From Your Health Journal…..”What an excellent story I just found from The Province out of Canada called Why Flabby Isn’t The New Healthy. A couple weeks ago we reported here a few stories which claimed that overweight people had a better chance of living longer. Keep in mind, they were not talking about obese people, just slightly overweight. I expressed my worry over this, as many people may interpret this as a ticket to go out and eat more, while exercise less. Today’s article challenges the study and theory that being overweight may not be a bad thing…..the author points out that verweight people and those at the lower end of the obese range have a 5% to 6% lower risk for an early death compared with people of normal weight. It also found that extremely obese people are 29% more likely than normal weight types to die prematurely. So what now? This may sound confusing to many. The bottom line, continue to take care of yourself by eating nutritiously, getting plenty of exercise, adequate sleep, and proper hydration. Don’t believe all the hype you read, and listen to your body and your doctor. There are no shortcuts to good health, and taking care of oneself takes some work. Please visit The Province web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”
From the article…..
If the headline-grabbing news that “overweight people live longer” inspired you to skip your daily stroll or reach back into that bag of sour-cream-and-chives chips, we’ve got important info that could really extend your life: Despite some seriously nutty headlines (our favourite: “Being Overweight Is Linked to Lower Risk for Mortality” — as if they’d found the fountain of perpetual life), flab is a major-ager. And trimming yours (especially around your belly) is a life-saving health move.
Where did the news flash that some excess body fat is healthy come from? A meta-study that reviewed 97 health-and-weight studies involving 2.88 million people. Its conclusions: Overweight people and those at the lower end of the obese range have a 5 per cent to 6 per cent lower risk for an early death compared with people at a normal weight. However, extremely obese people are 29 per cent more likely than normal weight types to die prematurely.
Sounds impressive, but they excluded studies that looked at people with specific medical conditions or those undergoing specific procedures. If you were being treated for high blood pressure (67 million in the U.S.), high LDL (lousy) cholesterol (24 million) or diabetes (18.8 million), you were not included — even if your condition was a result of being overweight or obese. The only thing this group of overweight healthy people can tell us about the general risks of extra pounds is that they were somehow exempt from diseases related to being overweight and obesity.
The study also used body mass index (BMI) to evaluate each person’s fat and fit status. BMI — the comparison of weight to height — is no longer considered the best indicator of the presence, or absence, of health-harming body fat. The new standard: Belly fat (or, as we call it, omental fat, the deep abdominal fat that hangs off your stomach), not overall fatness, is the driving force behind life-changing health problems; it nearly doubles your odds for heart disease and cancer, and triples your risk for dementia. Carrying just three extra pounds of this inflammation-boosting fat can triple your diabetes risk!
To read the full article…..Click here