157. What that viral ‘obesity X-ray’ gets completely wrong

When a shocking image goes viral - like the so-called “obesity X-ray” recently shared by The Joe Rogan Experience - it’s easy to get swept up in fear-based narratives about obesity, dressed up as health advice. But what’s the real story behind this image, and what does it say about the way we treat people in bigger bodies?

In this episode, I unpack the truth behind the image (spoiler: it’s not a real X-ray), the harm caused by fear-mongering posts like these, and what body positivity actually stands for. We’ll explore weight stigma in healthcare, the importance of behaviours over body size, and why no one owes the world a smaller body.

If you’ve seen the Joe Rogan post and felt anger, shame or confusion, this conversation is for you.

Transcript

0:09

Welcome to the Intuitive Eating and Body Positivity podcast. I'm Terri and I'll be talking about all things intuitive eating, body positivity, and health at every size. And shaking off weight stigma, diet, culture, and food rules so that we can all have a better relationship with food and our bodies. Hello, how are you? I'm gonna jump straight in this week. I mean, I've not had a very exciting week anyway, so nothing much to update you on. Nothing much to tell you. But I just wanna get straight into this episode anyway. I feel a little bit, um, not anxious. Not anxious, that's not the right word. I feel a little bit triggered maybe by a post that I've seen on social media. Uh, these things trigger me in a way that makes me feel. Angry and worried for people like you and concerned about the messages that are being spread, that sort of thing. So when I say I'm triggered by posts like this, I'm gonna explain what the post is in a minute. I know that you're sat there going, what's this post? Well. I'll tell you about it in a minute, but when I say I'm triggered by these posts, I mean it brings up all this emotion in me and it doesn't trigger my thoughts around my body or my eating habits, but it does make me worry and it makes me mad for the misinformation that's being, uh, spread around out there. So I thought that I would do something a little bit different and address a social media post that's doing the round on the podcast. I don't usually do that. I know I don't really ever talk about current topical affairs, but maybe I should, if you want me to. If things come up and you're like, talk about this quickly, then drop me a message and I'm more than happy to do episodes on stuff that's current stuff that's in the news stuff that's doing the rounds on social media and stuff. Like, let's get this stuff addressed. Let's talk about it. Let's understand it. Let's. Dismiss the stuff that is not relevant and let's make you feel better about the stuff that is. So this post that's doing the rounds is an image basically from the Joe Rogan experience. Now I have massive issues with. The Joe Rogan experience anyway, I have issues with him. I have issues with him as a podcaster. I have Imma uh, issues with his show because I feel like he spreads a lot of misinformation. It's grown massive. His show, it is so big. The episodes are really long as well. I think they're like three hours long, most of them. He has these big conversations with people and they really get into it, but he doesn't really do his homework on a lot of the topics that he talks on. So there's a guy who's not informed in stuff, interviewing people that he hasn't really vetted, who are maybe just big names, big influencers, that sort of thing. And between them, they come up with this information that is not always a hundred percent factually correct. And this is one of those examples. It's an extreme one for me. It's one that I feel needs talking about. I want to talk about it because you might see it. It's circulating everywhere, so you might see it, and I want to help you to understand it if you do see it. So this image is basically an X-ray, right? It's an x-ray of a man in a very large body. I did share it into the Facebook group. But I'm not sharing it far and wide. I'm certainly not going to bother to read the caption to you, but let's just say that this post goes into detail about how bad it is for the human skeleton, for somebody to be in a bigger body. It talks about the pressure on the skeleton, on the hips, on the knees, on that sort of thing, and it's incredibly damaging for a lot of reasons. Firstly. The image is fake right now. That's never a good start, is it? So if you've seen this during the rounds, you might easily think that it's a real x-ray image to the initial glance, it looks quite convincing. But when you look at it a bit closer, you can see that actually there's a lot about it that is wrong. The skeleton is not that skeleton of the body, the hips and the pelvis, all that kind of area, not in the right place. The shoulders not in the right place. The head and neck doesn't look quite right. There's, there's bits and pieces in there that when you look at it in more detail like that can't possibly be that man. And it's not. It's an image that was created for a TV show. Basically, there was a guy who was in a very large body and they created this image to indicate to him what the body might look like, skeleton and fat wise, it's not a real image, it is a computer generated, um, idea. Of what might be going on in this man's body, but it's not factually correct. Nobody knows if this is his skeleton. It's not. Well, no. We do know it's not his skeleton, but nobody knows what his skeleton looks like. They've