With “thinspo” and “fitspo” turning into “health and wellness” and people believing this new emphasis on health is as simple as they make it sound, it’s easy to feel disheartened or unworthy if you struggle with chronic illness or have disabilities. Know that you are not alone. Your health does not define you, and sometimes we have to work around our disabilities.
Unfortunately when people talk about health nowadays they are only referring to diet and exercise when health is so much broader than that! People will say “as long as you are healthy” when discussing body positivity but I’m here to say that it’s ok if you are not.
I’m getting annoyed with how the dieting industry and even the body positive industry are using the word ‘health’. They say it as if it’s an option for everyone therefore implying that all you need to be healthy is to be a healthy weight and forgetting about all the medical conditions that are not weight related. It’s a very ableist mentality and comes from a place of privilege. It is a privilege to live in a world where having a debilitating illness isn’t an everyday thought and going into hospital isn’t an everyday fear. It’s a privilege to get a headache and not have to worry that it’s a brain tumour regrowing or to get a stomach ache and not have to worry it’s an obstructed bowel.
We need to stop saying phrases like “everyone is capable of health”, cause frankly it’s starting to feel like a punch to the gut, especially when I hear this message lying in a hospital bed.