There are times when I
think my textbook needs to see a mental health practitioner. It has some split personality issues.
I just finished the
chapter on metabolism (but I’m not done writing about it yet! More next week!). The text pays lip service to body
acceptance. (I wrote about the general
body acceptance principles earlier, and they are awesome.) I am happy to read sentences like this
one: “There are limitations as to what each
of us can look like or what we can healthfully weigh.”
Then the other personality
shows up, saying, essentially, but if you aren’t thin, you really really really
need to lose weight. Or you will DIE a
HORRIBLE DEATH.
Interestingly enough, one
chart in the text itself belies the message to lose weight or else. For adults ages 25 to 59, the “normal” risk
of disease/death occurs at BMIs between 18.5 and 25, which is considered to be
healthy weight. People with BMIs under
18.5 have increased risk of disease and death, but in our culture, that is a
small proportion of the population. What
is fascinating is that people with BMIs between 25 and 30, classified as “overweight”
have a slightly LOWER risk of disease/death.
That is almost never pointed out.
Once BMI reaches 30, all bets are off and disease/death rates increase
dramatically as BMI increases.
This is my opinion: health is about way more than weight. Health is about the way we take care of
ourselves and enjoy our lives. For some
of us, that might include carrying around a few extra pounds. Others may have different priorities and
different things that bring joy. All of
us are valuable humans.
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