Fit and Fat?
Times have changed drastically. Throughout history, fat was always a sign of power. Now, with an overabundance of food in developed countries, thin is in. Sadly, many of us are trashing our lives, upset because we do not look like the svelte actresses and models in the media.
Over the decades, we find that mannequins have gotten thinner and thinner. One study found that, if female mannequins were alive, they wouldn't have enough fat on their bodies to menstruate.
The fact is that many active, stout people (excluding the morbidly obese) are as healthy as, or even healthier than, underweight people.
Do not pick on fat people, or call them fatso to their faces. Let's look at the obvious: if you wore a 30 lb. backpack everyday, all day long, you wouldn't have to go to the gym or exercise... you'd be shedding weight all day long! Think about it. People who are carrying 30 or more extra pounds of body fat must have extra strength. If we live in a dynamic way, we don't have to go to the gym.
Imagine: if a bulky person were stripped of their fat, down to their muscles, they would have large muscles, because they've been carrying around extra pounds for quite awhile. In fact, many big people could clothesline an opponent in fight. and watch them hit the deck hard.
None of this means that you should eat like a slob and get fat. Being obese and sluggish, even in moderation, can damage the heart. This raises the risk of heart failure (the gradual loss of the heart's capacity to pump blood). This is often a prelude to bigger problems. But even light activity can reverse this trend. And there's a lot of good research telling us that being fat doesn't automatically mean a person is a walking, eating medical disaster. They are simply genetically programmed to eat lots of calories.
Nature made the fat gene for good reasons: fat and muscle protects us against famine and cold. When food was scarce, fat people survived, while skinny people fell by the wayside.
