The Weight Debate

I look at the Daily Telegraph this morning and yet again they bring up the old story of the average Australian woman’s weight. The model pictured is 163cm tall and 70kg (5.35 ft and 154 pounds). The reader survey was 50%-50% as to whether or not she is overweight.

In 1926 the average height for a woman in her mid twenties was 161cm tall and weight was 59kg, so why the difference? Ok we all understand the ratio of fuel in and fuel out but why are we getting taller. Before I get a resounding ‘we know why’ it really is speculation but one thing I do know for sure the young women that surround me are a lot taller than 5’3”.

When I was growing up I was considered tall at 5’6” and a bit, now I get lost in the crowd! Both my girls and my step daughter are between 5’9” & 5’10” and amongst their friends they are average. There are still a few of the girls smaller but they are by far the minority. Both my eldest and my step daughter were friends with more males than females growing up and the majority of these boys were enormous in height not to mention growing a lot like puppies, gangly and feet first. 

I hate statistics as they never seem to give a truthful result. In Australia over the last 80+ years since the original average was calculated we have had an influx of immigration from Asia and Southern European nations; if I go out with Asian friends or Italian friends I’m back to being gigantic in comparison. Most of these were born in Australia to migrant parents; their children are also taller, but nowhere near as tall as mine and most of the other Anglo Saxon kids whose ancestry goes back multiple generations in Australia. It is wonderful to see these nationalities blend but how the hell can we look at these statistics as being representational of ‘average’.

 

This also goes for that wonderful thing called the BMI index. I have a friend who is 6’2” tall and according to the BMI he is morbidly obese even though he has a very large frame and is carrying little excess weight, his wife on the other hand is exactly the right height to weight ratio even though she is carrying more ‘extra baggage’ than her husband (not much and she looks great especially seeing she is over 60 and has had four children). Even most of our very fit footballers come under the category of morbidly obese due to their muscle mass.

The answer I know is, as a nation, we need to lose weight but more importantly we need to eat healthily and exercise. One of my girls has had a struggle with her weight which I have blogged about previously but this had to do with emotional issues. Personally I have had issues with weight a lot in my life time and today I’m finding the battle increasingly difficult (as I’m sure most do when they are over 50) but I keep trying and if I find the answer be sure everyone will know about it! Have your blood checked regularly for Cholesterol, triglyceride's, insulin and the like and if this is a problem try to address it with diet, also have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. (I seem to be weird with Blood Pressure – its fine when I’m carrying a little weight and is high when I’m not. No one has any idea why, maybe a stress thing?).

Eat well, feed your family’s with good fresh food as this will become a lifelong habit for them, even if when they are young you have the veggie battle (so glad that’s over) as most of us do with at least one child.