For many of us growing up in America, we were taught that fatness was an illness to be feared and avoided, and we were also led to believe that our weight was easy to control through food and exercise. These narratives completely disregard the numerous other factors that contribute to our weight (like biology, heredity, access to preventative medical care, socioeconomic status, access to nutritionally diverse food, and mental health just to name a few), and ignore the fact that intentional weight loss has a 95% failure rate.
Read MoreDecades of research has shown that social connections are as important to our survival and wellbeing as the need for food, safety, and shelter. It makes perfect sense that we are motivated to do whatever we can to fulfill our need to belong.
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