Everyone wants to be skinny! Do you think that because you’re slim and aren’t carrying extra weight that you’re healthy? Being skinny is just like being overweight. Both pose serious health risks. Skinny might look good but it comes with low muscle mass, compromised immune systems, osteoporosis, anaemia and hair loss.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, being skinny is not really in your best interest. Studies have shown overweight people or those with body mass indexes of 25 to 30 have a lower risk of dying than people of normal weight and/or skinny people. For too many years the thinking has been a skinny body is a healthy body and a heavy body is not. In fact, if you are a little overweight, but healthy and happy then you are much better off than someone who is skinny and constantly hungry.
Where you store fat may be more important than your weight or BMI, with research showing that abdominal fat is closely linked to diseases like heart disease and diabetes. It is recommended that your waist circumference be less than 80cm for women.
Yes, body fat is something that can be an issue at a certain point, but many people don’t realise that the type of fat in our bodies plays a large role in the problems it can cause. Visible subcutaneous fat, or fat under the skin, does not pose the same health risks as visceral fat, or fat that accumulates in the abdomen and around the organs and is not always visible from the outside, say experts.
Most importantly, we should never just be eating whatever we want, warn experts. Eating in moderation is a crucial rule of thumb for everyone and for every food. Eating whatever we want whenever we want can lead to visceral fat and so can the lack of exercise, confirm experts. Exercise is important for – skinny or not, exercise can help ward off health disorders such as diabetes and osteoporosis, and can also help lower cholesterol.
Counting calories won’t get your body healthier if you’re still eating the wrong foods. If you stop counting calories and start looking at the type of foods you’re eating, you’ll find yourself feeling more satisfied after eating since you won’t be restricting your food intake as much and since healthier foods are typically more filling than junk foods.
NEVER deprive your body of food – it causes your blood sugar to drastically drop, leaving you feeling lethargic and seriously interfering with your insulin which could put you at risk for diabetes later in life if you practice this regularly. This can also slow your metabolism, leading to more food being stored as fat instead of being metabolised into smaller units that can be used by your body. Skipping meals and ceasing to eat all together can lead you down a treacherous path to developing an eating disorder (ED), which is a serious and potentially life threatening battle to fight.
Many adults may have a build-up of fat and cholesterol in the walls of their arteries – a condition called atherosclerosis – which puts them at a higher risk of developing heart disease and/or stroke later in life, warn experts. Previously only thought to afflict older people, the hidden thickening of arteries is now being observed in younger and other healthy adults.
Exercise is important for both lowering cholesterol and staving off diabetes. Moreover, if you’re not doing any weight bearing exercise because you’re thin and you’re not eating a healthy whole foods diet for the same reason, you could end up with brittle bones and even osteoporosis. You want to have some muscular tone in addition to being thin in order to avoid bone density issues later on.
Your ratio of muscle to fat matters when it comes to health. Your skeleton needs muscle tissue to support it, and your posture shows that. This is not the same as body builders with super defined muscle systems. Your body type requires defining points, and if you are not working out correctly, you may not be getting the right pieces in place. Skinny doesn’t mean that you’re done with fitness, it could be a sign that you aren’t working your muscle out correctly.
Blood glucose provides your brain and muscles with the energy needed to perform daily tasks. Too much glucose in the blood, however, is not good for health. Normally, the hormone insulin helps cells take up glucose from out blood so that it can be used for energy. However, in some people, enough insulin may not be produced or their bodies can’t use it properly, which cause blood glucose levels to rise. Over the years, it can damage blood vessels and organs such as your heart and kidneys.
When you starve yourself, energy (the little it has) is directed towards essential functions—like helping your heart and brain work—rather than making hair. In fact, when diagnosing anorexics, one of the top symptoms is severe hair loss, say experts.
Text: Bauer/ Good Health/ Additional Reporting: Shenielle Aloysis