don't fear your appetite!

“We are genetically like different breeds of dogs, but we can't tell what breed we are by sight. You have to tell your "breed" by the weight that you turn out to be when you are living a good life.”- Deb Burgard (in The Fat Studies Reader by Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay)

This quote was first introduced to me in a book I read for one of my public health classes, about the Health at Every Size movement. Now, I’ll admit that reading this quote out of context probably doesn’t resonate as well as it does were it in-context. But what it essentially is getting at is this: we are not all born to be effortlessly thin, and fit. We are not all natural greyhounds. Some of us are born St.Bernards—muscular, strong and built. For anybody who knows anything about dogs: is it likely that a St. Bernard will start to look like a greyhound if you stop feeding it? Probably not. In fact, that St. Bernard will probably be really sad.

Interestingly enough, the same applies to humans. When we deny ourselves food, we become hungry, angry (hangry), tired, weak, and really sad, among other things. What I love about the Health at Every Size movement is that its goal is to promote a healthier lifestyle, not to lose weight. If healthy weight loss comes as a result, awesome—if not, awesome!

For the sake of not being preachy, I will leave you with the following TED Talk,and the link to Health at Every Size. Don't fear your appetite!