A new government study indicates that being moderately “fat” can actually be good for your health. Apparently, the cultural norms for “normal” weight are too low, and many more Americans die from being too thin (33.7K) than too fat (25.8K). Only problem is that in “recent years, the government has spent millions of dollars fighting obesity and publicizing the message that two out of three American adults are overweight or obese, and at higher risk for heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.”
I wonder – could the screwed up dietary habits and body weight expectations of Americans be linked to decades of government propaganda? It’s popular to blame Hollywood and fast food for these problems, but these things have been around far longer than our dietary problems, and today’s commercially-produced foods are actually healthier than ever before.
The key here I think is “government” study. How much did the statisticians weigh themselves?
Another point: if the lower mortality rate is due to people taking action because of their weight, shouldn’t we want that to continue? It doesn’t mean that it won’t be a problem if everyone overweight stopped eating right, excercising, and so forth.