It’s not fine to be fat. Celebrating obesity is irresponsible | Lizzie Cernik

No one should be bullied for their weight or food choices, but ‘fat pride’ promotes dangerous weight levels

Body positivity began as a powerful antidote to the media’s obsession with skeletal models and beachball-breasted glamour girls. Empowering women of non-Barbie proportions to feel good about themselves, the movement has attacked impossible beauty ideals that confront us in advertising, branding and beyond, criticising everything from the thigh gap trend to green juice cleanses.

Its success has led to a series of positive changes, including the decision to ban the use of rail-thin models in several European countries. In the UK, body positivity has fuelled a backlash against the clean eating movement, with health experts linking questionable nutritional advice to a rise in eating disorders such as orthorexia. As glossy-haired treadmill unicorns continue to pout their way through Instagram with chia-seed recipes and colonoscopy recommendations, women are rejecting their raw food cleanses in favour of a balanced diet that includes the occasional doughnut.

Related: Obesity is a greater threat for millennials than cannabis. It’s absurd | Simon Jenkins

Continue reading... April 10, 2018 at 04:26PM