Getting healthy just became easier!

Why do doctors still use the BMI to calculate fitness when its just plain wrong?

Most people don’t know that the Body Mass Index (BMI) chart in most doctors offices was created the 1800's by a Belgian mathematician. It is NOT scientific and it wasn't ever meant to be used to determine fitness.

The best article that I have read that explains why the BMI is just plain wrong, is this NPR article by the math guy, Keith Devlin explains The Top 10 Reasons the BMI is Bogus.

It seems simple enough that the push back to updating our health standards comes from those who stand to make gobs of money. The beauty industry, the diet industry and big pharma.

If you want to be healthy, really healthy you might have to stop for a minute and take in the science and realize that Fit people of any size live longer than unfit people of any size. And that is really good news for all of us. Once we realize we don't have to lose weight to get healthy,  we just need to move around a bit more, that's when getting fit becomes easier.  - MF

What is Wrong with Jessica Simpson?

Watching the new Weight Watcher commercial with Jessica Simpson hits a sour note.  Within the new commercial she says she's "just trying to get healthy for her daughter"  and " just wants to be a better Jessica".

What is wrong with that, you might ask? Well, without knowing her personal health background, I would just have to say this: Reports say she gained 50 lbs  while she was pregnant with her daughter Maxwell Drew, and is now being pushed by Weight Watchers to lose all the weight in just 5 months to honor her multi-million dollar contract.  It has also been reported by entertainment magazines that she has broken down several times in public over the stress of the whole thing. She has said in interviews many times how intense the pressure is for her to lose weight. ( Link to interview  On Katie Couric )

This is a perfect example of the madness that a media based culture of "weight loss at any cost" offers: selling ideas to woman (and men) everywhere that 'its not okay to have baby weight on you' and weight loss can some how, magically, make you a better, happier person.

I have news for you Jessica, the culture, your manager, your so called fans, may have you thinking that the normal weight you gained to have a baby makes you a lesser person, but it does not. Nothing is wrong with you. You are a good person at any weight.

It is also important to remember that Weight Watchers or any diet plan will not make you a better or happier person....

• Dieting will only make you a thinner person, at its very best.  
• Becoming a healthier person, based on current research, will take activity. 
• Becoming a better or happier person will take something else entirely. -MF

Obesity Paradox - Science Re-examines Assumptions on Body Fat and Disease

An increasing amount of scientific data is starting to pile up showing that the current paradigm of “thin equals fit” doesn’t work.

Here at "Fresh Off the Couch" we are working to educate people that Fitness cannot be measured by size, but better measured by strength, endurance and flexibility.  In fact, in some major studies, people considered in the 'overweight' to 'moderately obese' categories fare better then those in the 'normal weight' category.


A recent NY Times article entitled, The Obesity Paradox: Thinner May Mean Sicker, took a closer look at the 'Obesity Paradox'.  What is the Obesity Paradox,  you might ask?  Author Harriet Brown explains while talking about diseases normally associated Obesity.  For example,   "Obesity is the primary risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, yet sizable numbers of normal-weight people also develop the disease. Why?

In research conducted to answer that question, Dr. Carnethon (a diabetes researcher at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University) discovered something even more puzzling: Diabetes patients of normal weight are twice as likely to die as those who are overweight or obese. That finding makes diabetes the latest example of a medical phenomenon that mystifies scientists. They call it the obesity paradox. In study after study, overweight and moderately obese patients with certain chronic diseases often live longer and fare better than normal-weight patients with the same ailments. The accumulation of evidence is inspiring some experts to re-examine long-held assumptions about the association between body fat and disease."

Why does popular culture keep perpetuating the incorrect idea that "thin equals fit"? It may be because the diet industry takes in $50 billion dollar a year and perpetuating that idea is highly profitable.

  What does the obesity paradox mean to most of us? The answer is good news!  Stop thinking about losing weight and reframe the ideal to becoming an active person which is much easier goal. To become an active person and have that build fitness simply means,  30 minutes of activity each day for your body to work optimally.  That 30 minutes counts for any activity, so pick something you love, like walking your dog, or dancing or playing tennis. -MF

 NY times research section " In ‘Obesity Paradox,’ Thinner May Mean Sicker"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/health/research/more-data-suggests-fitness-matters-more-than-weight.html

Time for a Paradox to go with those walking shoes!

