What the Research Says

Mayo Clinic Study finds Wellness Coaching benefits last over time.

-improved physical and spiritual wellbeing

-lower stress levels

-depressive symptoms decreased by half!

-overall improved quality of life

National Geographic article includes several very relevant studies

-healthier blood pressure

-lower cholesterol

-more physically active

-also outlines what HAES (Health At Every Size) is and why it's so effective at helping improve health outcomes.

"Health at Every Size focuses on health, not weight, as an indicator of your overall well-being."

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine article including lots of data about the positive impact of lifestyle modifications:

-80% of all heart disease and over 91% of all diabetes in women could be eliminated if they would adopt a cluster of positive lifestyle practices including:

-physical activity

-nutrition

-managing stress, anxiety, and depression

-Lifestyle modifications have been demonstrated in multiple studies to play an important role in both the treatment and prevention of many chronic diseases and conditions including:

-cardiovascular disease

-diabetes and pre-diabetes

-cancer

-dementia

-anxiety and depression

"Daily habits and actions exert an enormous impact on short-term and long-term health and quality of life."

Lifestyle Medicine: A Brief Overview of Its Dramatic Impact On Health and Survival is an article found in The Permanente Journal and authored by twenty MD's.

-the need for more medical professionals to read and use the data about the extremely positive impacts of lifestyle modifications

-positive effects on mainly "Western" diseases through lifestyle interventions such as:

-diabetes

-inflammation

-cardiovascular disease

-cancer

-lists resources and suggestions

-escalating health care costs and a decline in life expectancy can both be positively impacted through a more mainstream adoption/push for lifestyle modifications

"By ignoring the root causes of disease and neglecting to prioritize lifestyle measures for prevention, the medical community is placing people at harm." 

American Journal of Public Health article full of lots of good info including the "evidence (which) is accumulating that a weight-neutral, nutrition and physical activity based, Health at Every Size (HAES)" approach is needed in health care.

-intention weight loss is rarely long-lasting (less than 10%)

-physiological changes happen in the body during intentional and focused weight loss that lead to negative chemical and physical changes which make weight regain virtually inevitable

-endocrine systems actively promote weight regain (after intentional weight loss)

-decreases in insulin, leptin, polypeptide YY, and cholecystokinin were also observed (after intentional weight loss) 

-(intentional) weight loss may not be harmless and may increase stress, release of persistent organic pollutants, and risk of osteoporosis 

-"(intentional) weight loss may not always be health enhancing, particularly for the large proportion of obese persons who may be cardio metabolically healthy, or whose ill health may be attributable to numerous non–weight-related confounding factors." 

-a narrow focus on "healthy" weight may contribute to disordered eating

-a narrow focus on "healthy" weight leads to stigmas that can harm an individual's health

-BMI says little about an individual's actual level of health

-health outcomes can be improved through lifestyle modifications without a goal of weight loss

-physical activity is the greatest indicator of health and mortality, irrespective of weight

-obese individuals who adopted all 4 healthy lifestyle habits had the lowest risk of mortality compared with every other weight strata and lifestyle combination

-obese individuals who engage in moderate intensity physical activity for 150 minutes per week have half the death rates and lower rates of cardiovascular disease than their unfit, normal-weight counterparts

-physically active overweight or obese individuals may have greater cardiovascular fitness than inactive individuals, regardless of weight status 

-increasing evidence that fitness and diet may affect health independent of weight status, and that obesity and fitness are nonmutually exclusive 

"Public health would benefit from a shift in focus from weight loss to disease prevention for individuals of all ages and sizes, with a focus on health rather than weight-loss" 

BBC News article discussing a meta-analysis study Cambridge University did on the health benefits and outcomes of 75 minutes a week of exercise, or only 11 minutes a day.

"If everyone did as little as 11 minutes of daily activity, one in 10 premature deaths could be prevented."

Forbes article outlining "6 Science-Backed Ways Exercise Benefits the Body and the Brain."  These six ways are:

-Reduces inflammation (and cancer and diabetes and…) 

-Reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke

-"Slows" aging

-Triggers the growth of new brain cells

-Helps treat and prevent depression

-Reduces dementia risk

"...even small increases in activity will bring substantial benefits. Physical activity has the fantastic ability to act through multiple physiologic pathways in the body, making it a great bang for your buck." 

NPR article about the detrimental effects of diet culture and healthism.

-We spend over $30 billion on diet products annually and an estimated 45 million Americans diet every year. 

-Just rebranding: the diet industry has altered its messaging to be less about appearance and more about the popular ideals of health and wellness. 

-thinness and health are not the same, and fatness does not necessarily equate to being unhealthy

-the BMI is BS and why

-A cousin of diet culture is healthism, which is this idea that we have to be healthy. There is a moral imperative. 

"Diet culture is that collective set of social expectations "telling us that there's one way to be and one way to look and one way to eat and that we are a better person, we're a more worthy person if our bodies are a certain way." 

- Nadia Craddock