How Fat Are You?

Fat is a politically incorrect word. It has stigma and aggression attached to it. Outside of the unhappiness it causes to some, there are more serious concerns. Increasing evidence indicates that obesity is a major course of premature death. So, how fat are you, and how did you get that way? 

In order to find out how you should weigh, take the first five feet of your height (if you're a female) use 100 lbs as a base figure. If you’re a man, the base figure for the first five feet in height is 110 lbs. Then, for every additional inch of height, you add 5 lbs. So, if you’re a woman, and your height is 5’4”, then you should weight 120 lbs. If you have a small bone structure, subtract 5 lbs making it 115 lbs, and you have a heavy bone structure, add 5 lbs, making it 125 lbs. If you’re a male, and your height is 5’ 11”, then your perfect weight would be 165 lbs. Then, add or subtract 5 lbs, depending on bone structure. 

In addition to this, you’re permitted an extra 10% to this figure, so a woman of 5’4” weighing 120 lbs could add another 11 lbs making it 131 lbs. Above that, she’s going to develop health problems.. And if 33% of her weight is fat (around 160 lbs), then she’s medically obese. A man of 5’11’ would be slightly overweight if he weighed 175 lbs and medically obese if he weighed 230 lbs. 

In addition to this, recent research has shown that those that carry most of their weight on their stomachs are in danger of heart disease and are likely to die early. Life, when one is overweight, can have many problems. 

So how do we all get this way? Basically, there are two reasons. The first is that we eat too much. The second is that we eat unhealthy foods. 

Currently, the food pyramid tells us that we should make grains the center of our diet. Yet all grains contain an overload of starch. Starch, like sugar, triggers insulin. When grains are refined, they can be put into the same category as any candy bar. When they are unrefined, while they may contain some fiber, but better fiber can be found in virtually all vegetables and fruit.