For decades, the medical community has ignored mountains of evidence to wage a cruel and futile war on fat people, poisoning public perception and ruining millions of lives. It's time for a new paradigm.
âFor 60 years, doctors and researchers have known two things that could have improved, or even saved, millions of lives. The first is that diets do not work. âŠÂ The second big lesson the medical establishment has learned and rejected over and over again is that weight and health are not perfect synonyms.â
âStudies have found that anywhere from one-third to three-quarters of people classified as obese are metabolically healthy. ⊠Meanwhile, about a quarter of non-overweight people are what epidemiologists call âthe lean unhealthy.â ⊠Habits, no matter your size, are what really matter.â
âDoctors are supposed to be trusted authorities, a patientâs primary gateway to healing. But for fat people, they are a source of unique and persistent trauma.â
âAccording to several studies, thin doctors are more confident in their recommendations, expect their patients to lose more weight and are more likely to think dieting is easy.â
âThen there are the glaring cultural differences. ⊠wealthy, skinny doctors will often try to bond with their low-income patients by telling them, âI know what itâs like not to have time to cook.â Their patients, who might be single mothers with three kids and two jobs, immediately think âNo, you donât,ââ
ââShe didnât even ask me what I was already doing for exercise,â he says. âAt the time, I was training for serious winter mountaineering trips, hiking every weekend and going to the gym four times a week. Instead of a conversation, I got a sound bite. It felt like shaming me was the entire purpose.ââ
