What's in a BMI? It's short for Body Mass Index, a measure of the relationship between your weight and your height. And it just happens to be the 3rd in our series of 7 little hints that everyday life may be undermining your health: "Your Body Mass Index is above or below the normal range for your height."
We're not talking about a self esteem issue here. I sincerely hope you have accepted yourself as a worthwhile person regardless of your various physical characteristics -- height, weight, hair color, and so on. However unlike being a little taller or shorter than average, unlike being the single blonde in a sea of brunettes -- being above or significantly below the normal weight for your height can impact your vulnerability to disease.
Heart disease, some cancers, sleep disorders, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis have all been linked to maintaining too high a body mass. When you carry around those extra pounds, you stress your joints as well as your heart. Maintaining a regular exercise program becomes much more difficult. The hormonal make-up of your body changes (fat tissue leads to excess estrogen and also is linked with inflammation, a precursor to disease). Further, the lack of physical conditioning that often comes with overweight makes you a vulnerable mark for becoming the victim of violent crime -- you simply don't have what it takes to run away.
Despite the well-publicized effects of our nation's obesity epidemic, people sometimes overlook the obvious when the subject is very personal (i.e. when it's about them). Let's interject a little real-life story so you can get what I mean.
Not so long ago, my health information products and I participated in a holiday gift show. One woman, passing the booth, noticed a particular recording sub-titled How to Thrive in a High Stress World.
"Oh, I don't need anything here," she concluded. She proceeded to explain that her life was blissful and serene. Completely stress-free!
I looked at her and observed that she was perhaps a hundred pounds overweight. This woman wasn't thriving. Imagine for a moment the physical stress of lugging around a hundred pound suitcase with you everywhere you go. Exhausting, eh?
She had stress all right. She simply didn't see it.
At another level, some of you probably recognize as I do that on a day-to-day basis, it's just as easy to choose healthy foods as it is to choose unhealthy ones. You can fix or order a salad just as fast as a burger and fries.
Why would a person make a less healthy choice (and put themself at risk for all those diseases) when a more healthy choice would be just as easy? Well, let's just say it's not about the food. Bottom line, when we make conscious unhealthy choices, we usually do so to compensate for something that isn't going so well somewhere in everyday life.
You might want to call that something stress.
I do.
So here is this woman, whose unspoken presence is like a walking advertisement for a heart attack, explaining that her life is just perfect and she is completely without stress. She really believed it, too. Just couldn't see!
I'm here to today to suggest that you check in with a good BMI calculator. (That link will take you directly to the BMI calculator posted on www.cdc.gov.) Enter your current height and weight and see what happens. While the CDC recommends a healthy range of 18.5 - 24.9 for adults, Dr. Michael Roizen (in The Real Age Make-Over) suggests shooting for 23 or less.
Now about you. Say you visit the BMI calculator and find that your score is 25 or above. What should you do?
Most of us already know that a combination of more exercise, smaller portions, and healthier food choices will lead you down that rosy road to success. But frankly I wouldn't start there. Nope. What I'd suggest you do is explore your background reasons for not being there already and deal with them.
See, food isn't the problem. Weight isn't really even the problem. The problem is whatever is causing you to make those unhealthy choices in the first place! And the answer to that is probably "Everyday Life." Manage your energy first, and that "lightening up" program will become a whole lot easier.
Readers: Think you don't have time to manage the little stuff? Well, maybe it's not about time. Maybe it's about energy. Preview the new Word Cures "Less Stress; More Time" mini-course to get the connection.
Important: If you're already signed up for the Healthy Living Update, don't sign up again on the mini-course page. On the other hand, if you're new to our community, we welcome you!
Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!
Take our free Less Stress; More Time mini-course!
Browse original books & products to enhance intuition and resolve stress.
Bookmark this Post:
del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Comments (2)
I read your article on ezine article and found your site which has great information on health issues.
Teri
Posted by Teri Salvador | November 26, 2007 9:00 PM
Posted on November 26, 2007 21:00
I found this article of Elizabeth's to really hit home. I am very familiar with the BMI and what it should be for me. I have done some exercising, a weight loss program, and I take a lot of medications but I have not succeeded at losing any weight. I do believe that your mental outlook and the stress that you experience even though it might not be obvious leads to this lack of reducing you BMI. One needs to work on themselves doing some deep soulsearching to realize why we make the food choices we do and when. Then with these answers we can begin to eat and exercise correctly to lower our BMI.
Posted by Judy Klein | November 30, 2007 10:46 PM
Posted on November 30, 2007 22:46