Mindful eating and the Obesity Epidemic
Jan 03, 2008 in Commentary
Merlin Mann has commented on this recent article by Reason Magazine’s Jacob Sullum about two recent books that have just come out, both relating to weight loss and the so-called obesity epidemic. Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata and Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink both sound really interesting, and are priced very reasonably on Amazon.com. So reasonably, in fact, that I’m considering picking them up just to finally get some real research under my belt about the whole weight issue.
For years I’ve had a bone to pick with the whole industry of weight loss because I’ve always been “morbidly obese” according to the BMI (the government’s standard health indicator based on dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared) and yet, as far as I can tell, relatively healthy in that I can do physical things with ease. I bike 3 to 4 times a week around 20 miles a day and don’t really have that hard of a time doing it. And yet, according to my health classes in school at least, I should just about be on the verge of death and I must loose mass poundage immediately or risk impending destruction via pulmonary rupture and melt-down. In fact, calculating my current BMI here I have just discovered that in order to reach my healthy weight, I would have to loose over 100 pounds (I currently weigh 280 pounds at 5′11″ which gives me a BMI of 39.0. Yeah, that’s “morbidly” obese).
So, my question is that with the current emphasis on obesity equaling death and unhappiness, how can I participate in normal activities and even slightly abnormal activities (like biking to work) without too much of a problem. I would expect that given my morbidly obese status, I should almost be bedridden with a weak heart and atrophied limbs. But I’m not. I lead a fairly normal lifestyle and I feel pretty well. Ok, all of this is not to say that I wouldn’t like to feel even healthier. I’m definitely not saying that I don’t have room to grow in this area. But really, I’ve always thought that the standard teachings on health in this country just don’t add up, especially for people like me.
Enter these two books. When I get the chance, I’ll definitely be picking them up, if for nothing else than a more in depth introduction to the area of health studies than my 11th grade health class could afford to give me. I’ll try to let everyone know how they are when I do. Until then, read the article, it was pretty informative in and of itself.
Any of you guys have thoughts on the weight subject?
