Health is my passion. Health is my favorite thing to debate. I love health SO much that I deemed it worthy of student loans so that I could study it in grad school. But if there's one thing I've learned over the course of all my education and experience as a health educator, it's this:
I HATE the Body Mass Index (BMI).
I admit that it CAN be a useful tool to indicate a healthy height-weight ratio in SOME populations. But I hate cookie cutter ideas, especially when it comes to being "healthy." Can I get an AMEN?!? Just kidding. :)
The BMI doesn't work for so many groups of people and doesn't account for body type. According to the BMI, I would need to weigh between 103 and 136 pounds in order to be within the "normal range." Yeah right! In my..... SHOE. (wink) I am a curvy girl... always have been, and this is never taken into account. I'm just going to weigh more than other girls my height because of that.
I guess it just scares me that the BMI is given so much power, and that insurance companies are now basing coverage and benefits on this measurement. Legislation is being written and passed based on this information that doesn't really apply to certain people (SUCH AS: the very old, the very young, the very physically fit...) When I was doing an internship at the Huntsman Senior World Games (in St. George, Utah) I had to tell 85 year old marathon runners with 6 percent body fat that, according the BMI, they were overweight. I have never felt so stupid. These same people had been recording their body fat percentages for 15 years and I couldn't give that to them for that year. Again... Oh the stupidity.
So imagine my horror when our anonymous insurance company (with their funny blue cross and blue shield... oops!) sent us a BMI calculator for our little boy. To see how "healthy" he is.... Man, I wanted to make a phone call! But I decided to use it instead.
This is what I calculated for my perfectly HEALTHY active fun-loving 2 year old:
Height: 37 inches
Weight: 33 pounds
BMI: 17.2
According to this awesome little instrument, that means that Noah has tipped the scales into the "Overweight" category. For toddlers. Seriously.
(Heavy Sigh........) I'm SO done talking about this now.
But really... does this look like the poster child for "overweight?"
According to the BMI, he is.
K, I'm better now! Thanks for listening,
Nicole
@>->--
P.S. I'm still giving Noah is Halloween candy. I think he can handle it. :)
5 comments:
Oh. My. Gosh. I really don't have any words for this except that it makes me fightin' stinkin' mad!! This is not the tool that insurance companies should be using. We don't all fit into the same mold. God didn't make us that way! Okay, I have said my piece...enough said!
Amen!
wow. and to answer your questions, no he does not look like the poster child for an overweight toddler, not. at. all.
Yeah, as a dietitian, don't even get me started. We have definitely reached a new low with BMI for toddlers though.
We got told the same thing with Rebecca. And I'm sure we would with Zachary if I measured. It is pretty dumb. Thankfully you know better. He can definitely handle the Halloween candy. Let him enjoy! :)
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