Things that strike me

It doesn’t. And today I’d really like to ask Liz Kearney and her subeditor one simple question.

Why the hell did you not consider height as an issue when writing this piece of utter drivel?

If you read the whole piece of nonsense, you’ll see this quote.

Of course, because dress sizes vary so much from retailer to retailer, and because they are not based on standardised measurements, they don’t represent an accurate indicator of weight or health, so it certainly isn’t true to say that anyone wearing a size 14 has a problem. That will depend on your frame and height.

This is fine in itself. The entire rest of the article gives the overwhelming impression that being a size 14 is, in fact, a problem. I haven’t been a size 14 since I was about 19 years old, but that’s fine.

There’s something that makes me very, very angry about this, or it would, if I could be bothered to dig up the rage. About 5 years ago I came to the conclusion that the fixation on weight alone was not really healthy and I stopped and started looking at fitness levels instead. The HSE has actually caught up with this.

I’d like to see the shift away from focusing on things like BMI and instead get the mind to enjoy the process of becoming fitter and the sense of wellbeing that comes from a more active and healthy lifestyle.

The problem I have with the rest of the article is it doesn’t actually concentrate on this. It concentrates on how you’re lying to yourself if you’re a 14 and think you’re healthy.

The whole issue of health and stuff annoys me as far as the media is concerned. If you concentrate on weight, I’m not 100% healthy. But by the equivalent token, I do not drink and I do not smoke and as a result, am probably healthier than some people who do one or both of those activities to excess. I’m also 5 foot ten inches tall.

If the article was even remotely balanced, it wouldn’t concentrate on the whoe size 14 thing with as scant recognition of height/build as it did. Basically, the assumption is that the same rules apply to all women, except for that little caveat.

But the truth is a little more complex than that and this is something which the article doesn’t recognise. There are confounding factors.

When people are overweight and obese, by becoming fit they protect themselves from many of the health risks of obesity,” says Ailis Brosnan. “An overweight fit person has a much improved health profile than a lean unfit person.”