just gone, oh well your body is this big and your skeleton must be teeny tiny within it. That's, that's just not. Real, right? It's just not real. So if you see this post, please know the skeleton is not real. Okay? So let's get rid of that to start with. And actually, let's address that a little bit more. There is a real danger when people use these shock images to spark fear in people. That's what's happened here. They've created this image to scare this guy. Now it's being used to scare everybody else. There's detail on this post about whether body positivity ignores the facts of health. That's what the topic of the conversation is on that post. And I assume the podcast episode for the Joe Rogan experience, they're asking if body positivity just completely ignores health. So immediately they've gone. You can't be body positive. And healthy if you are that size. That's pretty much what this post is saying. But what they haven't done is distinguish the difference between body positivity and health because they are two different things, aren't they? What? So you can't be positive and health conscious. That's what this post is saying. You can't be body positive and. Be careful of your health. You can't be in a bigger body like that and be mindful of your health. That is what this is saying. They're saying that body positivity, oh my goodness. Body positivity pays no attention to health whatsoever, and we know this is not true. If you've listened to this podcast for long enough, you will know that that is not the truth. Being body positive does not mean that you just throw your health right out the window. Don't give two hoots about it and just go on your merry way piling the weight on. That's not what body positivity is. Come on people. It's a very ignorant viewpoint. Being body positive does not deny health realities. It just doesn't. It is a movement that is rooted in rejecting shame, advocating for dignity, respect. Inclusion, equality, fairness. That's what body positivity is about. It's about expecting to live your life, accepted by others no matter what you look like. It's about getting rid of shame. It's about not shaming people into weight loss because they're in a bigger body. That's what it is. Body positivity recognizes that weight is not a behavior because it isn't. I talk all the time about how health is a combination of behaviors, right? You can be at any shape and size and have really health-promoting behaviors. You can be at any body size and shape and have health damaging behaviors. Your health is made up of many, many things now. Yes, of course. Very, very high levels of fat can contribute to some health issues. Nobody is denying that. But what we're saying is that the behaviors matter more than the body size. Your movement, your nutrition, your rest, your mental health, that's what matters. That's what's gonna contribute to your health outcome and your health markers. If you are getting good movement, if you are getting varied movement, if you are getting some cardio movement and some strength movement, if you are getting daily movement, if you are getting movement that suits you and your personal circumstances, if. That is going to be good for your health. We know that it's going to help your body to be strong and fit and active and flexible and to carry you through life, and that's what we want from movement. If you are getting a good range of nutrients in your body. Then that's gonna be good for you. And we've said it many times before. Intuitive eaters have been shown to have a really great balance of all the different nutrients in their body and in their dietary intake. If you are getting a good balance of all food groups and you're getting a good balance of vitamins and minerals, that's gonna be great for your body and your health if you are resting adequately. That's really good for you. You know, nobody can go and go and go and go and go without eventually burning out, right? So if you're factoring in really good rest and you are making sure that you are sleeping well, that sort of thing, and you are giving yourself the best chance to get good sleep, all that is going to really contribute to you being. In a good position, health wise and mental health too. You know, if you're looking after your mental health, if there's some self care in there, you just doing these bits and pieces is really gonna help you to have this all round great picture of health mentally and physically. Body positivity takes this into account because it says you shouldn't be shamed into exercising many times a day or many times a week if that does not suit you, that you don't have this obligation to exercise if you don't want to. And likewise with the other things, you don't have an obligation to eat well if you don't want to or rest or take care of your mental health. You don't have an obligation to do these things. We're just saying. For a great all round picture of health, these are factors that are to be taken into account and body positivity just understands. That people shouldn't be shamed into doing those things or shamed if they're not doing those things. That happens a lot, doesn't it? You criticize somebody else's diet, you know, you see a snapshot of what people eat in a day. So maybe you work with them, maybe you are related to them and you see them a couple of times a week. Um, maybe you're out for dinner with them, whatever it is, and maybe you look at the eating habit and you are like, Hmm, that can't be very good for you. Well, fine, but for starters, that's not