By Joe Nadglowski, President/CEO, Obesity Action Coalition, told to Alexandra Benisek
In the WebMD webinar “The impact of weight biasJoe Nadglowski, President and CEO of the Obesity Action Coalition, answered questions from viewers about how body weight discrimination can affect your life.
We know that there are at least perceptions that weight bias is different in different cultures. Perhaps it’s this idea that living in a larger body is more acceptable in some cultures than in others.
But the latest research shows that due to internet, Instagram, TikTok and new technologies, there is this tendency to make slimmer bodies the favorable bodies. It happens everywhere.
We recognize that there may be differences between cultures, but this is something we need to explore further. If you actually look at the research on weight bias, there are examples of it in just about every culture in the world.
No. In fact, the opposite is true. If we help people to fight against the prejudices they face, they will experience less stress and pressure. And that makes them more likely to be able to lose weight over time.
We’re not saying obesity is good. Obesity has health consequences, but we need to treat people with compassion. Just like you’re not going to blame and shame someone who has cancer, even if they’ve engaged in behaviors that contributed to their cancer.
Airlines represent a particular challenge. I think the airlines are trying harder. For example, Southwest Airlines has what it calls its “size customer” policy, which allows people to get two seats for the price of one, as long as it’s pre-planned.
But we still hear stories from airlines where certain rules are not applied consistently. One of our wishes would be for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish standard policies instead of letting airlines adopt their own.
This is a question I get all the time. One of our challenges is the lack of education of health care providers about obesity. In fact, it ignores all the complex issues raised, whether it’s adverse childhood events or the social determinants of health.
One of the things that excites me is that when a health care provider talks to someone about their obesity, we really encourage them to take a trauma-informed approach.
We tell doctors that it’s likely their patient had a bad experience with a health care provider – and that’s a complicated question. We need to take this trauma-informed approach to understand and not make the person feel bad about themselves.
Poverty and low socioeconomic status contribute to obesity in general. This is because poor quality food is available at low prices.
It’s interesting how prejudice and stigma play into this.
How do you dissociate stigma related to low socio-economic status, body weight, race or gender? But because obesity often affects people of lower socioeconomic status, the stigma affects them more. We probably see this mostly in terms of compensation.
One of the things I often do is ask parents to check out their school’s anti-bullying materials. Weight-based bullying is probably a primary form of bullying in schools. But the reality is that we don’t have good data on this.
However, weight-based bullying is unlikely to be mentioned in school policies. I know there are people who are passionate about trying to change that.
I think most people who struggle with obesity and their health because of obesity want to do something and have probably tried to do a lot of things. This idea that they don’t try, and that we have to blame and shame people, is wrong.
I have spoken with thousands of people across this country and I can count on two hands the number of people who have told me that it was a stigmatizing event that motivated them to fight their obesity.
For the vast majority of people, it’s a compassionate, empathetic, or health-related event that pushes them toward change.
I challenge people to look inward and think, “Do you really know what this person is going through? Instead of shaming and blaming them, have an honest conversation with them, to see where they are on their journey.
I think weight charts are interesting things. I think what’s really missing is determining the best weight for someone. What leads them to have the best possible quality of health and life?
I don’t think this is randomly determined on a graph based on averages. It must be a very individual conversation. I think the weight charts are useless.
Instead, I encourage people to talk to their healthcare provider and ask if their weight is affecting their health. This should be how people deal with their weight.
Be straightforward. If they blame your weight for all your problems, challenge them and ask, “If I was a thin person or a normal weight person, how would you test this stuff?”
Now the reality is that obesity contributes to many health problems. So losing weight can help in certain conditions. Even modest weight loss can help. But I think it’s important that you challenge them to do some testing to be sure.
I have a lot of optimism in our young people these days. Maybe they don’t get much bullying from their friend group. But we must remember that it is worth checking in regularly.
Have this conversation. Ask them if they feel treated differently than their friends because of their body size. Especially if they give you the opportunity to have these conversations.
Watch the webinar replay online “The Impact of Weight Bias.”