In class today, we briefly considered the ambiguity/lack of consensus on the meaning of the word “healthy”. The medical field defines it differently from the media which defines it differently than the field of psychology (and eating disorders in particular), not to mention each person’s individual definition. Is it possible to find cohesion amongst this confusion? Are there certain similarities in these definitions that perhaps could bring us closer to a consensus? Is one definition “better” than the others? What are the consequences of each definition? I would like to look at some of these issues surrounding the two differing definitions I mentioned above (or at least my understanding of those definitions) which to me seem to be the most common and the most flawed: the medical field and the media.
(DISCLAIMER: I don’t work in the medical field or the advertising industry; I’m just giving my impressions about the fields).
I would first like to note that I don’t think these definitions aren’t mutually exclusive. I think they do overlap in that they feed off of each other. For example, much of the diet industry uses the expertise of “doctors” in promoting their products.
Okay, let’s consider the medical field’s view of healthy body size. The first thing that comes to mind is the BMI (Body Mass Index). This scale determines whether you are underweight, normal, overweight, or obese just by looking at your height and weight. According to this scale, and the assumption that the categories of overweight and obese, as well as underweight, are considered “unhealthy”, this scale says that everyone of a certain height should weigh around the same amount, regardless of body type, muscle mass, environmental factors, and genetics. This makes little sense to me. How can such an assumption of homogeneity make sense for a group of organisms that are so vastly different from each other? I do know that some doctors are moving away from using BMI, but not nearly enough. For example, my dad’s doctor is part of the Cleveland Clinic, a world renowned research and medical hospital. Last year after his yearly checkup, he got a letter in the mail informing him that his BMI indicated that he was obese and gave him a list of services at the Clinic which could help improve his health. (By the way, my father is nowhere near obese. He’s a wrestling coach who works out all the time and is in very good shape. It’s absolutely ridiculous. But I digress…) Even large, well funded, prominent medical institutions are still using it. I think this scale can be particularly harmful, especially since anyone can Google “BMI calculator” and find out their medical body size in about 10 seconds. In a culture such as ours where being fat carries so many different social connotations, we can’t be flippant about who’s bodies are assigned which labels. Thus, this particular definition of healthy seems extremely flawed.
If we thought the medical field’s definition of healthy of screwed up, just take a look at the media. The media’s view on health is that fat=unhealthy, thin=healthy. And it’s not just fat that’s bad, it’s having any fat at all. Observing any facet of the diet industry will tell us that. We’re told not only will losing weight make us happier, more successful, and more fulfilled; it will also make us healthier. All of these supposed consequences of weight loss seem muddle together and unable to be separated, which in itself is problematic. The Weight Watchers commercial with Jennifer Hudson seems to drive home this point about the tangled web of “healthy” that the media portrays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASmidNBOE0s&feature=channel_video_title . Not only will using this diet system make her look great, it will help her be “healthier”. Thus, it seems that the media’s definition of healthy is too intertwined with connotations of thinness to be effective or helpful. In fact, it seems even more harmful than the medical definition. Since millions of people are exposed to the media every day, this definition of healthiness as thinness is engrained in our brains and it has become a cultural obsession. Suddenly, even just gaining five pounds can seem like a health crisis meriting immediate attention.
Both of these definitions assume that health is directly related to body size or weight. Does it have to be this way? Aren’t there other factors crucial in determining someone’s health? Why is fatness so important? I suppose when as a culture, we’re exposed to the media’s messages from every direction and informed by our doctors that the majority of people are indeed overweight, how could we think any differently?
Ana, you've mentioned the dangers or therefore the unreliablility of the BMI test which does not promote a good way to measure ones health. I certainly agree with you and would add that the unreliability of such test, as the BMI, have encouraged our social perceptions of health to only recognize the physcial attributes of what being healthy means. More simply, if we had more reliable and tangible systems which could measure our health, then we probably wouldn't be so committed to thinking that health is primarily based on looks, or body fitness but rather the main functionings of our human organisms which ultimatley determines how healthy our bodies truly are. We have other outlets, of course which are check ups with our regular phsycians, but as you have mentioned the situation with your father and how his doctor questioned his health, I would also claim that sometimes even more professional assistance seems unreliable. So what is it that needs to be done in order to change our perceptions of health, and then find a more relaible and consistent system which can tell us about our health? I can think of many technological instruments which allow individuals to consistently check their heart rate, blood pressure, sugar and glucose levels, but most people who use these machines are already diagnosed with some sort of bodily impairment or disease. So there needs to be a way we can check our health without having a reason to, or before we're given a reason; this way we can keep track of our health on our own, as well as with professional doctors.
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