The Case Against Healthy Fat
Opponents to fat acceptance say there’s no way dieting is worse than being overweight. Some research supporting this idea shows that extra weight can increase your risk of developing breast cancer. In addition, overweight women with normal cholesterol and normal blood pressure levels can still go on to develop heart disease at increased rates, says Barbara Berkeley, M.D., director of weight-management services at the Lake Health System in Cleveland. “In other words, being overweight may look ‘healthy’ but probably isn’t once we follow someone over a period of years,” she said. Berkeley believes the studies showing overweight people have lower risks of mortality are results of a thrown curve. Severely underweight people, she argues, are much less healthy than slightly overweight people so the studies seem to point to extra weight being healthy.
While thigh fat may be healthy, abdominal fat and visceral fat is not. Visceral fat, or fat that coats your organs like hot candle wax, releases inflammatory fatty acids that have been linked to cancer and coronary diseases. Because of these and other risks involved with carrying extra fat, Berkeley believes any endorsement of being overweight is a dangerous idea. Your heart is only the size of a fist, she said. Berkeley said asking a muscle as small as the heart to power an overweight body is “like putting a little engine in an SUV.”
Beyond BMI
Regardless of their different opinions, the two sides agree on one thing and that is that fitness is essential and the type of body fat is more important than the number of pounds. BMI measurement is a useful tool for large scale statistics, but when it comes to evaluating each person individually BMI measurements cannot take into account a number of things that determines a person’s health and fitness. In the end, what is most important is that everyone, regardless of weight or BMI range, strives for a well-balanced diet and a physically active lifestyle.
By Kelly Taylor, BDO Contributing Writer
Can You Be Healthy At Any Size? was originally published on blackdoctor.org
