One great use for canned salmon is salmon burgers… I mix it up with a little silken tofu (healthier than mayo) and serve with sweet potato fries. Recipe is here if you want to try it out.

*Raw almonds
*Spinach and other thermogenic veggies
*Berries (blueberries, raspberries, etc.)

They are yummy and very good for you. Thanks for this post, I think we forget sometimes how many delicious and healthy options we have!

There is a strong proven relationship that you are substantially more likely to be unhealthy (ie – higher cholesterol, greater risk for diabetes, greater risk for heart disease) if you have a high BMI. True, not every single person with a high BMI is going to die of heart disease tomorrow (ex: Governor Schwartzenegger has an “obese” BMI and would not be what is conventionally thought of as “obese” because he is not fat). However, I maintain that people who run around shouting that being fat is not categorically unhealthy are doing more harm than good. Perhaps they are improving their own mental state by propagating this little PR campaign on “Beautiful at any size,” but they are simultaneously harming people who are fat AND unhealthy. Nobody is manipulating anyone by encouraing people with a very high BMI to regularly see their doctor and consider beginning a more healthy lifestyle. It makes more sense to warn EVERYONE who is fat to get checked by a doctor and change their lifestyle than to say, “hey, all you guys with risk for diabetes, come on in!” People don’t know what their heart or arteries look like, but they know what fat looks like. Its better to cull all overweight people in an education campaign than no overweight people. Bottom line – there are more UNHEALTHY fat people than HEALTHY fat people. This is not debatable.

Certainly there’s an argument that thin people are unhealthy as well. There are ad campaigns targeting heart disease as the number one killer of women. There are campaigns for all people (every size and shape) to become educated on many diseases. Again though, you are more likely to be at risk for heart disease or diabetes if you are overweight.

As for this comment, “I just feel like you, Christin, are writing off A MAJORITY of “fat” people by implying (or maybe I’m reading too much into it) that they’re not intelligent or conscientious enough to know that high fat, low fiber diets are BAD.”… well, yes, I am saying that because this country doesn’t educate people on nutrition, many people who are overweight don’t understand how to lose weight safely and healthyfully. Additionally, there’s a major issue of access to healthy food in poor neighborhoods (particularly in cities) and the targeting of minorities in junk food ads. So, yes, I do believe that poorer, less educated people tend to be less healthy and are more likely to be overweight. Its cheaper to eat McDonalds than it is to eat at Subway.

I’d suggest reading Food Politics, by Marion Nestle to get more information about how food companies target low income and low educated areas. The government is strongly controlled by dairy and corn farm lobbies, which is one reason why there’s cheese in so many government provided meals (think senior centers and schools).

Summing it up – yes, if you see a fat person and a thin person, you cannot be assured of the state of their bodies. But, pushing this “Fat is Beautiful” movement ignores the literally millions of overweight people in this country who will live longer and more satisfying lives if they are able to become educated about exercise and nutrition. And this movement does so at the expense of a minority of overweight individuals who need a shot of self-confidence in the arm. If you’re happy – be happy! That’s great! But don’t assume that every overweight person has your level of intellect, goes to the doctor regularly, and is physically sound.

I’ve never even HEARD of edemame or quinoa, I hate lentils, and brazil nuts are the second most yucky nuts there are (after peanuts). Now if it told me to eat cashews, hazelnuts or almonds, I would be THERE.

I wasn’t suggesting that just because you are skinny you have a good heart. I would never say that something is all, encompassing everyone, because rarely anything is ever “all”. I was suggesting that studies have shown that being over weight, based on the BMI, independently increases your risk for heart disease.

However, if you have good numbers across the board then I guess that person would be genetically blessed. I have really high cholesterol and I have to keep my weight low and watch every single thing I eat to keep the number down.

You have to keep this in mind when the media reports on overweight and obese people:

If you are 5′7”, female, and weigh 175 – 190 pounds, you’re overweight by BMI standards regardless of whether you are an athlete or not. Anything more than that, you’re obese, and then eventually you’re morbidly obese. My sister, for example, is a size 10, very muscular because she does intensive weight training and aerobics, but she weights 180 pounds. According to her doctor, she is overweight regardless of her health. I know that example doesn’t carry much weight as another example that the BMI needs to be A TOOL in the arsenal to determine what “overweight” and “obese” is. You know what I mean? BMI can be used with body fat percentage tests, but cannot be used alone because it has no scientific merit.

There’s a difference between fat kids that play video games and fat kids that run around outside and play. I’m not going to pretend that parents aren’t to blame for their fat kids that have their TVs babysit, but I’m not going to judge if I see a fat kid running around on a playground with “normal” kids and getting a reasonable amount of exercise

I’m not saying that all fat is beautiful or all fat is healthy. I’m saying you can be healthy as a 200 pound woman IF and ONLY IF your cholesterol, blood sugar, etc, etc are normal.

Size acceptance doesn’t mean you say, “OK, You’re fat, so you’re beautiful and healthy regardless of whatever you eat or the amount you exercise.” Size acceptance is: I see that you’re fat by my standards, and that is your life choice, so yeah. Doesn’t have anything to do with me.

I just feel like you, Christin, are writing off A MAJORITY of “fat” people by implying (or maybe I’m reading too much into it) that they’re not intelligent or conscientious enough to know that high fat, low fiber diets are BAD.

Also, why are “normal” and “thin” peoples’ hearts stronger than someone that is healthily active and eats an appropriate diet, but fat? That’s like saying all thin people are healthy and their hearts are good because they’re thin, but fat people automatically have bad hearts without taking into account each individual’s diet?

The lesson to take away from this is that even though the media likes to generalize to gross distortion to meet its own agenda of fear mongering, we as individual people have to rationally realize that not all thin people are healthy, nor are all fat people. That’s too black and white to really represent what life and reality are.

We as United States citizens tend to be reliant on other people (the media, the government, our doctors, our peers) to tell us what is healthy, what is thin, what is fat, what is ugly or pretty, or smart. Why do we blindly assume that people in the health profession, especially those that use statistics to “prove” their points, are in it for our best interests? Maybe that makes me paranoid, but I like researching things to really get down to find out what is real and what is manipulated.

I know a lot of people that can’t loose weight, but I think it’s the exception not the rule. It is dangerous to pretend like the obesity epidemic isn’t real. Look at the playgrounds. It is dangerous to their little hearts and even their little knees.