New York Times Science Times Talks About the

 Obesity Paradox!

It is time for a paradigm shift that our book, "Fresh Off the Couch" has been touting since 2008! Researchers are beginning to put together the pieces. As quoted from the article by Harriet Brown, 

"In study after study, overweight and moderately obese patients with certain chronic diseases often live longer and fare better than normal weight patients with the same aliments."

"More often than not, cardiovascular fitness is a far more more important predictor of mortality risk than just knowing what you weigh." says Glenn Gaesser, author of "Big Fat Lies" and director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University.

Time to lace up those shoes and get your 30 minutes in! If you want to know more about how to shift your own paradigm check out our book "Fresh Off the Couch: What you didn't know about fitness makes all the difference!" by hitting the button for Amazon. -CK

Read the article at:In 'Obesity Paradox',Thinner May Mean Sicker   

Dieting may not work for a good reason!

“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.” ― Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women

Seeing this quote today had me thinking about "Health versus Thinness" and "Dieting vs Healthy Eating".   So many American women think  Health and Thinness  are the same thing but they're NOT.  Eating for your best health is a very different process than dieting for thinness. Having a daily focus on dieting and hunger, control and food can make one quietly mad and politically pliant as  author Naomi Wolff points out in her quote.

What can we do as women to retrain our focus on the higher prize? The prize being Physical and Mental Health.  What can we do to move toward  our best self while fighting the powers that be?  

First step - Examine what gets you to your best health. Looking at scientific studies instead of fashion magazines, will reveal that movement, specifically 30 minutes or so per day of simply walking will get the healthiest results regardless of what you eat.   (You can do other activities too but overdoing exercise can lead to a lower cost-benefit ratio. The highest 'bang for your buck 'as they say is the first 30 minutes  and after that, the chances of injury begin to rise and the benefit goes down. )  

Second step - What you eat can be important too, eating whole foods that meet your daily requirements would be a good start, embarking on a program that physically is too taxing on the body and a diet that leaves one defeated, hungry and overly focused on food will feed that inkling of madness that pushes the self away from mental wellness. 

Third step- Trust your deeper instincts, maybe there is a good reason that diets don't work for you. Diets may not work on you because you are strong and not easily swayed by a culture that is looking for obedience. - MF

"Fresh Off the Couch", co-author Cris Kessler finishes FIRST - Victoria Half Iron-Man!

"Fresh Off the Couch", co-author Cris Kessler finished FIRST (in her age group) for the Half Iron-Man at the Saunders Subaru Victoria Triathlon yesterday .  A Half Iron Man Triathlon consists of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, then a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and ends with a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run, for the uninitiated.   

For those of you who don't know Cris, she just turned 60, six months ago. This is the first-time she has placed first.  Kessler's win got her an offer of a slot at Ironman Canada.  Below is a photo of Cris on the podium accepting her first place medal. 

 Cris is currently Master Trainer for Heart Zones, a Personal Trainer at American Athlete and is co-owner of Cognitive Fitness in Seattle.  Cris' sage advice... "Get Healthy, Stay Fit, Get old: Place First!" -MF

Skechers has to pay $40M settlement over false claims about shape-up shoes.

Skechers comes to $40 million settlement with Federal Trade Commission over sneakers. Skechers claimed wearing shoes would get people in shape. 

"It turns out wearing sneakers - without exercising - won't get you in shape." says a recent Chicago Tribune Article. "The shoe company had claimed its Shape-ups sneakers would help people lose weight. It also said the shoes would strengthen and tone people buttock, legs and abs." 


In fact, if you were fooled by the advertisements and false claims  and celebrity misrepresentations the FTC is letting people know they can apply for a refund here. 


It will be a help to consumers that the FTC is starting to crack down on false advertising .  The FTC came to a similar settlement with Reebok last year making false claims and  selling wrongly named "toning footwear" . 

The Tribune went on to explain Sketchers, "promoted the shoes using celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who in a commercial claimed she dumped her personal trainer in favor of the shoes. The FTC said Skechers also falsely said that clinical trials backed up its claims about the shoes."  
Chicago Tribune Article