Weighting in
It's an American obsession--*everyone* has to be thin.
And I'm not immune to that obsession. That's why, for years, I've gotten onto the scale every morning except for Sabbath, High Holidays, Festivals, and fast days. Ironically, I continue to weigh myself daily despite the fact that I can't take any credit for my current weight. For openers, I'm three inches shorter than I was the last time I was roughly this weight. For closers, well, as I've been half-joking for years, the fastest way to lose weight is to get sick--gluten and dairy are just the beginning of the long list of foods that can make me ill.
But the real reason why I'm obsessed with my weight and, frankly, relieved to be thin, is that I've seen what can happen to people who aren't.
Years ago, I was at a party with old friends when I somehow found myself in a discussion of weight with a woman who spends a lot of time at the gym. At that time, I was still struggling mightily not to be more than 15 pounds heavier than I was on my wedding day. I was very proud of having lost two pounds. But when I told my friend how much I weighed, her response was, "That's not very impressive." I protested that I was on a diet and had lost two pounds, which, at least, got her to stop criticizing me.
I actually felt it necessary to defend myself against the "accusation" of being overweight as if I were guilty of a crime.
It gets worse, folks. This obsession with the scale is a classic case of "follow the money"--there's profit to be made in keeping people weight-obsessed.
Check the Maintenance Phase for the 8/3/2021 podcast episode named "The Body Mass Index," which is about the misuse of the BMI as a diagnostic tool, which was not what it was originally meant to be. (Thanks to Eliana Light for posting this link on her Facebook page.) I found this podcast pretty shocking. How did a simple measurement become a tool of--and get manipulated by--health insurance companies?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home