Wise Words on Weight
(Page 2 of 5)
August/September 2004
by Walter C. Willett, M.D.
What Is a Healthy Weight?
RELATED CONTENT
Inherited obesity: A fat woman's womb may nudge her children toward becoming obese later on...
For a truly herbal shampoo, try this easy recipe for homemade shampoo made with yucca. Find out how...
If your hair color is looking a little tarnished, color your hair with one of these natural hair co...
The chart on Page 31 shows the current official USDA guidelines for what you should weigh, depending upon your height. The chart is based upon a measurement called the “body mass index” or BMI, which adjusts for the fact that taller people tend to weigh more than shorter people.
Unfortunately, these guidelines may be too generous. The panel members who set the guidelines in 2000 agreed that the risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure begins to climb at lower weights than the “Healthy Weights” shown on the chart. But they didn’t feel justified in choosing a lower cutoff between healthy and unhealthy weights because doing so would have labeled the majority of the U.S. population as overweight.
Almost everyone who falls into the “Moderate Overweight” section on the chart — except for extremely muscular body builders — would be healthier if they could reduce their weight, and even many people in the higher ranges of the “Healthy Weights” are not at their healthiest weight.
The bottom line is this: If you are in the “Healthy Weight” range, do everything you can to stay there. If your weight is above that range, you will do yourself a huge health favor by keeping it from getting larger and, if possible, bringing it down.
Why We Gain Weight
Your weight depends on a simple but easily unbalanced equation: Weight change equals calories in minus calories out. Burn as many calories as you take in and your weight won’t change. Chalk up your weight to a combination of what and how much you eat, your genes, your lifestyle and your culture.
Your diet. What and how much you eat affects your weight.
Genes. Your parents are partly to thank, or to blame, for your weight and the shape of your body. But genetic influences can’t explain the rapid increase in obesity seen in the United States over the last 30 years.
It’s possible that our prehistoric ancestors shaped our responses to food. Early humans routinely coped with feast-or-famine conditions. Eating as much as possible whenever food was available may have been a key to surviving the lean times. This means that complex chemical interactions between body and mind that evolved eons ago may drive us to eat whenever possible. In this era of plenty, that means all the time.
Lifestyle. If eating represents the pleasurable, sensuous side of the weight change equation, then metabolism and physical activity are its nose-to-the-grindstone counterparts. If you work a desk job and do little more than walk from your car to your office and back again, you may burn ridiculously few calories each day.
Page:
<< Previous 1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Next >>
