The Food Revolution

Dear Jamie Oliver,

You are my hero. I consider myself fairly health conscience, but The Food Revolution really opened my eyes to things I never considered. This weekend I threw all the junk in my house into the trash.

My only issue, though, is a bit of an oversight on the part of the medical community at large. The problem is the way obesity is determined. And yes… there is a very big problem in this country with obesity and poor eating habits and fast food and processed food… But… there needs to be reform in one little area that makes people feel hopeless… one little thing that makes people feel that the odds are against them… that there is no hope… and for some, it compounds the problem.

Just as an example. Years ago, while in college, I went to the doctor to find out why I was getting chronic migraines. As it turned out it was a blood sugar issue… due to the fact that I wasn’t eating hardly anything. But, on one of my visits, my doctor sat me down for a serious talk. Was it that I was too thin? Which I was. Was it my lack of eating that was so obvious in the food journal they made me keep? No. She pulled out a height to weight ratio chart and told me I was on the verge of being morbidly obese. I was currently 5’7″ and weighed 130, I wore a size 7. She was concerned for my health and well being.

The charts are the only thing people go by these days… and for a long time… those numbers on the chart stuck out in my head like a large blinking Vegas sign. I’ve never been a stick, never will be… I’m curvy and have square shoulders. I come from a long line of strong country women and big Scotts Irish people. I worked out often and ate little, not realizing that my personal bone density wasn’t taken into account, nor was my muscle mass (which I also didn’t realize at the time weighs more than fat) so, working out I got up to 160- but I looked fit, thin and healthy.

You hear stories constantly of health care being refused to a kid for being obese, only to find out they have no body fat and play foot ball. In fact, many athletes fall into the obese category, and quite a few children endure being sent home with the “your child is obese” letter from the nurses office that clearly have no issue.

We do need to change the eating habits in this country. We need to get premature deaths due to diet under control. People need to be educated about food, and what is good and what isn’t. People need to exercise more… All this is a given. But, these height to weight ratio charts arent helping. There needs to be reform on how it is assessed. Bone density and muscle need to be taken into account. People need to know that muscle weighs more than fat… and increasing your muscle mass doesn’t make you fat… (not to mention that school budget cuts or test scores shouldn’t mean no exercise or PE)

There are many problems with our general health and well being. Lets tackle all of them.