140: Mythbusting about fat and BMI with Dr. Lindo Bacon

07/04/21 • 55 min

Your Parenting Mojo - Respectful, research-based parenting ideas to help kids thrive

This episode kicks off a series on the intersection of parenting and food. We begin today with a conversation with Dr. Lindo Bacon, where we bust a LOT of myths about the obesity epidemic that is said to be plaguing people in the United States and other countries that follow a similar diet. The messaging we get from government entities seems pretty simple: being fat is bad for you. It causes increased risk for a host of diseases as well as early death. If you're fat, you should lose weight because then your risk of getting these diseases and dying early will be reduced. But what if this wasn't true? What if this messaging had been established by people who own companies that manufacture weight loss products who sit on panels that advise international governmental entities like the World Health Organization? What if body fat was actually protective for your health? We dig into all these questions and more in this provocative interview. We'll continue this series with episodes looking specifically at sugar, as well as supporting parents who have or continue to struggle with disordered eating, and how to support children in developing eating habits that will serve them for a lifetime, not just get the vegetables into them today. Jump to highlights:

(01:00) Introducing Dr. Lindo Bacon and starting our series of episodes on the intersection of parenting and food
(02:22) Stripping the word ‘fat’ of it’s pejorative meaning and reclaiming the term while acknowledging that it may be jarring for some people
(03:09) Kicking off the conversation with how we measure health using BMI and how it might not be accurate
(05:03) The resistance to Katherine Flegal’s seminal research in weight and longevity
(05:49) The development of the Body Mass Index was with scientific bias to fit the bell curve
(07:30) Higher body weight does not necessarily mean a person has greater risk of poor health
(10:59) We actually know that the research is highly exaggerated in terms on the role that it plays on health
(13:16) Dr. Bacon’s turning point: When they found out that BMI recommendations were created by an organization funded by pharmaceutical companies who produce weight loss drugs and products
(17:35) Taking the issue one step further with the American Medical Association’s recommendation whether to categorize obesity as a disease or not
(19:19) The Obesity Paradox is an observation in the research that people who are obese who get the same diseases as those with ‘normal’ weight are living longer
(21:15) The concept of dieting just doesn’t work according to the data
(30:33) A story of Dr. Bacon’s and their father’s knee problems
(34:40) Individual factors only accounts to 25% to somebody’s total health outcomes and social determinants account to about 60%
(42:05) It is cool right now to be your authentic self but not everyone can so easily be their authentic self when their authentic selves are not valued by society at large
(45:48) Improving the health of individuals is more communal than individual

Resource Links:

Health at Every Size, by Lindo Bacon
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight, by Lindo Bacon and Lucy Aphramor
Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming it for the Better), by Lindo Bacon
Association For Size Diversity and Health

[accordion] [accordion-item title="Click here to read the full transcript"] Jen Lumanlan 00:02 Hi, I'm Jen and I host the Your Parenting Mojo Podcast. We all want her children to lead fulfilling lives, but it can be so hard to keep up with the latest scientific research on child development and figure out whether and how to incorporate it into our own approach to parenting. Here at Your Parenting Mojo, I do the work for you by critically examining strategies and tools related to parenting and child development that are grounded in scientific research and principles of respectful parenting. Jen Lumanlan 00:29 If you'd like to be notified when new episodes are released, and get a free guide called 13 Reasons Why Your Child Won't Listen...

