Fat Dietitian

Let me start by saying, I hesitate to refer to any person as FAT.  I don't find some terms helpful.  I tend to focus on health indicators overall in how I might explain to an individual what some of the numbers that take place in a nutrition evaluation actually mean.  But fat is a term that is thrown around when poeple talk about dietitians. 

Google –“ Fat Dietitian” and you will get around 6,040,000 results in less than a second. There is definitely a stigma for those in the field of nutrition and dietetics whom are overweight or (God forbid) obese.. Keep in mind that dietetics actually encompasses many career paths that include anything and everything from human nutrition to food sciences. Dietitians may work in the school systems but they may also be chefs and work in food product development. Trust me – there are dietitians on board with developing many worldwide favorites such as America’s favorite cookie. You can even learn about a nutrition professor losing weight on what he termed the “Twinkie diet” based on calorie control. Today at the office, we were discussing the issue of eating disorders among those in the field of nutrition. I can state from personal experience that there are a many methods to reach the same outcomes of improved health. There are even more methods to achieve weight loss. Meaning, weight loss can be attained even with unhealthful practices. Weight is definitely a (ironically) a huge health indicator but it is a single indicator. Meeting weight recommendations does place a person at lower risk of chronic diseases but that doesn’t equate health. So if you want to gauge your number, use the Body Mass Index(BMI) calculator link below. Body Mass Index (BMI) is essentially a calculation of your weight compared to your height. The higher the number, the more you weigh in comparison to how tall you are (or in my case, how tall I am NOT). It’s a good indicator of obesity (which means- are we over fat) but a waist measurement is a cheap alternative to assessing body fat and disease risk if you don’t have the ability to estimate body fat percentage which is a number that is more important than just overall weight. An adult female should have a waist measurement no more than 35 inches; males no more than 40 inches. A waist measurement can be seen as an independent risk factor due to its indication of where your body is storing fat – apple anyone? Greater fat stores around the waist means greater risk of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. We didn’t just pull these numbers from the sky, these measurements are based on disease risks.

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm

My Number?  28.9 - which means I am almost 20 pounds overweight and less than 10 pounds from being placed in the obese category.