Doctors say we are focusing too much on weight, but thin people can sometimes carry the most dangerous kind of fat—and not know it
When Elizabeth Chanatry was 16 years old, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. You’d never know it by looking at the 5-foot-3-inch tall, 117-pound 19-year-old, but even Chanatry admits that she’s not as fit as she could be. “My sister and I are not toned, but we are thin,” she says. Chanatry has genetics to thank for her physique, but also for her diabetes—her older sister and father both suffer from the disease too. For as long as she could remember Chanatry drank Diet Coke and asked for sugar-free syrup to avoid too much of the sweet stuff, but when she started to get symptoms for diabetes, she knew it hadn’t been enough.
Obesity is a serious epidemic in the U.S., but the problem, doctors say, is that we are putting too much weight on weight. When the CDC released obesity numbers last week, we cheered that the rate had fallen so drastically for children ages 2 to 5, even though obesity rates overall remained relatively flat. People with stellar metabolisms and magical genes may not look the part, but they can have the same medical issues as an obese person: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and out-of-control blood sugar. It should be obvious, but a culture obsessed with weight doesn’t always remember that appearances of health can be skin deep.
--Time.com
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