Quote (blahaj @ Jul 17 2023 03:22pm)
I said healthy in quotations because you can be considered a healthy weight and still be suffering from very unhealthy eating habits due to the stigma surrounding what a healthy lifestyle is
most people don't even realize they might be hurting their body because there is zero regulation on the "better living, healthy eating" content thats created online
we can see when someone is fat, and make an easy assumption that they are unhealthy, while that isn't always true(yes some people who appear "overweight" can be totally fine health wise). the same isn't true for people who outwardly look fine weight wise
some guy who just posted a pic of themselves ripped might be considered in great health, he's working out and doing great right? you can easily google search "how to cut and bulk" and you will find alot of holes in that theory very quickly
the same thing applies to most "fat burning" stuff that gets thrown in the average persons face, a huge majority of that doesn't actually help people find healthy ways to achieve realistic goals, and there is no filter on what kind of content people consume in that regard
you can't measure it, or compare it. the stigma currently makes that impossible
While it's possible for individuals to present as metabolically healthy while obese (especially when young), this becomes progressively more difficult to maintain over time. Among other things, including some nasty hormonal changes, obesity places an enormous strain on the heart that accrues over time. The only long-term fix is a permanent change in diet and exercise.
The fitness and nutrition industry has always been filled with grifters. The USDA has been nearly as bad, so turning it over to hapless bureaucrats isn't the likely answer. Some combination of "eating less" and "exercising more", with a focus on protein rich sources of food is all the average lay person needs to manage a balanced and healthy diet. Perhaps schools need to do a better job in health of teaching kids to read nutritional labels and balance their macros, but I think we're getting way ahead of ourselves. A sizeable segment of the population continues to reject the first law of thermodynamics.