4 Questions to Ask Before Making Health Recommendations to Higher-Weight People

A couple years ago I wrote a piece about what to think about before offering unsolicited advice to higher-weight friends/family/strangers about their health. Today’s piece extends from that. While it can apply to family/friends/randos at the drug store, this is intended for healthcare providers and other health/public health professionals and educators whether you are one yourself, or you want to share this with healthcare providers and educators you know.

I’ve written extensively about the research and ethical issues with recommending weight loss, including the old “eat less and exercise more” nonsense, but even for those recommending health-supporting behaviors, a lot of harm can be done.