Being skinny doesn’t always mean healthy, there are lifestyle related disease’s that can be caused by unhealthy eating and inactivity.
Although, it is very easy to relate exercise with weight loss, there many many other benefits and health reasons to undertake exercise. Keeping yourself fit and active can help strengthen the muscles, protect the joints, improve hand eye coordination and reduce mental stress and depression. All these factors reduce the likelihood of disease and increase the likelihood of longevity and long term health. Particularly as we get older, it is crucial we stay strong and active, this helps to reduce the chance of falls and trips as well as reduces incidence of broken or damaged joints and bones following any accidents.
Following this, recent research has shown it is entirely possible to be at risk of very similar diseases to that of obese people with a poor diet. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly 1 in 4 skinny people have pre-diabetes and are “metabolically obese.” (Camethon, M et al.,2012). As well as some studies on teenagers finding that 37% of the skinny children had one or more signs of pre-diabetes such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high cholesterol. Showing that regardless of how active they were, their poor diet was still very much a factor to their risk of disease and ill health. See Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22871870
In comparison, many people ask the question can you be overweight and still healthy? This confusion first sparked from the use of BMI chart in which purely height and weight were used as a prediction of health and consequently the risk of disease. However, this is not a measure of body composition and therefore shows many inaccuracies when measuring health status. For true health reassurance ask your doctor to test the following levels:
If you are worried about your health regardless of size; Get the right tests done:
- Fasting blood sugar or glucose (normal less than 5)
- Triglycerides (normal less than 100 mg/dl)
- HDL (good cholesterol (normal greater than 60 mg/dl)
- Blood pressure (normal less than 120/80)
All in all there is no one solution or piece of advice but being active is most certain not all about being skinny:
Being active and exercising well is paramount for all types of health reasons;
- Reducing risk of chronic disease
- Improving mood/ reduce stress
- Helps build muscles and bones to protect joints and prevent breaks and falls.
- Increases overall energy levels
For more advice on nutrition or if you need a nutrition plan tailored to your needs, then book your consultation today with Elly via 01732 451979