(01:00) Introducing Dr. Lindo Bacon and starting our series of episodes on the intersection of parenting and food
(02:22) Stripping the word ‘fat’ of it’s pejorative meaning and reclaiming the term while acknowledging that it may be jarring for some people
(03:09) Kicking off the conversation with how we measure health using BMI and how it might not be accurate
(05:03) The resistance to Katherine Flegal’s seminal research in weight and longevity
(05:49) The development of the Body Mass Index was with scientific bias to fit the bell curve
(07:30) Higher body weight does not necessarily mean a person has greater risk of poor health
(10:59) We actually know that the research is highly exaggerated in terms on the role that it plays on health
(13:16) Dr. Bacon’s turning point: When they found out that BMI recommendations were created by an organization funded by pharmaceutical companies who produce weight loss drugs and products
(17:35) Taking the issue one step further with the American Medical Association’s recommendation whether to categorize obesity as a disease or not
(19:19) The Obesity Paradox is an observation in the research that people who are obese who get the same diseases as those with ‘normal’ weight are living longer
(21:15) The concept of dieting just doesn’t work according to the data
(30:33) A story of Dr. Bacon’s and their father’s knee problems
(34:40) Individual factors only accounts to 25% to somebody’s total health outcomes and social determinants account to about 60%
(42:05) It is cool right now to be your authentic self but not everyone can so easily be their authentic self when their authentic selves are not valued by society at large
(45:48) Improving the health of individuals is more communal than individual

Resource Links:

Health at Every Size, by Lindo Bacon
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight, by Lindo Bacon and Lucy Aphramor
Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming it for the Better), by Lindo Bacon
Association For Size Diversity and Health

Previous Episode

139: How to keep your child safe from guns (even if you don’t own one)

Many of us haven't been in each other's homes for a while now, but pretty soon we'll be getting together inside again. And our children will be heading inside, in their friends' houses. People store guns inside. Are you certain that nobody owns a gun in any of the places your child plays? If they do own a gun, are you certain they store it safely? If not, you need to ask. That's one issue we discuss in this interview with Dr. Nina Agrawal, a board-certified pediatrician who has expertise in violence against children. She co-founded the Gun Safety Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics in New York State, and is leading the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force for the American Medical Women’s Association. Another issue is the gun violence that is primarily faced by children of color, which turns out to affect a far greater number of children. And how is this all linked to the Peloton recall? You'll have to listen in to find out... Jump to highlights here:

(01:00) Indoor playdates are ramping up...will your child be safe?
(02:29) Introducing Dr. Nina Agrawal, pediatrician and co-founder of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Gun Safety Committee in New York State
(02:58) Understanding how big is the scope of gun violence against children
(06:15) The Dickey Amendment: Explaining the massive lack of data and research on gun violence and safety
(11:24) The ways that gun violence affects children that we might not expect
(12:32) “I get woken up at night to the sound of gunshots.”
(17:09) The racial disparity in how children are affected by gun violence
(20:46) More people purchased guns in 2020, and there are more first-time owners too
(23:39) The statistical likelihood of children coming to harm if they live with a firearm in their household
(27:00) Just telling kids not to touch guns doesn't work (even if you think of your child as one who is 'sensible,' and you've talked with them about gun safety)
(30:45) The Asking Saves Kids Campaign helps to keep kids safer
(33:06) The surprising link between children involved in gun violence and the Peloton treadmill recall
(36:07) In American culture, banning all guns can't be the answer
(40:52) Effective Child Access Laws
(41:45) How to create safer environments for children through building communities

[accordion] [accordion-item title="Click here to read the full transcript"] Jen Lumanlan 00:02 Hi, I'm Jen and I host the Your Parenting Mojo Podcast. Jen Lumanlan 00:06 We all want her children to lead fulfilling lives, but it can be so hard to keep up with the latest scientific research on child development and figure out whether and how to incorporate it into our own approach to parenting. Here at Your Parenting Mojo, I do the work for you by critically examining strategies and tools related to parenting and child development that are grounded in scientific research on principles of respectful parenting. If you'd like to be notified when new episodes are released, and get a free guide called 13 Reasons Why Your Child Won't Listen To You & What To Do About Each One, just head over to YourParentingMojo.com/SUBSCRIBE. You can also continue the conversation about the show with other listeners in the Your Parenting Mojo Facebook group. I do hope you'll join us. Jen Lumanlan 01:00 Hello, and welcome to the Your Parenting Mojo Podcast. And today we're going to discuss a topic that I think is about to come into parents' consciousness in a way that it really hasn't as much over the last year. And for some of us, that's a result of our privilege. And I was reflecting that as vaccinations for children become more available, we're probably going to start moving towards indoor play dates without parents being around because when my daughter went into when we went into sort of lockdown, she was young enough that she wasn't really doing playdates indoors with other people in anyone else's houses. And so I never really felt as though I needed to ask, "Are there guns in your house?" because I was always there to supervise. And so of course, over the last year, she's played with a lot of kids on our street, and they're always outside and I can always hear them. And so the danger doesn't seem to be there in the same way for me in those outdoor playdates scenarios. But of course, as vaccinations become available, and these things start to move inside, I don't know which of my friends has guns in their houses. And if I'm kind of uncomfortable asking about this, I'm guessing that a lot of parents haven't even thought about it and don't have it on their collective radar yet. So I wanted to bring that up into our consciousness before we actually need it. And then, of course, there's another issue here as well, that we're going to delve...

