There are so many conversations that are difficult to have, and yet, likely each equally crucial for health. I work on the front lines of community mental health. BMI is a conversation that is compulsory, maybe because there is a correlation between depression and high BMI. The thing is, weight problems are complex. Their is correlation between economic status and high BMI. We're certainly not going to give poor people a prescription of money so they can eat better. Healthy food takes money and time.
There is another thing that interest me. There is solid research that your biome, the bacteria in your gut, effects weight. Not a corelation. Scientist performing fecal transplants on rats discovered fat rats that got skinny rat bacteria became skinny, and the opposite, skinny rats that got fat rat bacteria became fat. Apparently, it works for humans. A person with a particular cancer was irradiated, cancer removed, and given a tissue transplant, fecal matter, from a relative. Person receiving tissue had been healthy BMI all her life. Person who gave the tissue was unhealthy BMI all her life. Person receiving transplant had no change in diet or exercise, but began to gain weight, 'inexplicably.' She modified diet, increased exercise, and still gained weight.
BMI, contrary to popular belief, may have very little to do with 'will power,' or discipline. We know that if you get weight loss surgery, you loose body mass. The hope is, restricted calories will force the body to burn fat. It does. It also result in muscle loss. Muscles atrophy in the absence of nutrition. Does anyone know if there is functional brain loss? Are there fMRI studies to show how the brain is affected by sudden, forced calorie restrictions? No. Are there any longitudinal studies that reveal mental health disorder increase over time after weight loss surgery? No. Why? Maybe because there is too much money in butchering people. But more than likely, we actually believe the only thing that contributes to weight is consumption.
If you starved a person in a camp, they will eventually loose weight. They will also be unhealthy, physically and mentally. I think we need a better conversation than simple prescriptions. Putting it all on an individual to conform to a belief system doesn't address how we as individuals may have higher BMI for multivariate, complex reasons. I guarantee you, if you have Will Smith's resources to allow time and energy to focus on diet and wellbeing, you're likely going to be thin. If we studied Will, in comparison to normal populations, did they factor in anxiety? Medical problems? Mental health problems? Medications that have side effects of weight gain? Practical problems like job loss?
This is not an individual problem. It's a societal problem.
