Health is not an Indication of Value

Health is a tricky concept. We have fairly arcane ways of measuring it, to the point where there has to be a whole Health At Every Size (HAES) movement so that fat people can hopefully get medical care without too much bias or shaming. But when we glorify health, when we say “I’m fat, but I’m healthy!”, then we are saying that being fat and not healthy (by however we are measuring that) is somehow still a failure.

This is something that I struggle with all of the time. Among other things, I have severely arthritic knees and my mobility is compromised. But I’m strong and capable, and with my rolling walker (that I affectionately refer to as Artie), I can do most of the things I want to. But I’m still not “healthy.”

What is important, I think, in these discussion is what is healthy for you. For me, it is things like being able to walk up a set of stairs without pain or stand for 10 minutes without having to sit down. What are YOUR measures of how healthy you are? Advocate for that and I think we’ll really be getting somewhere.