The BMI doesn’t tell the whole story, but . . .

I took the test. Much better than last summer at this time.

“Congratulations! Your healthy weight is well worth the effort. It reduces your risk of serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. To maintain a healthy weight:

•Embrace healthy eating by choosing a variety of nutrient-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains and small amounts of energy-dense foods like olive oil, nuts and dried fruits.

•Exercise. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense activity daily.

•Set action goals focused on specific healthy activities such as improving muscle tone through strength training or starting a daily food and activity diary.”

http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938

A high amount of body fat can lead to weight-related diseases and other health issues and being underweight can also put one at risk for health issues. BMI and waist circumference are two measures that can be used as screening tools to estimate weight status in relation to potential disease risk. However, BMI and waist circumference are not diagnostic tools for disease risks. A trained healthcare provider should perform other health assessments in order to evaluate disease risk and diagnose disease status.

Another way to estimate your potential disease risk is to measure your waist circumference. Excessive abdominal fat may be serious because it places you at greater risk for developing obesity-related conditions, such as Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. Your waistline may be telling you that you have a higher risk of developing obesity-related conditions if you are¹:

• A man whose waist circumference is more than 40 inches
• A non-pregnant woman whose waist circumference is more than 35 inches

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/index.html

The secret to waist management, part. 2

This theme started here. I noticed an article by that title in my new first issue of Boho, about which I wrote at my hobby bloggy In the beginning on premiere issue journals.

The article is written by Shelagh Waters, who has an impressive list of credentials, such as a BS in Nursing from Villanova and one I’d never heard of , CHC of the AADP, Certified Health Counselor of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. But hey, I can’t know everything, I just pretend to on the Internet. Shelagh (I assume that’s an alternate spelling of Sheila) works out of something called Corwellness Lifestyle which involves four pillars of health--nutrition, fitness, stress reduction and self-care. I can go for all that, if she’d add in good genes, good works and faith in Jesus. After all, I’m in this for the long-haul, not just for a Friday night date! Look at that face! She didn't get that look without good genes!

But back to the waist. I looked through the entire article p. 82-85, and there is no mention of a waist-line! She writes about balanced blood-sugar (I agree--‘cause if I’m going to eat pancakes with syrup, I’m sure to add in an order of sausage or I get light-headed. The Patio Restauant at Lakeside has awesome pancakes). I loved the imagery of this line (directed to teens):

“So, next time you go to eat think about whether or not you want your hair to be made out of a bag of Doritos or out of organic local, farm grown fruits and vegetables!”

The two are totally unrelated--vegetables are good for you whether or not they are organic and local--but it made me picture hiding my little bag of corn Fritos in my desk and then combing my colored, thinning-from-age, hair. Gosh, do you suppose. . .?

From balanced blood-sugar she moves on to the importance of burning fat. That’s not such a great theme for a magazine aiming at teen girls, especially since the magazine contains photos of very skinny models, and a short feature on Audrey Hepburn who battled anorexia. There are so many good reasons to keep moving, I hate to see “fat burning” promoted as the most important. Exercise really helps our bones as we age, is a natural stress reliever and sleep inducer, assuming you don’t do it in the evening. But I see way too many girls and women pounding their skinny skeletons along busy streets in Columbus--a very sad sight.

I do have to laugh at these dance and exercise websites and DVD promotions. Shelagh suggests MyDanceTime.com. About 5 years ago we took dance lessons, and discovered that the only place we had room to move was the garage! We have a very clean garage if we move the cars to the drive-way, but with the music blaring, I’m sure the neighbors thought we were crazy, plus concrete isn’t the best surface for your legs. In the living room, where our 15 year old TV with the DVD player is, I’d have about a 3 x 7 ft. space for dancing (on a carpet), and in the family room with the 21 year old TV and the VCR it’s about 3 x 4 ft. Best to go outside for burning fat, building bones, lifting spirits and inhaling fresh air.

So that’s the entire article! Blood sugar and burning fat! Not a word about the waist. Probably because you inherit your waist measurement, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Even if I got back to my high school weight (120 lbs), I’d have to find that ½” in height I’ve lost, and stand on my head several hours a day to see if the thigh fat would return to my face--because at 120 lbs, I'd look like death warmed over.

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Small waist, full hips

My husband stuck his head in my office tonight and said, "Did you hear the news? Women with small waists and large hips are smarter. Something about omega3 fatty acids." I thought he was kidding, but the story was on the evening news. Of course, I always sensed that women with my body shape were smart, but I thought maybe they just didn't have as many dates so they stayed in the dorm and studied more. I did both. Studied a lot and dated a lot.

"In the research, scientists at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California, Santa Barbara, used data from a study of 16,000 women and girls, which collected details of their body measurements and their scores in cognitive tests. They found that those women with a greater difference between the waist and hips scored significantly higher on the tests, as did their children."

"A number of scientific studies have shown that men are “hard-wired” to find women with a greater waist-hip differential the most attractive. No one has yet been able to explain this, although theories include enhanced fertility, better childbearing abilities and longer life expectancy."

Reported in Evolution and Human Behaviour