In this episode, Dr. DeAun Nelson breaks down healthism - what it is, where it comes from, and how it shapes the way we treat people in larger bodies, both in medical settings and in everyday life.She draws on Robert Crawford's original definition from 1980 and Lucy Aphramor's more expansive one, which names what Crawford left out: that poverty, oppression, privilege, and environment all shape our health in ways individuals simply cannot control.

When healthism ignores that reality, the result is victim blaming, increased health inequities, and a system that judges people's worth by their bodies.Dr. Nelson also gets into nutritionism - the idea that food's value lives entirely in its nutrients - and how that thinking can tip into orthorexia, food anxiety, and the kind of obsession that actually undermines health rather than supporting it.In this episode:What healthism is and why it's more than just caring about your healthThe "good fatty / bad fatty" dichotomy introduced by Kate Harding - and why it matters clinically

Why body size tells you nothing about a person's health behaviorsHow performing health becomes a survival strategy for people in larger bodiesPatient autonomy, motivational interviewing, and why "eat healthy and lose weight" is not a treatment planWhat medical offices can do right now to become more accessible to patients of all sizesTheme music by Gaelyn Davis. Show art by Stacy Bias.Want to be notified when new episodes are uploaded? Join our email list - fatnaturopathyoutube.subscribepage.io