to try harder, or to rename that prescription by changing its name from “Diet” to “Lifestyle change”.

No one has a duty to be fit and lean; to become thin; or to have a BMI inside the “normal” range. 

People get to prioritize their own health.  That means they are allowed to drink like a fish, jump out of helicopters wearing skis, take stressful jobs, not get enough sleep, eat what they choose, and be sedentary at whatever weight they happen to be. 

There are many people of very different weights that have the very same diet and exercise routines, as well as people of the same weight who have very different diet and exercise routines. 

Acting as if all fat people are unhealthy because they engage in unhealthy behaviors, and that all thin people are healthy because they have healthy habits, is not supported by the evidence.  It is stereotyping and bigotry, pure and simple.

In our culture, Health has become the holy grail. Everyone is chasing it, but few hold it, and even those who hold it only have it for a short while.  Every human being will experience death, and people who live long enough will eventually fall into the darkness and ‘sin’ of ill health. 

Health is the modern religion.

People convert to different sects in droves … committing fervently to a dietary path of choice … and truly believing that "this way of eating" will save them.

People cling steadfastly to the beliefs...

.....that they can make themselves “pure” or even immortal...

....that they can outsmart disease and death by making “correct” food choices …

.....spending hours studying the literature and listening to gurus in their search for that golden key.

The idea that we can outsmart disease and death … that we can effectively prevent “bad things” from happening to us if we make the “right” food choices … is particularly interesting, considering how incredibly faith-based, and un-scientific, this sentiment really is.

Food isn’t even close to the top of the list of things that will likely kill us. 

Genetics, environment, age, and various factors outside of our control are far better predictors of illness or death … yet we cling desperately to the delusion that food is the primary determinant of our fate, frantically trying to “play God” through our food choices.

Of course, this belief puts an enormous amount of pressure on our food choices, which inevitably leads to anxiety, frustration, and guilt whenever we “slip,” eat the “wrong” thing, or even when we become ill.

We might be able to avoid these anxieties if we embraced the Uncertainty of Life. If we remembered that the human body is Designed to break down over time; that Death is an inevitability, not a punishment that can be avoided through righteousness.

Here is the Truth:  Health is not an obligation; a barometer of our worthiness; entirely within our control; or guaranteed under any circumstances.

We don’t have to make our self-confidence, our self-esteem, or our self-worth contingent on our health.   We are worthy, no matter what.

Video Below:  Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac

The Scale
is not
your enemy.

Consistently tracking food and weight requires a great deal of effort, patience, discipline, and can frequently feel emotionally painful and frustrating.

A lack of awareness and general ignorance of the ongoing amounts of our caloric intake, and of our resulting scale weight can sometimes bring temporary “peace of mind and self-acceptance”.

Many of us would like to be able to believe the commonly held Fantasy that a person (even if severely obese, or reduced-obese) can trust the urges and needs of their body to guide them in their eating choices. 

The problem with this Myth is that the body will guide us where it wants to go.  There is clear and convincing evidence, from scientific research, and from experiential dieting results,  that an obese body wants to stay fat, and a reduced-obese body wants all of its lost fat returned as soon as possible.

Successful weight-loss or maintenance of weight-loss generally takes an ongoing Awareness of one’s eating Behaviors and the Results of those eating Behaviors.

It requires consistently following SOME METHOD of conscious eating Behavior that restricts calories to an amount which is the same-or-less as the amount used by that individual body. ....Together with a consistent and precise METHOD of measuring the ongoing weight Results of that eating Behavior.

How do you figure out how much you weigh? Be careful not to fall into the trap of weighing yourself weekly, because it’s just not enough data for you to know what’s really happening. Weigh yourself every morning, but ignore the number that comes up on the scales. Instead take the average of the last seven days (preferably ten or fourteen), and after several weeks look at how that average is changing over time. That’s where the real truth lies.

Daily Self-Weighing to Control Body Weight in Adults: 
A Critical Review of the Literature
Carly R. Pacanowski, Fredrik C. Bertz, and David A. Levitsky

"Published data appears to strongly suggest that people who weigh themselves frequently lose more weight and can maintain their reduced weight longer than people who do not weigh themselves frequently."

"Although we must be vigilant of possible negative side effects of frequent self-weighing on restrained eaters and people who might be vulnerable to eating disorders, the data, so far, does not present a cogent argument for daily self-weighing as a serious risk."

"A critical review of the literature suggests that daily self-weighing, with or without personalized messaging, may be an effective tool to help individuals counter the subtle effects of the many food-related stimuli in our obesogenic environment that seduce us to eat a little bit more, causing us to gain a little more weight."

New advice for weight loss:
Get on the scale every day
    ….paraphrased portions of
         a 2016 article by Kim Painter.

