Today is Valentine's Day. I've been thinking a lot about balance. If love is to serve, and if the Beatles are correct, "and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" then for me, love is about caring for myself first to better care for others.
I don't understand all the hub-bub about women (why is it always women?) being too slim? Seriously? In the US with a vastly high proportion of the population being obese and overweight we freak out about slim people? This strikes me as wildly out of balance. I don't mean to say underweight eating disorders are not seriously dangerous, but I am wondering if the concern is balanced.
For the sake of balance I seek comparisons. Normal weight is BMI 18.5 < 25.
It was difficult to find the actual percentage of people in the US with anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders. Underweight is BMI < 18.5.
0.5 to 3.7% might suffer from anorexia sometime in their lifetime; and
1% of female adolescents suffer from anorexia in the US. Also
1.1 to 4.2% might suffer from bulimia nervosa in their lifetime.
It was easy to find US mortality rates for anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders; note that these rates are not of the entire US population, only from the population suffering from the disorder:
4% of people with anorexia,
3.9% of people with bulimia nervosa, and
5.2% of people with eating disorders that are unspecified. Relative to normal weight US citizens in 2000, the underweight population was associated with 33,746 excess deaths. What was not specified in this number was the number due to eating disorders, versus malnutrition from neglect or poverty.
It was interesting to me to learn when looking for these statistics that overweight and obesity is not considered an "eating disorder"; I had always assumed it was. But in fact only anorexia, bulimia and other unspecified eating habits that presumably result in underweight are considered to be eating disorders. I am not schooled on this, obviously. That is only what I've deduced. Overweight and obesity are a seperate category. I don't understand why.
It was also easy to find statistics about overweight BMI 25 < 30, and obesity BMI > 30 eating disorders. In the US:
68.8% of adults are overweight or obese; 35.7% are obese.
31.8% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese; 16.9% are obese.
30.4% of low-income preschoolers are overweight or obese. Disparities exist based on race-ethnicity, gender, age, geographic region, and socioeconomic status.
It was more difficult to find mortality percentages for overweight and obese:
18% of adult population deaths linked to obesity;
21.7% of adult white women deaths linked to obesity, and
26.8% of adult black women deaths linked to obesity. Relative to the population of normal weight US citizens in 2000, overweight was associated with no excess deaths, but obesity was associated with 111, 909 excess deaths.
Also for the sake of balance a lot of people like to compare the average US woman with a Barbie doll. If fat is a feminist issue, then apparently slim is an issue of capitalism. All just food for thought this Valentine's Day.
I don't understand all the hub-bub about women (why is it always women?) being too slim? Seriously? In the US with a vastly high proportion of the population being obese and overweight we freak out about slim people? This strikes me as wildly out of balance. I don't mean to say underweight eating disorders are not seriously dangerous, but I am wondering if the concern is balanced.
For the sake of balance I seek comparisons. Normal weight is BMI 18.5 < 25.
It was difficult to find the actual percentage of people in the US with anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders. Underweight is BMI < 18.5.
0.5 to 3.7% might suffer from anorexia sometime in their lifetime; and
1% of female adolescents suffer from anorexia in the US. Also
1.1 to 4.2% might suffer from bulimia nervosa in their lifetime.
It was easy to find US mortality rates for anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders; note that these rates are not of the entire US population, only from the population suffering from the disorder:
4% of people with anorexia,
3.9% of people with bulimia nervosa, and
5.2% of people with eating disorders that are unspecified. Relative to normal weight US citizens in 2000, the underweight population was associated with 33,746 excess deaths. What was not specified in this number was the number due to eating disorders, versus malnutrition from neglect or poverty.
It was interesting to me to learn when looking for these statistics that overweight and obesity is not considered an "eating disorder"; I had always assumed it was. But in fact only anorexia, bulimia and other unspecified eating habits that presumably result in underweight are considered to be eating disorders. I am not schooled on this, obviously. That is only what I've deduced. Overweight and obesity are a seperate category. I don't understand why.
It was also easy to find statistics about overweight BMI 25 < 30, and obesity BMI > 30 eating disorders. In the US:
68.8% of adults are overweight or obese; 35.7% are obese.
31.8% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese; 16.9% are obese.
30.4% of low-income preschoolers are overweight or obese. Disparities exist based on race-ethnicity, gender, age, geographic region, and socioeconomic status.
It was more difficult to find mortality percentages for overweight and obese:
18% of adult population deaths linked to obesity;
21.7% of adult white women deaths linked to obesity, and
26.8% of adult black women deaths linked to obesity. Relative to the population of normal weight US citizens in 2000, overweight was associated with no excess deaths, but obesity was associated with 111, 909 excess deaths.
Also for the sake of balance a lot of people like to compare the average US woman with a Barbie doll. If fat is a feminist issue, then apparently slim is an issue of capitalism. All just food for thought this Valentine's Day.
Charts from a rehabilitation facility site called Rehabs dot com.
Artist Nickolay Lamm re-creates Barbie using CDC measurements of the average 19-year old US woman.
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