I picked up Andrew Weil’s new book, Healthy Aging, over the weekend. I’m a big fan of his, and often go searching his website when I have questions on health.

Interestingly, his book briefly touches on the subject of health and weight in a way that is complementary to the themes being raised by books like Fat Politics (which I discussed last week). Dr. Weil writes (emphasis mine):

Sorting out the medical realities about weight is not so easy. It is quite possible that our criteria for obesity and our thinking about its medical implications have been warped by fashion. We all know morbid obesity when we see it; clearly, it interferes with activities of daily living and makes people unhappy, unhealthy, and unlikely to experience successful aging. But is that true of simply being overweight, as indicated by tables of ideal heights and weights and measurements of BMI, the body mass index?

I don’t think so. In fact, being too lean may also compromise health and successful aging. … I will note that those who are somewhat overweight in middle age may enjoy a healthier and longer old age than those who are not and state my belief that it is better to be fit and fat than lean and not fit.

I’m not pushing for big league fat acceptance here. But nor am I going to miss the point that the authors are making either, like I think some might be.

What I think Dr. Weil points out well is the same thing that Oliver does in Fat Politics. Our weight is not the cause of our health problems. Our weight is a side effect of bad diets and lack of activity, and it is these, not the weight, that is likely the cause of the weight-related illnesses like heart disease and diabetes.

And a key point of Fat Politics is that there is very little scientific evidence to show that losing weight improves health, and in fact, some weight-loss diets may worsen health.

Anyways, as this morning’s post shows, I’m not against weight loss. But I do appreciate the point that Oliver and Weil are making. Don’t kid yourself about why (or how) you’re losing the weight. If you do so with a crappy diet and without the right kind of physical activity, you may be thin, but you won’t be healthy, and you probably won’t be improving your life expectancy.

That said, I don’t think we should throw out the weight loss baby with the “obesity epidemic” bathwater. But given how difficult it is for the average person to lose weight, I think we have to look at why the whole weight loss industry is failing miserably (unless you count the balance sheets for bariatric surgeons).

There’s gotta be a better way.