Obesity in Spain
Just recently I seem to be noticing a bit of press talk about obesity in Spain, which is very evident in almost every town and village, but the scale of the problem hadn't really sunk in.
I think of obese people as being really overweight, the sort of people with rolls and rolls of fat. In my mind I've associated everyone else with being overweight, but not dangerously so.
The shock is that in fact people who just consider themselves overweight, are in fact obese, and this is the problem being faced by doctors and health care professionals in Spain right now. For example in April this year a report was written claiming
1 out of 3 babies and children in Andalucia are overweight, mostly through early termination of breastfeeding.
On a personal note, I knew I'm overweight, but the terrible shock is that using the BMI I am obese. What? How can this be? Sure I don't exercise as much as I should, and other than our little treats in Tapas bars, I generally don't consume that many calories, yet it appears I have a BMI of 30.9 which places me in the high risk category.
Bizarrely, when I look at myself in the mirror I don't see an obese person looking back at me, I see me, with a bit of a belly, but when I suck it in I can still pass muster when I walk past an attractive lady in the street.
Health care professionals here in Spain are apparently saying the obesity problem here can be blamed on traditional eating habits of the peasant lifestyle, people ate as much as they could afford but were also doing a lot of manual work to burn it off. These days the peasant lifestyle is gone, it has been for a long time, but the tradition of eating what you want when you want remains, and of course most people aren't employed in manual jobs.
A second problem, and one that definitely affects me, is lack of education on what constitutes obesity. I think most people don't realize that the difference between being overweight and obese is actually a very fine line and it isn't at the top end of weight either, it's right back down there at that "I'm feeling a little overweight but nothing to worry about" level of awareness, of course making education so much harder.
Well for me it stops! Yeah, I'm going to reduce my BMI dramatically, I won't be one of those diet evangelists, instead I'm going to increase my calorie burning. We've already made a start, we've sold our car, and next week (we hope) our new super duper bicycles with battery assisted motor will be arriving. We live in an area that is too mountainous to not have the electric motor, and we still need to pedal all the time so I'm hoping...
As for the rest of Spain, I'm not sure, but it is one of the worrying trends here and will no doubt get a lot more attention in the coming years.
AmeriGlide said,
Wednesday, July 30. 2008 at 12:13 (Reply)
Muscle weight weighs more than fat does and going off of the BMI standard, most athletes would be considered to be obese.
That is very cool that you are getting a battery assisted bike. Unfortunately I am not ready for a 60 mile bike commute every day, so I have to stick with a car for now
Mike said,
Wednesday, July 30. 2008 at 13:02 (Reply)
You have experience of Africa, though, and you know the ethnic philosophy here. Many people, particularly women, would be horrified to be considered obese - it's a sign of prosperity; and they live very long, cheerful lives. Admittedly, they are used to a substantial amount of physical work or natural exercise, which probably helps a lot.
Anyway, the idea of motor-assisted bikes is a great one. Without that bit of assistance, one would probably just give up and not use them, whereas with these, you'll probably enjoy them immensely! I'm quite sure your heart will thank you - for the exercise, as well as for the de-stressing relaxation that goes with the activity! Enjoy.
Carl said,
Wednesday, July 30. 2008 at 13:19 (Reply)
@Mike, obesity is something we see more and more on our travels between Spain, France, and Germany. Many will be surprised but even France and their lifestyle is not immune.
glam said,
Friday, August 1. 2008 at 07:50 (Reply)
Buy some light weights, and use those to work out. Weights will get you fit faster than anything else you can do, and combined with the bikes, you should see results in a few weeks.
Angular Cheilitis said,
Friday, August 1. 2008 at 09:04 (Reply)