Experts warn of self-acceptance’s delusion in denial of obesity
Is there a limit to body self-acceptance? After influencer Thais Carla started a debate about obesity and gordophobia – gordophobia is the neologism created to indicate the prejudice of people who judge overweight and obesity as a factor that deserves their contempt – on the internet, the controversy gained prominence and divided opinions. Obesity is considered a chronic disease by the World Health Organization (WHO) and working on self-acceptance for being outside the body standards imposed by society is a way of dealing with challenges and prejudices, but care must be taken not to relativize the disease and put people at risk.
The nutritionist and doctoral student at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP) at USP Paula Victoria Sozza Gulá comments that self-acceptance should never lead to a relativization of diseases. “Accepting one’s own body promotes the opposite, it promotes a more careful look at the body that is our home. It is different from complacency or lack of acceptance of health, and obese people who accept themselves can be healthy and happy.”
Likewise, 20-year-old veterinary medicine student Julia Cavalin says she gained weight after being diagnosed with depression and starting to use medication to treat the disease and, for her, self-acceptance cannot be confused with denial of a serious illness, which is obesity. “When you accept yourself, it is easier for you to see your health problems and take care of yourself”, shares the student.
The risks of obesity
According to data from the Ministry of Health, through Sisvan (Food and Nutrition Surveillance System), in 2022, obesity reached more than 6.7 million adult Brazilians. According to the published report, of the total number of people considered obese, 863,000 are classified in the most severe degree of obesity. Among children aged 0 to 5 years, the number reached 487,000 last year, the highest recorded in the last ten years.
In addition to fatphobia and the challenges experienced in a society built on lean standards, obesity has serious consequences for people’s health. “Obesity is considered a risk factor for chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease”, comments the nutritionist. In addition, it can result in low cardiorespiratory capacity, insulin resistance and a higher amount of inflammatory markers in the body.
The specialist also clarifies that, for those people who have a high Body Mass Index (BMI), but do not have central fat accumulation and in the liver, but in the lower limbs such as the legs, and are physically active, the body has a more sensitive response to insulin and there are no elevated inflammatory markers in the body. This group of people has a healthier metabolic response, which is now known as metabolically healthy obesity. Therefore, being overweight and outside the standards is not a problem, as long as there are no reflections on the individual’s health.
Benefits of self-acceptance
It is true that obesity can harm an individual’s health, but that does not mean that being thin is necessarily related to good health. Living in the internet age and encountering bloggers, actresses and influencers every day who exhibit an almost unattainable lifestyle and who, most of the time, display a body within the standards defined as beautiful by society, can have an impact on self-esteem of thousands of people who consume this content.
“The majority of women and men currently feel the social pressure of the ideal body”, comments Julia. The veterinary medicine student says that she was already a victim of this pressure, but realized that her body doesn’t need to be like these people to be beautiful. Accepting your own body can bring great benefits, not only for self-esteem, but for your own health. After a lot of time and support, and knowing that her health was not at risk, Julia manages to accept her body, even though some insecurities prevail.
In the understanding of the nutritionist, it is necessary to continue the fight in the fight against standards of bodies said to be normal or ideal. These standards do not represent the entire population, on the contrary, they exclude and reinforce prejudiced attitudes. “A skinny person is not synonymous with health, just as an obese person is not synonymous with disease”, reinforces Paula.
Working on self-acceptance should be a daily exercise for everyone, regardless of body weight. “Currently, working on this is one of the techniques to approach an adequate health treatment for good life habits”, concludes the specialist, who is one of the authors of the book Weight Stigma: concept , consequences and combat actions , which deals with the theme.