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Read other letters about this article
- this sentence should disturb you:
"According to the Voice, Buffie "eats nothing but junk food and sugary drinks, and she doesn't work out.""
Given that people with these bad habits and supposedly healthy BMIs can have high levels of visceral fat and all of the associated health problems, what kind of an example is this, cultural standards or no? So what if genetics are implicated in diabetes and high cholesteral and other diseases? The facts are, if today's trends continue, something like 1/3 of all babies being born today will develop Type 2 diabetes. This is an epidemic. People are getting this disease at increasingly young ages, meaning that they are likely to develop the serious health problems associated with it at younger ages. We are looking at a population of chronically ill people that's getting larger every day - and the increasing odds that for the first time, a new generation may not live as long as their parents.
Poor nutrition and lack of exercise are a problem, whether a person is "obese" or not. Someone mentioned Oprah as an example of a zaftig Black woman held up as a role model. Well, Oprah's weight might fluctuate, but as I understand it, she works out like a fiend. Exercise gets rid of this visceral fat very quickly (way before thighs and butt). Odds are she's pretty healthy.
