article from Foxnews.com
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| Fri, 02-13-2004 - 9:46am |
What do baseball slugger Mark McGwire and actors Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise have in common?
They're all fat.
They may be hunky in the eyes of fans but according to the federal government's body mass index (BMI), that hunk is chunk. In other words, they have too much body fat for their height and weight.
The Department of Health and Human Services came up with the standard 10 years ago. The BMI classifies people as obese, overweight or government-approved fit, depending on a person's height and weight.
A BMI of 30 or more means you are obese. At five feet seven inches and 201 pounds, Tom Cruise scores a BMI of 31.
President Bush and basketball legend Michael Jordan are only slightly better off. According to the BMI scale they are just overweight.
Susan Bowerman, a registered dietitian at the University of California, Los Angeles, said she thinks the government has good intentions with the BMI index, and is trying to heighten awareness about proper weight for different heights.
But Angelica Jordan, a fitness trainer, said BMI is misleading.
"I don't think it shows a really accurate picture of what's going on," she said. "There are other things to consider: Your lifestyle, how much you work out, how you eat, your cardiovascular health. So, simply comparing you to other people based on your height and weight is just not accurate."
Makes you think how off the thinking is about being thin and in shape

It's not surprising that those people in your fox article may be overweight, to one degree or another. After all, America is getting fatter all the time and they say that, at this rate, by 2012, just a few years from now, 75% will be overweight if we don't eat better. It's just a fact of life.
I think the whole fitness healthy thing just follows one trend after another. They have no clue what the best way to become healthier is and I truly doubt they ever will.
Dr Atkins was obese at the time of his death because of all the fluids in his body due to being a coma and having intravenous fluids pumped into him (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110962,00.html). I personally wouldn't go on the Atkins diet because it's not something that I could succeed at, but
Since then, a lot of research has been done regarding low-carb nutrition, and the Atkins diet has been around for more than twenty years. In that time, the only warning that has been issued regarding the diet is that people who have already experienced kidney failure or are in danger of suffering kidney failure should avoid it. The large amounts of protein are more difficult for the kidneys to filter, and though it can't cause any damage on its own, people whose kidneys are already damaged or weak might experience complications.
I'm not on the Atkins diet. I tried it and it worked wonderfully, but when I began to have violent thoughts about who I would kill if I got to eat a peach in return, I decided it wasn't for me. ;-D
You are obviously misinformed.
Edited 2/15/2004 6:36:30 PM ET by angelinoh