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Don’t Diet: Adverse Effects of the Weight Centered Health Paradigm
Book chapter   Peer reviewed

Don’t Diet: Adverse Effects of the Weight Centered Health Paradigm

Lily O'Hara and Jane A Gregg
Modern Dietary Fat Intakes in Disease Promotion, pp.431-442
Nutrition and Health (NH), Springer
2010
url
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-571-2View
Published Version

Abstract

Nutrition and Dietetics diet dieting weight-centered health health at every size
Key Points of the chapter: • Basic tenets of the weight-centered health paradigm include the following: weight is within the control of the individual; weight is caused by a simple imbalance between an individual's energy intake and energy usage; methods for successful and sustained weight loss include focusing specifically on changing eating and physical activity patterns; and losing weight to achieve "healthy weight" status will result in better health; • Critics of the weight-centered health paradigm contend that the tenets are scientifically inaccurate and focusing on body weight is ineffective as a means to improve health or control body weight; and • The attitudes, behaviors and practices arising from the paradigm are harmful to health and well-being and are associated with the paradigm which includes dissatisfaction, dieting, discrimination and death.

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