Friday, February 5, 2016

Down With BMI

Scientists have done another study on BMI and have found, once again, that it doesn't have much to do with how healthy you are.  As most data from previous studies have shown, BMI is just a silly set of numbers that don't affect much in the real world, and shouldn't be used to gauge a person's health and certainly not how much a person should be paying for insurance.

I don't understand why people are so ready to use BMI to attack people who are big.  In the book Body of Truth, the author talks about how people have started using health as a reason to attack and shame fat folks because it's no longer politically correct to make fun of fat people outright.  Instead of saying we're fat and ugly, they tell us that we're ruining our health, that we're going to die young, that we're wasting billions of American dollars on medical costs, all because we're fat and lazy and we won't lose weight.  None of which is true. 

I'm tired of the fat shaming.  Yes, I'm fat, and I'm pretty sure I'm always going to be fat.  But that doesn't mean I'm unhealthy or that I'll live a short life.  It also doesn't mean I spend tons of money on medical stuff, either.  I bet I go to the doctor less than most people do, actually.  I'm hardly ever sick, and when I am, it generally goes away quickly.  And as far as fatness shortening my lifespan, scientists have been coming to the conclusion lately that the number one determining factor in your lifespan is your genetics, and environmental things only play a small part in that.  My grandma lived to 102, and I have aunts in their 90s.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to live a long life. 

So what if I'm obese?  It's just a silly term the government scientists made up so they can categorize us and tell us what we should do.  It didn't even have an official meaning until the 90s, seriously.  Well, I'm tired of it.  I'm not a number, whether it be weight or BMI.  I'm a human being. 

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