• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Sunny Side Up Nutrition
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • About Us
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • About Us
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
×
Home » Diet-Free Parenting

3 Facts Parents Need to Know About Weight Stigma

Published: Sep 29, 2020 · Modified: Dec 21, 2022 by Anna Lutz · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment.

  • Share
  • Email

This week is Weight Stigma Awareness Week. During this week, the eating disorders community spotlights the harm that it causes in our society, healthcare system, and specifically in eating disorders treatment and research. 

What is Weight Stigma?

Weight stigma is discrimination against or stereotyping others based on their weight. Research shows that weight stigma often comes from healthcare professionals, family members and teachers.

Weight Stigma is...

  • When a person changes the way they interact with an individual or makes assumptions about them based on their weight.
  • When a doctor assumes a patient exercises a certain amount or eats a certain amount based on their weight.
  • A teacher’s comments about their student’s weight when they looks in the child's lunchbox.
  • A poster in a school that associates a child’s weight with certain foods or health outcomes.
  • When a parent feeds a child with a larger body differently than a child with a smaller body. 

Individuals that experience weight stigma: 

  • Are more likely to avoid going to the doctor
  • Have increased cortisol levels and blood pressure.  
  • Are at increased risk of depression and low self esteem
  • Are at increased risk of engaging in behaviors that are harmful to their health
  • And...the thing many think weight stigmatizing comments “help with” - Are more likely to gain weight.  (See below for references)

We need to be having a “War On Weight Stigma,” not a war on individuals’ body sizes.  The current way we treat individuals with large bodies is causing the very health consequences that we associate with higher weight bodies and that we say we are so concerned about. Weight stigma causes harm and, as parents, we can help change our society and eliminate weight stigma for the health and well being of our children.

3 Facts Parents Need to Know About Weight Stigma: 

  • No child should hear their body is wrong. It’s typical for a pediatrician to review a child’s growth chart in front of a child at a well child visit. Many pediatricians use arbitrary percentile cutoffs to decide what is a “healthy” or “unhealthy” body and to make nutrition and exercise recommendations. This can be confusing for a child and can be a form of weight stigma. You can ask your healthcare provider to not review growth charts in front of your child. Check out this post written in conjunction with Katja Rowell, MD, including a letter you can send to your child’s healthcare provider. 
  • People of all sizes can have eating disorders. Weight Stigma prevents providers from diagnosing individuals with eating disorders.  If you are worried about your child’s eating, focus on the behaviors you are concerned about, not the child’s weight and challenge your healthcare provider to do the same. 
  • Your child’s weight is not the problem, our weight stigma-filled society is.   If you are concerned about your child’s weight, don’t try to change their body to protect them from bullying and weight stigma. Restricting a child’s intake or telling them they need to lose weight, are themselves forms of weight stigma.  Instead, fortify and protect your child from weight stigma, by supporting them and the body they have.  Let them know through your words and actions that you love them and trust their body 100%. Just as you would for any sized child, model and support them in health enhancing behaviors that are feasible and appropriate for your family. 

The Creation of Weight Stigma Awareness Week

Weight Stigma Awareness Week was originally created by BEDA (Binge Eating Disorder Association) in 2011 when Chevese Turner was BEDA's director. It is because of her hard work and advocacy and the hard work and advocacy of many others that we have Weight Stigma Awareness Week and are having important conversations and needed change in the eating disorders field.

References:

  • Puhl RM, Heuer CA. Obesity stigma: important considerations for public health. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(6):1019-1028. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.159491
  • Puhl RM, Neumark-Sztainer D, Austin SB, Luedicke J, King KM. Setting policy priorities to address eating disorders and weight stigma: views from the field of eating disorders and the US general public. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:524. Published 2014 May 29. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-524  ​
  • Remmert JE, Convertino AD, Roberts SR, Godfrey KM, Butryn ML. Stigmatizing weight experiences in health care: Associations with BMI and eating behaviours. Obes Sci Pract. 2019;5(6):555-563. Published 2019 Nov 12. doi:10.1002/osp4.379


« Pasta with Zucchini, Corn and Cilantro
You'll Love This Recipe for Warm Apples with Homemade Granola »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Elisabeth and Anna outside smiling

Welcome to Sunny Side Up Nutrition! 

• Are you looking for sound, practical nutrition, and cooking information?

• Do you want to opt out of diet culture and the hype around food?

• Do you want to be empowered to foster healthy relationships with food in your home?

If so, then you've come to the right place!

More about us →

Family Dinner Recipes

  • Easy, Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
  • Orechiette pasta with bacon and Brussels sprouts in a lapis blue bowl on a light blue plate.
    Pasta with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
  • Spinach Lasagna in a clear baking dish on a stove top
    Spinach Lasagna: An Easy Meal for a Return to Busy Nights
  • Tomato wedges in an uncooked pie crust next to a bowl of cheeses and a copper pepper grinder.
    Summer Tomato Basil Pie
  • 3 zucchini fritters sit on a robin egg blue pottery plate with a dollop of sour cream on top. A silver fork sits besides them.
    "Go-to" Summertime Meals
  • Ingredients for 15 Minute Lentil Ragout which include celery, carrot, onion, garlic, dried tarragon, Trader Joe's French lentils.
    15-Minute Lentil Ragout

Popular Posts

  • Large, yellow pot filled with black beans, tomatoes and corn.
    An Easy Black Beans Recipe
  • Blue and white bowl filled with black eyed peas and greens with a silver fork on the left side of the bowl.
    New Year's Day Traditions: Pork, Sauerkraut & Black Eyed Peas
  • Brown sugar in a spoon, brown sugar cubes, white sugar cubes, white sugar in a wooden bowl.
    Let's Talk About Sugar
  • Frozen broccoli florets in a cornflower blue bowl on a rustic wooden surface.
    How to cook frozen vegetables that taste as good as fresh.
  • Black bean taco soup topped with grated cheese in a green and blue pottery bowl.
    Black Bean Taco Soup
  • Mixed berry cobbler in a blue and white casserole dish. A portion has been removed and places in a white bowl beside the casserole dish.
    Mixed Berry Cobbler

Footer

  • terms of service
  • privacy policy
  • subscribe
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook