“What is officially deemed overweight these days is actually the optimal weight.”

Okay, it’s just a single study, but still it’s nice to see some focus on weight and health that doesn’t stop at “overweight is bad.”

(B)eing very thin, even though the thinness was longstanding and unlikely to stem from disease, caused a slight increase in the risk of death

The take home point–as always–is that weight shouldn’t be the only thing we consider as far as health. Fitness is a far more important issue, yet it is the thing that most people try to ignore.

It is far easier to buy carb-smart ice cream, or lowfat cookies than to get yourself to the gym every morning, but it is the exercise that is going to improve your health, not artificial sweeteners and the artificial fats.

So I think that if taken the right way, this is a good message. That those who exercise and are careful about what they eat, but can’t seem to lose weight, are not necessarily damned to a life of ill health. And that being thin is not the sign of health it has been taken for in recent years.

Eating well and exercising are far more important than the number on the scale.