Doctors: We need You to Hear Us
Hello Doctors,
First, let me tell you how much over the years I have appreciated many of you and your support, your advocacy and kindness. My concern is that weight loss recommendations for most, if not all conditions are not recommended, sustainable or safe for the following reasons - please see below:
Why I no longer prescribe weight loss, calculate BMI, or use the term “obesity” Dr. Katrina Wind, UBC
Health at Every Size: Why we Do Not recommend weight loss
Weight Neutral Medicine Paradigm Shift
Rethinking Weight Stigma in Health Care
Health at Every Size Health Sheet for High Cholesterol
Do No Harm: Fatphobia and the Medical Industry
Also language matters. Words like ob*se, which means to eat oneself fat is very stigmatizing and most often untrue. Overweight is based on the highly racist and sexist BMI meant for population studies not individuals health. Please see Fearing the Black body: the racial origins of fatphobia for more information on this.
Also, as psychotherapist, fat advocate and someone who specializes in ED recovery and body image recovery, I could refer your staff to further training on this issue that leads to the marginalization and avoidance of doctors due to fat shaming for many fat bodied folks, please just ask. Medicalized fat stigma also makes my job harder as a therapist for those recovering from ED especially for those that live in genetically fat bodies.
I hope you and your practice can use more weight neutral health care and language moving forward as Weight Stigma Hurts us All. I also hope that you can see this is an opportunity to bring your practice up to date on this paradigm shift to be inclusive of ALL marginalized bodies and do less harm.
I appreciate you reading this with openness and curiosity, kindly,
Kelly Alexander BA, B.Ed, OCT
Registered Psychotherapist Qualifying
*Further Resource Site = Health at Every Size
First, let me tell you how much over the years I have appreciated many of you and your support, your advocacy and kindness. My concern is that weight loss recommendations for most, if not all conditions are not recommended, sustainable or safe for the following reasons - please see below:
Why I no longer prescribe weight loss, calculate BMI, or use the term “obesity” Dr. Katrina Wind, UBC
Health at Every Size: Why we Do Not recommend weight loss
Weight Neutral Medicine Paradigm Shift
Rethinking Weight Stigma in Health Care
Health at Every Size Health Sheet for High Cholesterol
Do No Harm: Fatphobia and the Medical Industry
Also language matters. Words like ob*se, which means to eat oneself fat is very stigmatizing and most often untrue. Overweight is based on the highly racist and sexist BMI meant for population studies not individuals health. Please see Fearing the Black body: the racial origins of fatphobia for more information on this.
Also, as psychotherapist, fat advocate and someone who specializes in ED recovery and body image recovery, I could refer your staff to further training on this issue that leads to the marginalization and avoidance of doctors due to fat shaming for many fat bodied folks, please just ask. Medicalized fat stigma also makes my job harder as a therapist for those recovering from ED especially for those that live in genetically fat bodies.
I hope you and your practice can use more weight neutral health care and language moving forward as Weight Stigma Hurts us All. I also hope that you can see this is an opportunity to bring your practice up to date on this paradigm shift to be inclusive of ALL marginalized bodies and do less harm.
I appreciate you reading this with openness and curiosity, kindly,
Kelly Alexander BA, B.Ed, OCT
Registered Psychotherapist Qualifying
*Further Resource Site = Health at Every Size
