Navigating Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorders and Cosmetic Interventions | The Proof Podcast EP

[@MemoryAmethyst]

As a elder with pre diabetes who has had a heart attack it makes me angry every time I hear psychologist types and media hypes say “ you can’t tell if a large person is unhealthy” . Being overweight leads to massive health complications. You might be “healthy” today but it won’t last if you don’t take ownership of your health risks. Patting our pudgy hands and saying “There, there“ is doing overweight people a huge disservice . You can make excuses or you can make progress, take your pick. I’m living in an obese body currently. I used to be morbidly obese. I stopped making excuses and wrapped my life around not watching me have Heart Attack; the sequel .

[@BartBVanBockstaele]

As a former fatty myself I agree wholeheartedly. I want my doctors to tell me what I need to hear, not what I like to hear. First off, they can't look in my head to know what I like to hear and second, they would in effect be lying to me either directly or by omission even if they could. None of this is good news. I have never made excuses but it has still taken me over 40 years to find a way of eating that made it possible for me to lose weight and keep it off.

[@jennfischetto]

You can't tell if a fat person is unhealthy. There are many sizes under "fat". And weight fluctuates. A large person today may not have been large all of their life. There's so much to this, and no one has the same experiences. As someone who is super fat and has an ED, I've never had a medical doctor tell me to not lose weight. If anything, I find the medical professionals so lacking in ED knowledge that it's scary. EDs are about mental health. You can't recover from an ED by focusing on the physical health. And being fat or super thin is only a symptom of the ED or disordered eating. This is a video from a psychologist on these disorders. If a psychologist's care was about losing weight, they wouldn't have patients. It would harmful, and recovery from an ED is ALL about stopping restricting, healing your relationship with food (mentally), and treating all foods as morally equal. Health comes in much later down the road. If you deal with a client with an ED from a "lose weight" perspective, that person won't heal. Telling a fat person with an ED that they're unhealthy based solely on how they APPEAR, the professional should have their license revoked. It sounds like you're coming from a physical aspect only. This is much more complicated than that.

[@BartBVanBockstaele]

@@jennfischetto No sane person would claim that there are *no* psychological consequences and origins to fatness. But just because that is part of the syndrome does not mean that being fat is not unhealthy. It is. It is possible that there are other factors that are more urgent at a certain time, but again, that does not make fatness healthy, just less important at that time. Another problem is that there are no levels of fatness. That is something imposed by humans because humans have difficulties working with continuous curves. There is not a single point where a person switches from "healthy weight" to "unhealthy weight". There is simply a curve that goes from less unhealthy to more unhealthy, and people should never forget that the curve also goes in the other direction: skinniness is unhealthy as well, and the further one goes in that direction, the less healthy it becomes. Overweight and obesity are very complex problems, but the fact remains that they are not the healthiest states we (and most or all other animals) can be in. As an example, just ask any anesthesiologist or surgeon.

[@r0bt93]

@@BartBVanBockstaele congrats on the weight loss, that's great, but do talk to yourself like you'd talk to a best friend! you wouldn't call your best friend a "former fatty" right?

[@jennfischetto]

​@@BartBVanBockstaele I get what you're saying. I don't completely agree, but I understand. But this video is about EDs and body dysmorphia. Telling someone with psychological issues to lose weight is more unhealthy than being overweight. You can't heal physically if your mind is attacking you. And a psychologist saying you can't tell health by someone's size, which is the comment I commented is still accurate. I could be 15 pounds overweight or 350. The video never commented on that. These comments seem to suggest she stated which. People are talking in extremes and she didn't say that. But...the purpose of psychological help is to get the patient to heal, and telling them to lose weight or shaming or blaming them in any way won't do that. First you heal the mind and then you deal with the rest of the body. It can't work in any other order.

[@Katvictoria2]

Simon, I'm one of your biggest fans and your podcast has taught me so much over the years! As some others have voiced, I do disagree with Dr Gemma Sharp's conversation around not being able to control your body weight. A 'larger bodied' person did not get there by making health choices. From everything I've learnt from you, excess fat is the basis for many preventable diseases. Weight is very much malleable and controllable.

[@TheProofWithSimonHill]

I agree to. The questions isn’t whether it’s a risk factor. It’s how to address it with someone’s psychology in mind. At least that’s where I land

[@peakperformnce]

❤Thank you for the high quality guests lately

[@TheProofWithSimonHill]

You’re welcome!

[@Slastukin67]

As a vegan, I will always 'rigidly decline' offers of animal products. I do not consider that to be orthorexia but I suppose many would. If somebody is obviously very overweight, of course the doctor should bring up weight loss! To not do so would be medical negligence.

[@wallyrbc]

It's actually amazing I don't have an eating disorder, given the things people said to me while growing up, including family members like an aunt and my father's second cousin and, of course, my parents.

[@wallyrbc]

It's indeed difficult to know what information should be given to overweight patients. A lot of people would disagree with Gemma that weight doesn't matter in terms of health. I think the numbers often speak for themselves and people's health markers do improve if they lose weight, but don't you think *most* people know this? Does a doctor have to address it in a physical?

[@dystopian-future]

im enjoying your channel more and more. You seem genuine annd Im glad you have exposed the carniore cult previously. I fell for their scam two years ago and I developed an eating disorder from it, including binge eating, I suppose from the extreme restriction of only being allowed meat. Still struggling to this day.

[@tylerasmith52]

I am definitely with you there on the binging! It’s a hard habit it break. I can either: A) Treat food purely as fuel. Nothing hyper palatable, ever. Which becomes an anti social hell hole Or B) Try the whole “in moderation” advice. Which doesn’t work for me either becuse the second I get sugar back in my diet or processed foods it spirals into a binge. Then guilt, etc etc. I don’t have any idea what to do at this point… Its either orthorexia or binge eating disorder, neither is healthy.

[@skiing101]

Have you @@tylerasmith52

[@skiing101]

sorry, have you tried first incorporating some healthy forms of sugar or dessert? So fruit salads, smoothies, dark chocolate, chia puddings. There are some great vegan recipes for nourishing desserts. Also, your brain would probbly tell you it didn't mind some extra glucose.

[@Biohacker24]

From my understanding body dysmorphia is where the person has a distorted perception of their appearance. If the flaws focused on are not exaggerated or imagined then it’s not bdd. A person who is dissatisfied with being overweight but is actually overweight would not have bdd. How she described it made it seem like anyone who is extremely distressed with the way they look to the degree it impairs their ability to function has bdd. How can that be true?

[@bethra.flowers]

❤

[@aurelienb9109]

If there is no psychological suffering there is no trouble or disorder.