an overall picture of what they're doing. And secondly, body positivity means let them do it right. Just let them do it if they want to. You don't have to shame them or criticize them into changing their habits. It's not what it's about. If we go back to this x-ray. What we're looking at here in the caption that was written alongside it is that people are going, this body size is too big for this skeleton to carry. It's doing untold damage, but what you can't see from a photo or an x-ray is all the other things. Contribute. You can't see their eating habits. You can't see their sleep. You can't see what medication they're on. You can't see what their mental health is like. You cannot see their genetic makeup. People have different body shapes and sizes. Because no human is the same as another. Even twins have differences that's been proven. You can't look at an image like the one that was shared. And say that this person's bones are simply not coping because of the weight of this person. How do you know that from looking at a picture? How do you look at that x-ray and go, yep, yep. I can see they're not coping. That that person, that skeleton is crumbling in front of our very eyes now. Some kind of bone technician, I don't know what the actual word is. Is it an osteopath? Do they do bones? I don't actually know which medical profession looks at bones, but anyway, if you are a specialist in bone health, yes, you'll probably be able to look at that x-ray and say, eh, there are problems there, or, no, looks great, looks fit, and healthy. They would probably be able to tell what the bone density is, although there are proper special bone density scans. So I don't even know if you can see that from an x-ray. I simply don't know about this topic. You know, I don't know about x-rays and what you can see. But old Joe Rogan, he's not the man for the job. He is not somebody that knows about this stuff. He's in no position to write on social media, a caption that says this person is doing damage to their bones because of the weight that they are. Who is he? To say that, I think it's really important that when you look at posts from influencers. From, you know, people you follow online, that you look and you question where their information is coming from. I want you to question me. I want you to listen to my stuff and to say, who is she to talk about this? What does she know about this subject? Is she Ed educated enough in this? I bring guests onto this podcast every now and again because I am not educated enough in all of these topics to be able to talk about it myself. I can go and do some research, but there are people out there that are better informed than I am. You've gotta stay in your lane. And Joe Rogan is not in his lane on this one. He's, he's absolutely not. You know what this stuff actually does. These posts, this stigma from people, this weight stigma from friends, from colleagues, from influencers, from healthcare professionals. This stigma leads to people avoiding doctors. This stigma leads to people having really bad pain, really serious concerns about their health. Being really worried about something and not going to their doctor because they think the response that they're gonna get is go away, lose some weight. That will be the issue. Everybody in a bigger body, well not everybody, that's an unfair just kind of blanket statement, but there are many, many people in the world who are worried to go to their doctor with a health complaint because they know that the weight is gonna be a topic for discussion. Now, obviously there are some great medical professionals out there that do not do this, and they take very good care of their patients and they address what the patient has come in for, but there's an awful lot that doesn't. And when you put out images like this x-ray, and you talk about the risks and you make it a shameful thing, then somebody on the internet is reading that go in. Yeah, that's me. I'm not going, I'm not gonna go to the doctors. They'll just tell me X, Y, and Z, and that's worrying. So all these health outcomes that are happening that are being attributed to obesity, all these negative outcomes, all this money that apparently is being spent on treatments for conditions that have been caused by somebody being overweight. Caused in obviously speech marks. Um, these things aren't actually caused by the weight. What happens a lot of the time is that people have been too scared to go, therefore their condition has progressed massively, and then they are in this position where they need serious treatment. That's what posts like this do. That's what misinformed. Social media posts do to people. They stop them going and getting proper advice. They stop them looking after themselves essentially. And that is what makes me angry and that's why I had to come and talk about this. And I had to share it as a post on social media with my thoughts around it. That's why I have to talk about it because this stuff, this is the triggered side of me that I was talking about. It makes me. Angry. That post has had hundreds of thousands of views. That's hundreds of thousands of people that have either had their thoughts around weight issues, um, confirmed weight bias has been confirmed, shaming has been confirmed. And then there are people who are looking at that going, that's me. That's me. Look at what the damage I'm doing, and then in turn, what that turns into is shame and disordered eating and eating disorders. This doesn't just stop at, oh, there's a funny picture on the