Over my quick breakfast in the morning (and on the loo *g*) I tend to read magazines that I get sent home – Amnesty International, WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Sanitas (my health insurance). And in the latter I read a rather interesting article today, which surprised me by being pretty well-balanced and non-judgmental.

It was titled (in German, of course) ‘Exercise beats nutrition’ and contained a long interview with a nutritionist and a sports scientist. Basically, the said that, that being active/exercising regularly is much more important for good health and long life than dieting/weight. It was so refreshing to see scientists, in a publication from an insurance company at that, denounce the BMI (Body Mass Index) as out-moded and even dangerous and saying that someone ‘overweight’ could easily be healthier than someone skinny as long as they were active. They also said that food should be fun, not calory counting.

Obviously the article is still somewhat problematic because it addresses only the able-bodied who have a choice whether to be sedentary or active. But still, it makes me hope that maybe our society will move away from the obsession that low weight automatically equals a healthy body.

Links:
• Health at Every Size (Wikipedia)
• The Fat Nutritionist
• Shapely Prose
• Feed Me!
• The F-Word