If you think people who can get by without exercising and manage to stay skinny are healthy, consider the “skinny fat.”
“Aww…there’s the stick figure. She can eat whatever she wants and never gain a pound.”
Picture the people you know who look thin, can eat whatever they want, and never leave the couch. According to research data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim.2 Body scans show that these people (the nonexercisers or super skinny people) have a large deposition of fat around their internal organs and are at risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The moral of the story is that you need to exercise, even if you can’t tell on the outside.
You can’t cheat the system. Exercise builds lean muscle mass, makes for a healthy heart and healthy lungs, and builds bone. Exercise also increases skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity, which causes less demand on your pancreas (giving it a break) for insulin. It is also the best treatment to decrease cortisol, which causes visceral fat deposition (fat around the organs).
In her book The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer, Gretchen Reynolds interviews Charles Hillman, PhD, from the University of Illinois Neurocognitive Kinesiology Laboratory. He states, “There is no medicine or other intervention that appears to be nearly as effective as exercise” in maintaining or even bumping up a person’s cognitive capabilities.3 Most importantly, exercise is shown to improve your quality of life. Isn’t that what it is really all about?
The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined.
– Dr. Jimmy Bell
Fresh Ideas to Extend Your Expiration Date
You can be thin or skinny and not be healthy. You can stay thin and look good on the outside without exercising, but that doesn’t mean you are healthy. The health risks for the “skinny fat” are similar to those experienced by people who are holding on to a few extra pounds.
For most people, time is the main factor for not making physical activity a part of their lifestyle. In an informative and well-illustrated video espousing the health benefits of exercise, Dr. Mike Evans poses this question, “Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 ½ hours a day (or less)?” This is a good question. We all have 24 hours in a day. Can you only be inactive for 23 ½ hours a day? It only takes 30 minutes of activity a day to see measurable health benefits. Can you spare some time from your inactivity to be active? It just may improve your quality of life.
Looking for ways to add more activity into your life?
- Lead an exercise class. Not only will this make you committed to participating in an activity, but you can also make some extra money.
- Instead of just sitting with your friends and family, try organizing time together around an activity. Go on a walk and then eat or go to an exercise class as a family.
- While talking on the phone, walk around instead of sitting still.
- If you find yourself sitting for long periods of time, get up once an hour and either walk around, do push-ups, tricep dips, squats, or lunges— whatever can be easily done or is appropriate for the environment that you are in. Exercise doesn’t have to be done in one big chunk of time. It can be inserted into your day in mini-intervals.
Learn More
Fun, informative videos on health-related topics are found at myfavouritemedicine.com. A popular one is 23 and ½ Hours, which shows the benefits of exercise in an entertaining way.
Dr. Mark Hyman talks about “skinny fat” and its health implications on his blog at drhyman.com.
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, by A. J. Jacobs, provides a very entertaining and funny look at health by a nonhealth care provider, a former “skinny fat” person who made a year-long goal to get healthy. He samples a wide variety of healthy diets and exercise routines.
