Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my first post on Weight and Healthcare and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of this project so far. I’m grateful for everyone who reads, comments, shares, and subscribes
I am so grateful that your work and this community exists. Along with other writers, researchers and podcasters that I've discovered over the last year, you have really helped me reframe how I view not just health as a fat person, but my life overall.
When there is no chair for me to sit in at my doctor's office, or I'm told to eat better and exercise more without being asked about my routine, or I encounter the endless proclamations that weight loss improves health and is possible for everyone who tries hard enough...it's work like yours that I've kept hold of in those moments so I can remind myself that systemic ableism and fatphobia are not my fault.
Even the short asides that you include in your writing about how health and exercise are not inherently a moral good--they make a huge difference. As someone whose mobility has changed in the last few years, I had attached a lot of value to what I used to be capable of without even realizing it, and I've only recently started accepting my body's current limitations. Whenever you remind readers of your work that 'healthy' means different things for different people, and it's also not some North Star we're required to aim for, it truly helps me keep working on internalizing that belief.
So thank you for bringing us the facts and being a trustworthy source in a field that's still overwhelmingly biased, and thank you also for your intersectionality and for reminding us that all people have value regardless of their weight or health status.
I'm so glad that my work has been helpful, but mostly I'm sorry that the help was needed because of weight stigma and ableism in the healthcare system. Thanks for reading and for the kind words. I plan to keeping doing this work until it isn't necessary, and I hope that happens soon!
I am very grateful for the work you are doing. Thank you. I would like to make a one time small donation for your work . I am not sure if this is still the case but previously when I clicked on the subscribe button it didn't allow for that. Could you direct me elsewhere to make a small donation?
Thank you so much for the kind words and for wanting to support the newsletter. You can make a contribution through Venmo (@Ragen-Chastain) or paypal paypal.me/RagenChastain
Been intending to comment, but life happened. Congrats on 1year! I'd like to thank you for all you do. I work as a therapist and hear horror stories of how people have been treated. I seek to not only help people in my therapy room, but also create change beyond that. This includes providing education to therapists about how weight bias can enter the room. The information you provide helps me navigate the pushback that I sadly encounter in these efforts. Thank you!
Ragen I am so grateful for you and honestly I have no suggested changes. The way I see your information is it equips me with what I need to keep helping me remind myself of the truth when I am faced with the lies every day. When I hear diet culture beliefs, your writing fills me up with the beliefs I want to stand behind. So thank you. For everything.
YAY ONE YEAR! This continues to be the newsletter I turn to every time I have a research question and need a starting point. You are doing such important work here.
I’ve been appreciative and grateful for your work for many years and this newsletter is a fantastic resource. I think the research breakdowns are excellent and super helpful to understanding not only the harmful research but also why certain ideas might be newly resonant as people hear about a study that I have already made sure my network wouldn’t give the time of day. I like how you make your work approachable so I love seeing you answer questions too. I think the one addition that I would like to see is incorporating more holistic information about how weight cycling, weight stigma and medical anti-fat bias have long-reaching tentacles into other aspects of peoples lives so it doesn’t seem like it’s just about knee pain or office furniture size (super important things!) but this can feel like it reduces anti-fatness and the solutions to a couple things people can check off and be done or if they don’t encounter them then they aren’t “doing fatphobia.” So if the intersections of employment, dating, aging, family life, religion etc. could be explored that would be exciting. Since you mention Virginia Sole-Smith potentially interviewing people or discussing good work (the research breakdowns are generally about harmful research), that would be wonderful. And you may have done some of this earlier on, I’ve only been reading for the last few months so if you have, I would love to see that in the future too. Thank you so much for being so responsive to feedback and thoughtful in your work.
Hi Amy, Thanks so much for the feedback, In this newsletter I do focus specifically on the intersections of weight stigma, weight cycling, and healthcare and I'll definitely make a point to discuss these issues more intersectionally, I have some pieces coming out about medical weight-stigma and employment that my fit that bill and I'll work on creating others as well! Thanks again for the great suggestion!
I also love the research breakdowns. This has been invaluable to me in navigating some significant health problems this year, and you’ve been kind enough to answer some of my questions as well. Thank you for all you do! It changes lives, speaking from experience!
I can't believe it's been a year either! I have more research and I'll work on more handouts. (You can also find diagnosis-specific sheets, as well as a resource bank with more handouts/cheat sheets/cards etc. at www.HAESHEalthSheets.com if that's helpful!)
I am so grateful that your work and this community exists. Along with other writers, researchers and podcasters that I've discovered over the last year, you have really helped me reframe how I view not just health as a fat person, but my life overall.
