the blythewood leader

It seems the Victorian Age is upon
us once again. When a TV show such
as “The Biggest Loser” becomes a sustained
hit and not a one-season wonder,
you can be sure obesity is rampant. In
an ironic way “The Biggest Loser”
glorifies being fat. Nothing new there.
In the Victorian age, the ideal body
type for a woman was plump, fleshy,
and full-figured. We live in The Age
of Gargantua. No wonder I see Rubenesque
women and men wherever I
go.
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish
painter famous for his paintings of
plump, round women. Were Rubens
around today, he’d find plenty of
women to pose for paintings. The
age of girl watching just isn’t what it
used to be. Remember that song, “I’m
A Girl Watcher” by the O’Kaysions?
Maybe we should rename it “I’m A
Girth Watcher.”
There was a time when being overweight
was a mark of social distinction.
To be thin was an admission of being
poor, a member of an undesirable social
class. Though wafer-thin, anorexic
models grab headlines all the time, as
a country we get bigger and bigger. No
wonder all-you-can-eat buffets are so
prevalent.
The Center for
Disease Control
and Prevention uses
a weight and height
formula to calculate
a number called the
“body mass index,”
and BMI determines
adults’ overweight
and obesity
ranges. (The metrics
are slightly different
for men and
women.) According
to the CDC, an
adult standing 5”9’
who weighs from
125 to 168 pounds and a BMI of 18.5
to 24.9 is considered to have a healthy
weight. When we go from 169 pounds
to 202 pounds and a BMI of 25 to 29.9
we enter the overweight range. Weigh
in at 203 pounds or more with a BMI
of 30 or higher and we’re in the land
of obesity.
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Our Changing Times:
The Age Of Gargantua
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Tom Poland
Columnist
tompol@earthlink.net
I am no skinny
Minnie. I weighed
142 pounds when
I graduated from
high school. Today,
I weigh 193.
I have, however,
waged a 30-year
war against weight
gain. Back in the
early 1980s, I got
into running. I’ve
been running ever
since. If I weren’t a
devoted runner, my
waistline would be
around 48 inches,
and I’d probably
weigh in around 220. In short, I’d be
Rubenesque. Exercise works. I love
exercising but I am in a minority.
I hear all kinds of excuses as to why
people can’t exercise. And I hear all
sorts of rationalizations that try to justify
being overweight. Aren’t chubby,
roly-poly babies cute? Think again.
Those little rolls of fat plaguing babies
can slow their ability to crawl and walk
according to a recent study the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Some folks attribute obesity to being
poor. What is cheaper? Fresh fruit and
vegetables in season or cookies, chocolate
bars, and soft drinks?
I gassed up my car Tuesday at a
Sunoco at 11:30 in the morning. Inside,
I stood behind a denizen of Gargantua,
a massive lady who dominated her
surroundings. She plopped down a bag
of chips, a bag of pork rinds, a bag of
candy, chocolate bars, and a 34-ounce
Coca Cola onto the counter. Lunch I
suppose. Don’t tell me she bought all
that stuff because it’s all she can afford.
Most anything in a convenience
store costs a premium.
So, why are she and many Americans
sitting on the air hose and blowing up
bigger and bigger each day? A combination
of bad habits, bad choices, and
laziness combined with some revealing
facts. Americans eat more sugar than
any other people on earth. We eat more
often than any other people on earth,
and we do less physical work that any
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The Blythewood Leader August 12, 2010 Page 17