We, at VFR, don't intend to claim certain people are healthy while others are not. It's not our place, particularly because we're not doctors nor do we have access to anyone else's medical records.
What we do hope to do is get vegans to realize that you can't judge someone's health based on how they look. We attempt to do this through the use of scientific studies.
Overweight/fat shaming in the vegan movement runs rampant, and it is unacceptable. As the meme above states, compassion and speaking up for non-human animals has nothing to do with someone's weight. Veganism isn't a diet or a weight loss tool. It's an ethical stance exemplified by a lifestyle of compassion.
Vegans come in all shapes and sizes.
We are ALL amazing examples of our movement.
Please use these memes (along with the cited studies) as tools to stand up against fat-shaming in the vegan movement.
Study:
Study:
About the study: The take away message from the lead author of the cited study, Dr. Ruth Loos: "In simple terms, it is not only overweight individuals who can be predisposed for these metabolic diseases, and lean individuals shouldn't make assumptions that they are healthy based on their appearance. "
Director of the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Professor Nick Wareham, said:
"The research will provide new insights into why not all lean people are healthy and, conversely, why not all overweight people are at risk of metabolic diseases."
Dr. Kiel, a senior scientist at the Institute for Aging Research and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, USA, who was also involved in this study, said:
"We've uncovered a truly fascinating genetic story and, when we found the effect of this gene, we were very intrigued by the unexpected finding. People, particularly men, with a specific form of the gene are both more likely to have lower percent body fat, but also to develop heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In simple terms, it is not only overweight individuals who can be predisposed for these metabolic diseases."
Study:
About the study: This study outlines the genetic evidence for normal-weight “metabolically obese” phenotypes, which leads to the predisposition of diseases in normal weight individuals even though these diseases are usually thought of as being diseases only found in obese individuals.
Take away point: You can't tell what someone's health is simply by looking at their weight.
Study:
Study:
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About the study: "The most important result from our study is that overweight and obese patients with ACSs had lower mortality rate compared with patients with normal BMI....This large observational study with prospectively collected data strengthens the existing evidence and increases the awareness of obesity paradox."
And to quote a vegan registered dietician:
Here's a post by The Vegan RD on how body shaming fails vegan advocacy: http://www.theveganrd.com/2012/04/body-shaming-fails-vegans-and-vegan-advocacy.html
In conclusion:
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