OK, I'd like to run something by the hivemind.

There had been something I'd been getting a feeling about but it never really cohered until a while ago I read this article.

I've been sensing that people in general have made being "healthy" into a virtue - eating healthy, exercising, etc. And that for some people this virtue - being "healthy" - has eclipsed any other virtue.

I've noticed that the bus line I ride, which is almost always packed in the evenings, picks up people who've just come from a gym/health club. And that a lot of these people get on this overcrowded bus, sweaty, smelly, carrying large bags, often with equipment sticking out of them, and will push onto the bus and generally be unpleasant to be near. They'll slam people with their oversized bags and stuff (yoga mats, shoes tied to the outside of the bag, raquet handles and so on) and generally be inconsiderate of everyone else.

A few years ago one of the fancier hotels in town asked that people using the health club not go through the lobby in their (sweaty, smelly, often ratty) exercise clothes. The targets of this request were outraged - they were being healthy and exercising and how DARE the hotel suggest that they were unpleasant to see (or smell).

I've seen people running, running out into traffic, often right into the path of a car or bus, running down crowded sidewalks, expecting that everyone will get out of their way. I've seen bicyclists ignoring traffic rules, endangering themselves and others. There's one family that has a big old bike that has an extension on the back for their son (7 or so, I'd guess) to ride on and a little trailer that their daughter (4 maybe) to ride in. They'll ride out into heavy rush hour traffic, often without checking. I've seen people try to talk to them, saying that it would be safer to keep the kids on side streets (the trailer is well below the sight line of a diver). The people's reply is that riding the bicycle is "healthy" and environmentally conscious.

I don't know - are these the sour grapes of an exercise-averse fatty? Or have we reached a stage where a lot of people think being "healthy" (I'm using quotes because I think some of this behavior is not terribly healthy) is the only virtue they need to practice? Or are these the same self-centered jerks who'd be doing inconsiderate/dangerous things anyway?

Input?

I'm'a vote self-centered jerks. But whatever it is, I share your bleh.

As for the article itself, I got as far as the comparison between the hypothetical 1950s "Betty" and her granddaughter "Jennifer" before wanting to stab my eyes out. The logic, it has left the building.

So I'm going to stick to just the issue you raised, Todd.

I absolutely think that the concept of "health" as a moral achievement to be sought at all costs is hugely prevalent in our society. It's quite obvious from the opprobrium that is heaped on overweight people, based on the assumption that "failure to fit into the government's charts of 'healthy weight' [which were redefined as recently as the 1990s so as to make millions of people "overweight" overnight]" equals "poor overall health." (Which is simply untrue.)

And the reliance on the BMI and constantly redefining it so that a healthy weight becomes lower and lower ... sigh.

The amount of money that is riding on more and more of us feeling like WEIGHT: WE'RE DOIN IT WRONG is pretty breathtaking. Not just crash diet (and more legitimate "lifestyle") shills, but doctors and the medical industry and the pharma corporations.

I'm not saying there isn't a healthy and an unhealthy, but I find it increasingly difficult to find trustworthy sources to tell me which is which.

Health is definitely a moral issue, and it's fucking nauseating.

And the reliance on the BMI and constantly redefining it so that a healthy weight becomes lower and lower ... sigh.

Given that people with BMIs in the current "overweight" category have been shown to live the longest, I have to wonder what in the hell the redefinition downward was really meant to do.

The logic, it has left the building.

And the research. To suggest that the American obsession with health food began in the 1970's is flat-out ridiculous.

I'm not saying there isn't a healthy and an unhealthy, but I find it increasingly difficult to find trustworthy sources to tell me which is which.

And consider the vast interpersonal difference between "healthy" and "unhealthy," based soley on the BMI -- someone who fits into the "normal" category might be a smoker who never exercises and doesn't really make an effort to eat fruits and veggies, but happens to have the DNA for a zippy metabolism (plus the effects of smoking). And an "overweight" individual might eat like an organic-food, fruit-and-veggie champ, in addition to being extremely athletic.

The "normal" weight person gets praised every single time.

(An aside: when I started losing weight back in December-ish, someone at work said "Wow -- you're losing weight! You look great!" And I said that I had switched to a new antidepressant that gave me knifey stomach pain and made it hard to eat anything, plus I had the bad bad bad stomach flu. Her reply? "Keep it up!" Uh, keep up the knifey stomach pain and getting so sick I have to go to the ER, just to fucking lose weight? What is wrong with people?)

I was reading Oprah's magazine when I was waiting to get my hair cut. And there was a short piece on the BMI and how it's not a good indicator. And that there are people who fall under "normal" who are extremely unhealthy with high blood pressure, cholesterol, and body fat. And "obese"people who are way healthier.

The article used two women as eamples, one is "obese", but she works out, she passes every stress test with flying colors, her blood work is great. The other woman is "normal", except she started feeling bad and did some blood work, which came back. And then a body fat test. She had 30% body fat, no muscle tone, and poor cardiovascular health. But if you just went by the BMI and her looks peole would say she is healthy.

YES - this is it exactly. One of the local TV stations - which I used to watch for their news - is running a campaign to fight childhood obesity. The spots for it that come on have one of their anchors (an attractive, very thin woman) come on and talk about the dangers and then say that the first step is finding your child's BMI ... go tp their web site and get the info.

So - the BMI is unreliable for adults, I've read that it's even more so for children (growth spurts anyone?), and you've got this campaign that's pushing the BMI as the primary criterion. argh