I was just watching a rerun of the new Start Trek movie and I noticed that the ‘new’ version of Mr. Spock, although thin, appears to be fatter than the original version of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy).
The reason I find this interesting as that the new Mr. Spock, taken on his own merits, does not look overweight, but when seen in comparison to the old one, he is clearly heavier.
The point of all of this is that our ‘perception’ of what is thin, is changing. I look at people all the time and think ‘they look good…they appear healthy’, but then I look at their BMI (body mass index) and I realize that, like me, they are overweight (BMI greater than 25 and less than 30).
This change in perception is important as the new standard that is we see as acceptable and healthy is actually higher than we should accept. It’s the ‘new normal’, but really it’s an overweight ‘normal’….not a ‘normal normal’.
The recent article in the opinion page of the NY Times talks about this and about an interesting study that looks at the question of why we are fatter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/debunking-the-hunter-gatherer-workout.html
Some say it is because we are less active than your ancestors and thus we become fatter because we burn fewer calories. But this article reports on a study of the HADZA people of Tanzania, a modern-day version of a hunter-gatherer society. When the scientists study how much energy they use in a routine day it turns out to be similar to what the average ‘civilized’ person uses in a day. In other words…we are doing the same amount of exercise and work that our ancestors did, so calorie use is the same…..
This means that calorie consumption….the amount we eat every day, is the real issue, not how many calories we burn.
Interesting food for thought, particularly when you realize that the average American eats 160 pounds of sugar each year! Learn more about that in my video here……