The conversation about what makes a “healthy” body has never been simple. Throughout every era of history, people have resorted to calling each other too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too curvy, too muscular, or too lanky, often to reinforce power structures or achieve social agendas.
And every single time, we fall for it. We spend billions upon billions of dollars on products, potions, and procedures to help us get a little closer to that perfect body — whatever that means.
It’s very easy to get caught in the false narratives of our rigid, macro mindsets on health and weight that try to say that you’re either thin, toned, and happy — or you’re fat, sick, and miserable.
In the wake of the Olympics this past summer, which tends to reignite these controversies, a wonderful image is making the rounds on the internet. Photographer Howard Schatz produced it for his 2002 book, Athlete, and shows the incredible variety of body sizes and shapes of elite athletes across dozens of sports, each of whom has taken advantage of their unique biological gifts to succeed at a very specific task.
Nothing does a better job of showing that health, performance, weight, and happiness can look a little different for everyone — except maybe viral sensation and USA rugby medalist, Ilona Maher, whose empowering responses to criticisms about her body have taken the internet by storm.
As an internal medicine physician and healthcare executive focused on improving chronic conditions (as well as a woman, a mother, a cancer survivor, and someone who has struggled to find their own balance of weight and wellness), I feel like the healthcare community is entering a pivotal moment in the conversation around health, happiness, and body condition.
How can we, as healthcare leaders and caregivers, send the right messages about health and wellness — especially when set against a complicated background of an obesity and diabetes epidemic, the advent of GLP-1s, influencers promoting “anti-diet” movements and “thinspiration,” and a mental health crisis that is leading more and more people to feel hopeless and anxious about their bodies?
The key is to shift our fundamental thinking on the relationships between health, appearance, performance, longevity, and joy from being our best selves in every respect. That starts by bringing empathy, respect, and positivity back into the way we discuss our bodies, both in everyday life and in the healthcare setting.
Modifying the way clinicians address “modifiable” factors in body condition
The human body is designed to eat and retain weight from doing so. Even when intentional, weight loss sparks warning bells in the brain that we are about to starve and compels us to seek out calories. This ancient survival mechanism was crucial when we were hunter-gatherers with uncertain food supplies, but it’s become less-than-helpful in the modern world, where an overly filling, ultra processed junk food meal is just a smartphone app away.
With restaurants and supermarket shelves bursting with high-calorie options, the number of people with clinical obesity has skyrocketed over the past few decades. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 2 in 5 adults (42.4%) are obese, with close to 10% of those classified as severely obese. Children, too, are struggling with their weight more than ever, with almost 1 in 5 young people ages 2 to 19 experiencing obesity and 6.1% living with severe obesity.
This isn’t news to most of us, nor is it unexpected that obesity is considered a “modifiable risk factor” in more than 30 cancers and chronic conditions. Unfortunately, fear-mongering, scolding, and shaming have been the dominant forms of trying to “modify” weight in individuals since time immemorial.
Discrimination is a fact of life for the majority of overweight people, even from clinicians who are sworn to “do no harm” physically, mentally, or emotionally to their patients.
We call it “seeing patients,” but how clearly are we really seeing those who are silently suffering, mentally and physically, from a system that seems more designed to penalize than help them? And why are we, as a health system, still imposing outdated social and clinical biases while patting ourselves on the back for being so enlightened by the emerging science of obesity medicine?
Instead, what if care providers could take the lead in changing the paradigm on body image by educating patients on what holistic self-care and life-affirming nutrition mean and look and feel like?
One body, one life…but more than one way to get it right
We only get one body in this lifetime, and it’s a vehicle we need to keep in good repair if we are to make the most of our experiences in this world.
For healthcare professionals who are mission-driven to help individuals with the stewardship of their bodies, our relationships must start with empathy, particularly for those individuals who have experienced anxiety and depression as a result of how others view and interact with their physical beings.
We cannot expect people to instantly change their lifestyle while accepting all of the complex, constant requirements of monitoring blood sugar and managing medications. And we certainly cannot — secretly or otherwise — blame them for their lack of “compliance” when they struggle to adapt to these changes on their own.
Instead, healthcare providers, digital health companies, and health plans have to walk the walk on providing mental healthcare, lifestyle coaching, and clinical support for people with obesity, including those with prediabetes and diabetes. And this includes technology as part of the solution — such as platforms that blend digital tools with accessible, culturally informed, trusted person-to-person interactions.
Lastly, we need to come to a more realistic yet evidence-driven consensus on what constitutes a healthy body while offering a variety of viable pathways to get there. Eliminating the incorrect narrative that GLP-1s are “cheating” or “taking the easy way out” would be a great place to start.
As society becomes more open about how people view their bodies and their relationships with food, exercise, and overall health, we have the opportunity to steer our national discourse in a more positive direction by merging clinical obesity management strategies with compassionate mental healthcare and person-centered support so that we can foster hope and trust instead of criticism and suspicion.
We can all contribute to dismantling the current framework of stigma and shame that surrounds the obesity conversation by eschewing “black-and-white” judgments about other people’s bodies. By working to understand one another, assist one another, and take joy in the shared beauty of our strange and wonderful existence, we can help each of us achieve our fullest potential for our personal health, wellness, and happiness.
About Dr. Arti Masturzo
Dr. Arti Masturzo is the Chief Medical Officer at CCS — a company focused on simplifying holistic chronic care management for patients. Prior to joining CCS as its first-ever chief medical officer, she was at Humana where she led value-based care transformation in the home.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Masturzo has held strategic and operational roles in companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 50. She is a proven business transformer with deep knowledge of all areas of healthcare, including payors, hospital administration, life sciences, medical devices, digital health, pharmacy, and durable medical equipment. Dr. Masturzo also brings a fresh entrepreneurial spirit to all of her work — serving as a strategic advisor to emerging healthcare companies.
A cancer survivor, Dr. Masturzo understands the challenges of navigating our healthcare system and the critical need for patients and caregivers to have a strong voice in decisions that impact health and well-being. Her own experiences with America’s healthcare system have further reinforced her commitment to defragmenting healthcare, while also working to bring compassion back to the trusted relationship between patient and physician.