The bathroom scale is not your enemy.

In fact, if you want to lose weight or prevent new pounds from packing on, the latest research suggests the scale could be one of your best friends.

"The old conventional wisdom was: 'Don't weigh yourself more than once a week. It will drive you crazy,' " says Dori Steinberg, an obesity prevention and treatment researcher at the Duke Global Health Institute in Durham, N.C. "But now we are seeing more and more research showing that the optimal frequency for weighing oneself is likely every day."

That's right: every day —  contrary to the popular theory that such frequent trips to the scale could be confusing, discouraging or even psychologically dangerous.

"Stepping on the scales should be like brushing your teeth," says David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University.

Levitsky and Steinberg are among researchers who put daily weighing to the test after preliminary studies linked it with weight loss and maintenance. Those preliminary studies, based on observations of people in broader studies, did not prove that frequent weighing helped people control their weight. It was possible that cause and effect went the other way —  that good numbers kept people coming back to their scales while disappointing numbers kept them away.

But newer studies have directly tested daily scale use. Among the findings:

• College freshman told to weigh themselves daily during their first 12 weeks of classes put on no weight. Their classmates put on an average of 5 pounds — typical for pizza-loving freshmen.  In a two-year study of 162 overweight and obese gym members, those asked to weigh themselves daily and chart the results were more likely to lose significant weight and then keep it off.
  
  
• Another study of 92 overweight adults found increased weight loss among those assigned to daily use of a digital scale that sent results to a website. The numbers were accessible to both users and counselors — who followed up with tips and encouragement. The daily weighers saw no increases in depression, binge eating or other signs of disordered eating.

"We found no negative outcomes," says Steinberg, who led that study.  However, sometimes people have begged off the studies after learning they will have to face a scale every day,  "Some people say they just can't stand it."

There are people who allow themselves to get lost in the numbers and start indentifying their self-worth with what's on the scale. 

A scale weight number is an objective fact that is true whether one chooses to be consciously aware of it or not.

People need to understand that individual weights are far less important than weight averages over various time periods.

It is also important to understand that weight fluctuates day to day, hour to hour, depending not just on what you have eaten but how recently you have had a bowel movement or a drink of water.

People who choose not to weigh daily need to pay very close attention to body measurements, clothing fit, and closely follow long-term trends.

Proponents of daily weighing say it can be a powerful tool.

"If you see your weight going up a little bit, you may consciously or even unconsciously be more resistant to all the cues in the environment that might otherwise make you eat a little more," Levitsky says.

Steinberg says frequent weighers can start to see patterns and act on them. "If you go out to a buffet dinner, you could be up 4 pounds the next day," she says — and choose to consume fewer calories that day. "Or if you change a behavior like snacking at night, you might see your weight drop three days in a row" and decide to keep that change.

Weigh yourself each morning, and "it's a nice kick-start to the day,"  a reminder to keep up what's working or change what's not.

Weigh at the same time of the day, in the same state of undress, each day. Most experts recommend early morning, as that is when people tend to weigh the least.

A scale weight number is an objective fact that is true whether one chooses to be consciously aware of it or not. 

Appearance, and clothing sizes are SUBJECTIVE ways to measure one's weight-loss, weight-gain, or maintenance, while scale weight is OBJECTIVE.

An objective perspective is one that is not influenced by emotions, opinions, or personal feelings - it is a perspective based in fact, in things quantifiable and measurable.

A subjective perspective is one open to interpretation based on one's personal feelings, emotions, and momentary aesthetic judgments.

Therefore, when accuracy is desired, an objective method is preferrable to a subjective method.

Refusing to consciously acknowledge or accept an objective fact is commonly known as "Denial":  a psychological defense mechanism in which confrontation with reality is avoided by denying the existence of that reality.

The scale is merely a tool that tells me the number of pounds that I weigh at the moment I’m standing on it.  It does NOT make value judgments.  It is an inanimate object, a machine with a function, just like a refrigerator or microwave; a washer or dryer; a clock or a vacuum cleaner. 

If I choose to go into my kitchen outside of mealtime, open the refrigerator, take out a food item and eat it, I’m not stupid enough to blame the refrigerator.  Yet somehow it has become common for people in our culture to surround the scale with superstitions.  To give it life and assign it personal motivations, even though we KNOW it is totally lifeless, insentient, and inorganic.  

It’s Like choosing to avoid the refrigerator ….
...........“NO!… Don’t put that leftover chicken in the refrigerator, when you reopen the door a chicken zombie will attack you and peck your eyes out.”  

If you heard someone say THAT you’d think they were wacko, yet, how many times have we said … or heard others say …  things about the scale are are just as totally off-base.