Have you heard of
"the fat gap?" It's a term that sprang up last
month, when a survey in Great Britain found the majority of
overweight people there are oblivious to the fact that they're
heavy. The findings pin down a phenomenon that health
professionals have been talking about for years: as those
around us get fatter, our perception of our own size changes
accordingly. Are you, too, caught in the fat gap?
—Fooling ourselves: The survey found that
public perception of healthy weight has blurred so much that
fat is now seen as the "norm." Less than one in 10
people believe the excess pounds they are carrying are
significant enough for them to be classified as obese,
according to the 2,100 adults in the poll by YouGov, an
international Internet-based market research firm. Yet
measurements found that one in four of those questioned were
clinically obese.
—Am I fat? Don't bother with a scale; the
best way to tell is by calculating your BMI, or Body Mass
Index. The measure of body fat is a bit complicated, but you
can skip all the math by going to a Harvard Health Web site,
among others, and punching in your height and weight,
www.tinyurl.com/yzz5wdy. You're overweight if your BMI is 25
or higher and obese if your BMI is 30 or higher, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Weight of the nation: Brits aren't the
only ones blissfully unaware. A CDC report this past summer
showed waistlines in the United States are still growing.
Overall, 26.1 percent of Americans were obese in 2008,
compared to 25.6 percent in 2007. Florida ranks 30th (tied
with New York) in terms of the fattest states, with 24.4
percent of our population obese. Mississippi has the highest
concentration of obese people, with 32.8 percent. Colorado is
the only state in the nation where less than 20 percent of
adults are obese.
—Why it matters: You've heard it before,
but it bears repeating. Research has shown that as weight
increases, so do the risks of having coronary heart disease,
Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, stroke and sleep apnea,
among other health problems, according to the CDC.
—"Obesogenic:" Concerned about
an environment that promotes over-eating, unhealthy foods and
physical inactivity — what it calls America's "obesogenic"
society — the CDC has a Web site with information on
science-based interventions, weight management research and
other info for adults and children who need to lose weight,
www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html.
