I wanted to clarify something I wrote about two days ago, following my conversation with a few students regarding how bodies look, vs. how healthy a body really is. I mentioned a newly coined term of "skinny fat" and after being asked a few questions about it, thought I'd share a little more information.
In the past, doctors and health professionals have promoted that staying thin and having a low body weight would keep you healthy, but new research shows that this isn't the case. The Mayo Clinic (in study titled: Hidden fat impacts millions of Americans) now states that total body composition is more important than your overall scale weight -- that "normal weight obesity" or "skinny fat" is becoming more common. Lead researchers who collected this data believe that even thin people could be suffering from health problems, and that you don't have to appear "fat" to have a high percent of body fat. Each body has different bone mass and weight of organs, so one must consider blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure along with other factors.
So......what's the major point I am trying to stress to our students this summer through this topic? That it isn't only what a person looks like on the outside that determines their overall heath. The same way that you can't judge a book by it's cover, a person's looks can be deceiving. I am hoping to empower our students with knowledge, primarily preventative health information, as well as tools to investigate their own body's needs, to do as much as they can to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.
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