#116: "But Isn't Being Fat Bad for Your Health?": Unpacking Weight Science with Ragen Chastain

The Full Plate Podcast with Abbie Attwood, MS

The idea that fatness and weight gain are synonymous with poor health has become a seemingly incontestable truth in our society. So much so that you have undoubtedly heard that “we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic”. But where did this claim originate? And what does the research actually say about the relationship between weight and health outcomes?

These two things may be connected, but not in the way we’ve been led to believe.

This week, I am joined by the incredible and incomparable Ragen Chastain — who is a groundbreaking researcher in weight science, as well as a writer, speaker, and thought leader (among so many other things.)

We explore the assumption that continues to uphold diet culture and anti-fat bias: “Isn’t being fat bad for your health?”

Ragen helps us unpack the science — as well as the social rhetoric — that continue to perpetuate lies about fatness, health, and disease. And oh yes, we get into pharmaceutical companies, weight loss drugs, and celebrity culture.

Topics discussed include:

• What's on Ragen's plate
• Ragen's food and body story, starting as a young kid
• Dance culture and body image
• The origin of the word "obese"
• The many problems with the term "obesity epidemic"
• Weight stigma in healthcare and its impact on health outcomes
• Weight cycling, yo-yo dieting, and cardiovascular risk
• How the weight-loss industry pathologized bodies for profit
• Public opinion, medical guidelines, and the myths about weight and health
• How weight loss studies are funded and designed
• The flaws in the research on how weight and health are related
• Medical education and anti-fat bias
• If not weight loss for health, then what?

About Ragen:

Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, and health. She is the author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter, the blog Dances With Fat, the book Fat: The Owner's Manual, editor of the Praeger Anthology "The Politics of Size," co-author of the HAES Health Sheets. In her free time, she is a national dance champion, triathlete, and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. She lives in Oregon with her fiancée Julianne and their adorable foster dogs.

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Group program:

Looking for more support and concrete steps to take to heal your relationship with food and your body? Apply for Abbie's next 10-week group program: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching

Group membership:

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Transcripts: If you’re looking for transcripts, you can find those on Abbie's website, www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/podcast

Podcast Cover Photography by Anya McInroy

Podcast Editing by Brian Walters

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