The media has begun to embrace women of all different sizes and shapes, and I find this absolutely wonderful! Curves are in. But it’s conflicting. When I hear people touting that they are big yet healthy, I’m really disagreeing in the back of my mind. If you are really living a healthy lifestyle, would you even be overweight or obese in the first place? What about long term effects? I admit I could totally be wrong because, I’m not even a hardcore advocate of the BMI scale. I think it’s a good place to start to figure out a ball park figure of where you need to be, but weight definitely is not related to health by any means. Let’s be real: if your body fat percentage is around 35% maybe you should reconsider your lifestyle. I really like this article on Women’s Health on the subject:
Tyra Banks has a new mission: Cast an unlikely group of aspiring models–namely, those whose curves can fill out a size 14–for a plus-size competition. “Plus-size is really the average American woman,” Banks has said. “And that woman is healthy.” That woman is also, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 20 pounds overweight.
In fact, a growing collective of doctors and activists have begun to argue that lifestyle and genetics are what determine a woman’s health. Even our new (zaftig) surgeon general, Regina Benjamin, M.D., recently said, “Being healthy is not about a dress size.”
That’s hopeful news for the 33 percent of Americans who are overweight (this doesn’t include the 34 percent who are obese). It’s also news a rival camp of experts isn’t buying. Any equating of “overweight” and “healthy” is irresponsible, they say. Especially in a nation where health-care costs have skyrocketed, due in part to the rising rates of illnesses linked to excess pounds. Continue reading here.
