Saw this on the news last night and it really pissed me off.
Research by the Mayo Clinic has lead them to the conclusion that around 50% of americans considered to be in the normal weight range are actually obese because of a higher than desirable body fat percentage. This is called "normal weight obeisity". Apparently, this condition puts you at the same risk for heart disease and diabetes as being obese in the traditional sense.
ok, so I am at a normal weight, but I have a high body fat percentage. This is partly heredity, and partly because I have lost lots of lean muscle mass durring episodes of anorexia. Now, anyone who has read this blog knows that i really struggle with body image. I feel like a freaking land monster most days and thats putting it mildly. I have to remind myself of the cold hard facts. I am at a normal weight for my height. I have a healthy BMI. I am not fat.
But according to the folks at Mayo, I am obese????
I think this whole "war on obiesity" is going just a little too far. True, it is a national health crisis. But my 8 year old has come home from school and told me that she learned that candy bars are "bad". I know someone who has been told that her kindergartener is "at risk" for obiesity because his bmi is out of the normal range. Never mind that he is a head taller than any of his classmates and still growing!
So now not only do we have to worry about our weight, and our BMI, we have to make sure our body fat percentage is not too high, or we may be labled "obese".
Give me a freaking break.
Unsolicited Advice
7 years ago
12 comments:
okay.....sorry but i have to swear...."those big ass pieces of shit!!!!!!!!!" grrrrrrrrr. Seriously it pisses me off to NO end! Really who do those people think they are??? I too was told my 6 yr old was to close to borderline for her BMI..which in my opinion is a total piece of crap anyway cause it dosent take into account a persons muscle mass or bone structure. Whatever clearly they are morons... and the country wonders why there is such a rise in eating disorders....hmmmmmm could it be cause we tell 6 yr olds they are to "big" and need to "slim" down...seriously nearly 50% of all 4th graders have been onn some type of diet! 4th graders...we are talking about 8 and 9 yr olds..its just sad and sick...thats all i can say. plus you are perfect just as your are...( I mean what if the world saw being normal as "perfect"....why are we all chaseing some sick version of what a WOMEN/MAN should be) It doesnt matter what anyone wieghs, we are ALL perfect already to the person that really counts!
love you,
Tara
arghhh this just makes me so angry. ugh.
normal weight obesity MY BUTT!
x
i guess am obese and proud of it, even though everyone's been telling me i'm getting a little too thin. When my therapist encourages me to eat, i will rebutt, "no, no, according to my doctor's BMI charts, i am obese."
this is all horrifying, and i am particularly horrified for the next generation.
i was kind of bothered in president obama's speech when he said that mrs. obama has the new cause of fighting childhood obesity. it sounds like just one more way to encourage EDs.
why doesn't anyone ask us?
motherf%$#ers. adding onto zena.. kids know too much these days
i was away on a holiday with friends and a young girl 10 years old was with us. she was telling me about the calories in an apple.. it went on and on.. she knew as much as I did!
she looked at me with naughty eyes and handed a chocolate to me and said "lets just be naughty.. we are skiing all day everyday anyway so it doesnt matter"
what the>?? not good man
I've always thought the Mayo Clinic has had a good reputation, but this is pure BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!! Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.
ugh.. NO WAY!!
wth?!
im just mad.
today at group therapy we all agree how the biggest recentiment we had against someone or something was to sociaty.. double agreement here. w.w
Of course I wonder if they looked at people that are OBESE but they have a lot of muscle mass (athletes or growing kids)so they are obese but the % is ok? This is just a bogus statistic that people need to get over. People are all sort's of shapes and sizes why can't we just let them be the size that they want to be and say they are ok why do we try and FIT EVERYONE INTO COOKIE CUTTER MOLDS AND MAKE EVERYONE THE SAME!!!!!!!
Ok now I have to go walk around for a bit and calm down. GRRRR>..........
wow everyone thanks for your comments! I was wondering if I was being a little bit neurotic about this but
i'm glad to know I am not alone in being fed up!
All I have to say is that I cannot stand our diet culture. It makes me so, so, so, so, so mad! I HATE being around our diet culture!
I understand the concept of what they're talking about and I think it is important BUT it needs to be in complete balance also and realistically, I think the intensity of dieting culture and focus on appearance is enough to create cardiac disease from STRESS which is an actual cause and problem for coronary heart disease! Also stress also impacts on fatty tissue and all sorts of crazy things. So realistically... I think sure, we need to live a balanced life style and try and take care of our bodies (and well we with ed's aren't so great at that most of the time), but ulitmately, we need to be LIVING LIFE (ie being content, comfy, not too stressed out, enjoying things, playing around etc etc) because I think that ends up being the best protector against all measure of ills really.
On the other note, don't you DARE start worrying about your body fat percentage or I might just have to come over there and do some tricky things to all measurement related instruments! Honestly hunni, right now, you just need to try and stay as healthy as you can (which is hard enough all things considered).Besides, things like measures for overweight, obesity etc etc, they are just LEARNING we don't know enough about anything yet to make any definitive outcomes about much at all... but we do know that if you worry too much about your weight and crappy awful weight related words that its going to create even more havoc with the ed and that will create havoc with the cfs and that will all combine (unnicely) to create havoc with my lovely Lisa's life! So yep, I think you should cut up that article (even in your mind) and make pretty pictures out of it because that's about all its good for right now :)
*mwah*
with love
Telly xo
Oh geez. If they can't make us paranoid and obsessive about one thing, it has to be another. That is ridiculous...
OH MY GOOD L... That is ridicoulos! I understand where they are trying to get at with the whole candy bar thing, some schools are completely removing candy + pop machines from schools... however teaching children that that they are BAD? WTF... that is just not ok, we need to teach moderation + healthy boundaries with food not telling them sweets are BAD, because this is just going to create a new series of ED with young children...
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