When there is no chair for me to sit in at my doctor's office, or I'm told to eat better and exercise more without being asked about my routine, or I encounter the endless proclamations that weight loss improves health and is possible for everyone who tries hard enough...it's work like yours that I've kept hold of in those moments so I can remind myself that systemic ableism and fatphobia are not my fault.
Even the short asides that you include in your writing about how health and exercise are not inherently a moral good--they make a huge difference. As someone whose mobility has changed in the last few years, I had attached a lot of value to what I used to be capable of without even realizing it, and I've only recently started accepting my body's current limitations. Whenever you remind readers of your work that 'healthy' means different things for different people, and it's also not some North Star we're required to aim for, it truly helps me keep working on internalizing that belief.
So thank you for bringing us the facts and being a trustworthy source in a field that's still overwhelmingly biased, and thank you also for your intersectionality and for reminding us that all people have value regardless of their weight or health status.
I'm so glad that my work has been helpful, but mostly I'm sorry that the help was needed because of weight stigma and ableism in the healthcare system. Thanks for reading and for the kind words. I plan to keeping doing this work until it isn't necessary, and I hope that happens soon!
I am very grateful for the work you are doing. Thank you. I would like to make a one time small donation for your work . I am not sure if this is still the case but previously when I clicked on the subscribe button it didn't allow for that. Could you direct me elsewhere to make a small donation?
Claudette
Hi Claudette,
Thank you so much for the kind words and for wanting to support the newsletter. You can make a contribution through Venmo (@Ragen-Chastain) or paypal paypal.me/RagenChastain
Thanks again!
Thanks, I made a donation. The amount is not indicative of the value of your work. You have my gratitude.
Claudette
This was so kind of you, thank you very much. I promise to put it to good use!
Been intending to comment, but life happened. Congrats on 1year! I'd like to thank you for all you do. I work as a therapist and hear horror stories of how people have been treated. I seek to not only help people in my therapy room, but also create change beyond that. This includes providing education to therapists about how weight bias can enter the room. The information you provide helps me navigate the pushback that I sadly encounter in these efforts. Thank you!
Ragen I am so grateful for you and honestly I have no suggested changes. The way I see your information is it equips me with what I need to keep helping me remind myself of the truth when I am faced with the lies every day. When I hear diet culture beliefs, your writing fills me up with the beliefs I want to stand behind. So thank you. For everything.
This means so much Emily this is exactly what I hope my work will do for people. Thank you.
YAY ONE YEAR! This continues to be the newsletter I turn to every time I have a research question and need a starting point. You are doing such important work here.
Thank you for everything!
I’ve been appreciative and grateful for your work for many years and this newsletter is a fantastic resource. I think the research breakdowns are excellent and super helpful to understanding not only the harmful research but also why certain ideas might be newly resonant as people hear about a study that I have already made sure my network wouldn’t give the time of day. I like how you make your work approachable so I love seeing you answer questions too. I think the one addition that I would like to see is incorporating more holistic information about how weight cycling, weight stigma and medical anti-fat bias have long-reaching tentacles into other aspects of peoples lives so it doesn’t seem like it’s just about knee pain or office furniture size (super important things!) but this can feel like it reduces anti-fatness and the solutions to a couple things people can check off and be done or if they don’t encounter them then they aren’t “doing fatphobia.” So if the intersections of employment, dating, aging, family life, religion etc. could be explored that would be exciting. Since you mention Virginia Sole-Smith potentially interviewing people or discussing good work (the research breakdowns are generally about harmful research), that would be wonderful. And you may have done some of this earlier on, I’ve only been reading for the last few months so if you have, I would love to see that in the future too. Thank you so much for being so responsive to feedback and thoughtful in your work.
Hi Amy, Thanks so much for the feedback, In this newsletter I do focus specifically on the intersections of weight stigma, weight cycling, and healthcare and I'll definitely make a point to discuss these issues more intersectionally, I have some pieces coming out about medical weight-stigma and employment that my fit that bill and I'll work on creating others as well! Thanks again for the great suggestion!
I also love the research breakdowns. This has been invaluable to me in navigating some significant health problems this year, and you’ve been kind enough to answer some of my questions as well. Thank you for all you do! It changes lives, speaking from experience!
Thanks so much! I'm glad to help and I definitely have more research breakdowns coming your way!
I can’t believe it’s been a year! This newsletter is so helpful and I’m very grateful for all your hard work.
I LOVE your research breakdowns, for their scientific merit as well as when you follow the money to show where the bias creeps in.
I definitely like handouts/cheat sheets/cards that can be shared with doctors to help improve care.
Looking forward to another year :)
I can't believe it's been a year either! I have more research and I'll work on more handouts. (You can also find diagnosis-specific sheets, as well as a resource bank with more handouts/cheat sheets/cards etc. at www.HAESHEalthSheets.com if that's helpful!)