Category: nutrition, food, eating

Circus Elephants, Eating Meat, and Moral Choices

“One measure of human moral progress-amid and despite the savageries we visit upon each other-is how we treat the innocent in our care. ” Charles Krauthammer

Dr. Krauthammer wrote for The Washington Post and his essays are “a kind of exotic indulgence” to use his own phrase. He uses words the way Andrea Bocelli uses songs, or B.B. King used a guitar- all masters of their craft.

Most of his pieces are serious and somber,  understandable considering that he tackles such dark subjects as terrorism, war, government corruption, and social injustice. But occasionally he takes a lighter approach to subjects which are important on a different level.

(Dr. Krauthammer died in 2018.)

Free Willy!

Such is this piece in which he predicts the demise of meat-eating, most likely for economic reasons. But  medical studies do suggest vegetarian diets are  healthier,  may lower the risk of colon cancer, and may promote  weight loss better than other diets.

fresh vegetables-lettuce, tomatoes, radishes
Will we stop eating meat?

This article may make you laugh, applaud, growl, or  just dismiss the whole thing as irrelevant. But might we all agree on one point?

“One measure of human moral progress-amid and despite the savageries we visit upon each other-is how we treat the innocent in our care. ” 

Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Asian elephants entertaining tourists in Thailand
Asian elephants entertaining tourists in Thailand

 

exploring the HEART of health

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Dr. Aletha

Waist size matters; what’s yours?

Your waist size should measure less than your hips. ( that is, a ratio less than 1)

I started a series about obesity by introducing the concept  of body mass index, BMI.

What is obesity, why does it matter?
BMI Chart created by Vertex42.com. Used with permission.
BMI Chart created by Vertex42.com. Used with permission.

But physicians also consider another measurement in diagnosing obesity. Simply waist size. Something most of us don’t think about until we want  to buy new clothes, or notice that the old ones don’t fit. But an elevated waist circumference can be a problem for more reasons than making it hard to fasten your seat belt on an airplane. It correlates with a greater risk of the same conditions that elevated BMI is, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.

So how high is too high? In the United States, the following values are used most often.

  • for women, a waist greater than 35 inches (88 centimeters)
  • for men, a waist greater than 40 inches (102 centimeters) 
a tape measure wrapped around an apple

Another related value  is the waist-to-hip ratio; disease risk is increased

for women, if the ratio is greater than 0.85 and for men if greater than 0.9

Or another easy way to remember this is – Your waist size should measure less than your hips. ( that is, a ratio less than 1)

Learn more in this discussion on waist size from Harvard.

Waist Size Matters | Obesity Prevention Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

exploring the HEART of healthy weight management

Dr. Aletha