Next Episode

SYPM 013: Triggered all the time to emotional safety

When we're having a hard time interacting with our family members, it's pretty common for our first reaction to be: "I need this person (or these people!) to change their behavior" - especially when this person (or these people!) are children. After all, we've been around for longer and we know what we're doing and we were fine before our children started misbehaving, right? My guest today, parent-of-three Chrystal, had encountered this mentality not just about her children, but also about her husband. In fact, when she went to couple's therapy with her husband it was with a sense of relief: "Finally, I'm going to find out what's wrong with him, because there's nothing wrong with me!" She always figured: "If that person didn't act like that then I wouldn't need to react the way I'm reacting...and I legitimately thought that everyone else was responsible for my behavior." Then she realized that her husband wasn't responsible for how she was feeling...she was. Now she was ready to make the same leap related to her relationship with her spirited children, but needed new tools. They would melt down over every tiny issue (not enough honey on the oatmeal! Now not enough cream! I don't WANT to get dressed!), and Chrystal found herself constantly scrambling to placate them. Join us for a conversation about the new ideas she's learned, and how her children now don't cooperate blindly because she's forcing them, but express their agency while finding ways to collaborate that also meet their needs. They have real agency in her family (they know she'll hear them and respect their ideas) and because of this, the little issues that used to provoke regular meltdowns are easily solved. And Chrystal is learning how to set boundaries so she doesn't get walked all over - by her children, or by other members of her family. Want to make a similar shift in your own interactions with your children? My Taming Your Triggers workshop will help. Sign up for the waitlist and we'll let you know once enrollment re-opens. Click the image below to learn more. Jump to highlights:

(01:00) Inviting listeners to join the Taming Your Triggers workshop
(04:43) A little bit about Chrystal
(11:06) Chrystal’s journey as a parent
(13:58) How Chrystal found it difficult to build lasting relationships with parents who were raising their children the same way they were raised and how she found her people in the Taming Your Triggers community.
(16:32) The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses and how Chrystal resonated to the fawn response.
(18:22) The first time Chrystal was able to connect what she’s feeling in her body with her belief systems
(20:36) As the eldest of eight children, Chrystal felt that it was her responsibility to make sure everyone is happy when her mother couldn’t cope due to severe postnatal depression, and this has continued on with her character now that they’ve grown up
(24:51) When Chrystal decided to set boundaries and have it respected, she found out that her family’s issues can resolve themselves without her getting involved
(28:14) The profound shift with for Chrystal in terms of what changed in her family after going through the Taming Your Triggers workshop is that she is now able to see situations as more than a win-lose situation
(32:20) With two strong-willed daughters and a son who is also energetic, breakfast has been a challenge in Chrystal’s home. She’s learned to apply problem solving to find solutions, but the biggest revelation for her has been that it is okay for her children to have these big feelings
(38:15) Chrystal explores the question, “Why should our children listen to us?” as she discovers extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
(38:55) A beautiful moment when Chrystal was having a hard time getting her daughter ready for school, and another instance when she was having some friend over their house
(47:08) Having the tools is great but it is just better to have a framework to implement it and really being intentional
(51:20) Wrapping up with a sense of compassion.