internet. This is genuinely, genuinely serious. It undermines genuine health promotion. It undermines people and their body autonomy. It undermines people taking control of their own health and their own wellbeing. And ultimately what this picture does is it forgets one very important thing. People have the right to choose. People have the right to live in their body without judgment and without the pressure to change anything if they don't want to. You have the right to live in a bigger body if you want to. You have the right to not go seek healthcare if you don't want to. You have the right to eat what you want, drink what you want, move when you want. Don't move if you don't want to get exercise. Don't get exercise. Wear what you want. Um, seek healthcare if you want to. Don't seek healthcare if you don't want to, and there is no obligation for anybody. To make their health better if they don't want to. I mean, this post assumes that everybody should be striving for brilliant health. Well, that's not even an obligation because if you don't want to improve your health, you don't have to. That's what this boils down to. You have body autonomy. You have the right to choose. So, I know this was a bit of a shorter episode, a bit of a ranty one, but ultimately what I wanted you to get out of this is don't pay attention to everything you see on the internet question messaging like this, comment on messaging like this. I mean, I wrote a blooming essay on it, but you know, I'm in a position to do that because I'm informed in this stuff. Don't be afraid to comment. If you want to comment, if anybody comments back and they're not supportive of your comment, well, they're probably just ignorant people, aren't they? That are just deep in their own weight stigma, you know? But question messaging like this always ask, who are these people to tell me about this stuff? Question what you see with the likes of AI and stuff around now. Anybody can create an image about anything anymore. I mean, you've only gotta look at my emails each week. My weekend waffle email always has an image of a waffle, right? I do a different picture every single week, and actually this weekend just gone, this Saturday just gone. I sent out an email about this topic. I wanted to send it far and wide. I wanted to make sure as many people got to read or hear about this as I could manage, but my image was. A skeleton, a fun skeleton, a nice skeleton. Not a, not an oh medical kind of yuck skeleton, but you know, just a, a skeleton with the lungs made out of waffles. There's a waffle in every email picture. So I have a bit of fun with it. And all of mine are AI generated because that's what. AI does now, it'll just generate pictures, won't it? It'll, it'll create what you ask it to create, and it is not difficult. It's not difficult. If I wanted to, I could go now, create an image of a very large body with a very tiny skeleton, or I could create an image of a very tiny body with a very large skeleton. There are lots of things you can do with ai, so always question what you're seeing and what you are reading. Don't be afraid to question that and say, actually, is this correct? Is what I'm seeing? Correct. I'm asking you to not blindly share things as well. Unless you know whether it's good or not as information to be shared. Um, very lovely friend had actually shared it on her, um, on her social media and I'd then posted and shared on mine and she saw it and she read my comments and then she put this lovely comment below that was like, gosh, I'm so sorry. I saw it. I. Thought it was worrying. I shared it. I'll go delete it now. And it's lovely because she thought it was correct information. So she shared it and then she read my viewpoint on it and was like, oh, actually, okay. I didn't realize it wasn't even a real image. That's great. That's what, that's what people should do when they're considering whether to share information or not. So question, these posts don't share them blindly unless you know that it's a great, credible source of information. Um, what else? What else can you do? Hmm. Just reframe the conversation as well. You know, we need to be, we need to have conversations about health sometimes. Yeah. And we need to have a, a real picture of what body shape and size means for us as human beings. We really do. But we need more discussion around the compassion and autonomy that comes with this stuff for people, you know? So I'm gonna leave it there. I'm gonna go do something zen. Now I feel like I need to, uh, calm down a little bit. It just makes me so angry, just makes me so angry. This stuff, it's so irresponsible of such a massive influencer to share misinformation like this. It really is. But, um, you lovely people. I hope you have a lovely week ahead. I will come back with the usual style of episode next week. I'm sure. I just wanted to share this with you so that if you had seen it or you do get to see it in some way, um, that you understand the post and you have a different viewpoint on it. So have a lovely week ahead. Do something nice. Do what you wanna do, don't do what you don't wanna do, take care of yourself, and I will speak to you next week. Oh, and by the way, if you want to see some of my lovely waffle photos each week on my emails, then just join my newsletter list the links in the show notes come along. I share some wonderful waffling every Saturday morning and a little bit of midweek. Motivation for you on a Wednesday. So jump in and, um, yeah, and now I really will speak to you next week, Tara.