This week I had a nice conversation with an intelligent, interesting and hard-working woman, and she said something: she doesn’t need to step into my program because she doesn’t have the need to look good.
I had to stop and go back over that sentence three times to understand what she was saying. I couldn’t write it down at the time without seeming rude, so from what I recall and what I thought then and now:
She believes my program is about looking good. Oops, not right, my problem!
She thinks I look good (?)
Question: do Dutch women in general believe that taking care of their health is the same as trying to look good, and is that why roughly 50% of women over 40 in the Netherlands are overweight?
Beauty is subjective, health is not
Actually, I can totally understand where she was coming from. There is a lot of noise out there selling looking good instead of focusing on less sexy but more important business of being healthy.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s influenced by inherited traits, belief, charisma, where you live, societal beliefs, etc. I am almost certain that in none of my posts or newsletters have I talked about beauty. And if I have, then again, totally subjective and influenced by all of the above. In my case that’s a lot, because I’ve lived in very different places in my life, and in each one I was not the one following the local idiosyncrasy. I didn’t 100% belong or understand.
So how did you decide you’re fine?
Health is different. Health standards are not subjective. Overweight has a definition: the WHO puts it at a BMI of 25 and up, and obesity at 30 and up. For women, an abdominal circumference from 80 cm the health risk is raised, from 88 cm substantially raised. Further, the Dutch Beweegrichtlijnen ask for 150 minutes of moderate movement a week plus strength work twice a week. These are clear guidelines that you can use to objectively measure where you stand.
Are they perfect? Probably not. Do they give a proven general indication of a person’s health status? Definitely.
What you don’t have to accept
When someone tells me they don’t need to lose weight, or that they eat healthily, I wonder how they have determined that. Is it based on what they believe subjectively? Are they unwilling to check it against evidence-based standards? Is their upbringing telling them: do not wish for more, het is goed zo! Or: ja, dit komt door de leeftijd!
Let me tell you, objectively: you don’t need to accept that you buy bigger sizes each passing season, you don’t need to get out of breath going up the stairs and it’s not the menopause hormonal changes. The last one makes it trickier, yes. But if it were only the hormones, then ALL women would get heavier and less fit with age, and that’s not the case.
Where do you stand?
DEBs WAY program is NOT about looking good (but thank you very much, love it!). It’s about being healthy, staying independent, and enjoying life to the fullest. By your definition, and hopefully that doesn’t mean sitting in front of a screen for 15 hours a day.
When you want an objective look at where you stand in terms of nutrition, movement and lifestyle, go to DEBs WAY Insight. I’ve developed a tool that helps you quickly see your own habits against the recommended guidelines. You fill in a form, have a 30-minute talk with me, and then you receive a written report on what we discussed and what you can do, if anything, to move in a healthier direction. Click and let’s go!
