Finally, someone gets it

photo © Adrian van Leen for openphoto.net CC:PublicDomain

And that someone is the New York Times. Specifically Well columnist Tara Parker-Pope.

Better to be fat and fit than skinny and unfit

A few choice quotes

Last week a report in The Archives of Internal Medicine compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among a representative sample of more than 5,400 adults. The data suggest that half of overweight people and one-third of obese people are “metabolically healthy.” That means that despite their excess pounds, many overweight and obese adults have healthy levels of “good” cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and other risks for heart disease.

At the same time, about one out of four slim people — those who fall into the “healthy” weight range — actually have at least two cardiovascular risk factors typically associated with obesity, the study showed.

See, fat =/= sick, skinny =/= healthy

The data follow a report last fall from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute showing that overweight people appear to have longer life expectancies than so-called normal weight adults.

But many people resist the notion that people who are overweight or obese can be healthy. Several prominent health researchers have criticized the findings from the C.D.C. researchers as misleading, noting that mortality statistics don’t reflect the poor quality of life and suffering obesity can cause.

That poor quality of life couldn't have anything to do with size discrimination, now could it?

“Why is it such a stretch of the imagination,” he said, “to consider that someone overweight or obese might actually be healthy and fit?”

A very, very, very good question.

Go read that article. This fat lady is going for her daily bike ride now.