How will this new study change summer diets?
Now that bikini season is here, plenty of women are beginning strict dieting to shed just a few extra pounds. That excess weight women so desperately want to lose might not fit into the standard set by celebrities and models, but it might help you live a longer life.
According to the New York Times, a new study says that people with excess weight, but not obese, may live longer lives.
“Overweight may not be the problem we thought it was,” said Dr. David H. Feeny, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., and one of the authors of the study in the New York Times article. “Overweight was protective.”
The study also says that people who were underweight, with a body mass index under 18.5, were more likely to die than those of average weight, according to the New York Times. As cited by a Women’s eNews article the BMI for top models girls and women alike look up to is 16.3, according to data from the National Eating Disorders Association.
It’s hard to tell when exactly, we as a culture, began to believe that even a little excess weight is in need of a fad diet or two. We’ve always known that skinny models and celebrities were influencing young girls, but do you think that they were influencing the world of doctors to believe excess weight is bad too?
If you take a look a renaissance paintings of goddess Aphrodite, even she would be considered overweight in today’s modeling industry. So having a little stomach fat, arm fat or any kind of fat is good for you, this study says, but what does this information mean for you? Will you continue to diet to reach that unhealthy standard? Will women continue to value their looks more than their health?
A lot of overweight people live a long time and a lot of thin people die young. There are so many things that have effect on life span. Smoking, quality of food intake and many other things. Reading so called “studies” means that you are reading opinions based on chosen criteria by those conducting the study. There is some lesson to be learned by any information given by a legitimate group. Put it all into your own version of what it means to you. I personally think a little fat is good for you. That could be because I have a little fat. Maybe a little too much.
Oh! I forgot to answer the question. Women will always continue to value there looks more than their health. That’s a good thing for men that like to look.
I should probably add this information about the survey from the New York Times article:
The study took into account smoking status, physical activity, age, gender and alcohol consumption. It included a separate analysis excluding those who died early in the 12-year period, in order to weed out participants who might have been thin because they were smokers or had an underlying disease, like cancer.
Everyone and every study says “Do X and you’ll live longer”. Who actually belives this? First show me the table that says your gonna die on this particular day at this particular age and then show me the one that says you’ll live this much longer by doing X.
Fact is, no one knows when they’re gonna go so just live an enjoyable and sensible life while you’re around. The most fit person around could still get hit by a bus tomorrow. Being fit is temporary, being dead is permanent.
Another stupid study. It’s a meaningless waste of time and money. How can this study have legitimacy when it’s sample is a tiny fraction of the human race, taken over an extremely limited length of time. Ridiculous.
I’m with jfmoyn, …and some women have carnival mirrors that make them look thinner than they are. (too many large buttocks out there) Starting in June to lose weight for a swimsuit, might get you there by the end of August.
I just hope the new Obamanation healthcare plan taxes all you fatties for contributing to global warming and excessive use of our healthcare dollars.
You heard it hear first folks. The Neomarxist Fascists are here and don’t say I didn’t warn you people.
that s/b “here”
Very un-scientfic observations..however…I can’t remember any pictures or stories about nursing homes that show fat residents hanging out in their living rooms. Perhaps the fat ones are still living in their homes and not making it into the nursing homes?