Women concerned with weight not health

Majority of women are more concerned about their weight than overall health, says a new US poll.

The new Associated Press-iVillage poll found that half of the women aren’t down with their weight - even the 26 percent of respondents whose body mass index (BMI) is in the normal range. Of the 1,000 respondents, just one third said they don’t like their physical condition - despite the fact that obesity and a sedentary lifestyle increase the risk of ailments like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

“So many women think more about the number on the scale than whether their blood pressure or cholesterol is normal,” the New York Daily News quoted registered dietitian Keri Gans, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, as saying. “They really don’t think about disease risk as much as they do about their weight,” Gans added.
The survey also revealed that women exercise for a median of just 80 minutes per week, which means that half the women do even less exercise.

A mere eight percent of the women surveyed say they eat the minimum recommended servings of fruit and vegetables (five a day) and a full 28 percent said they consume those five servings just once a week or less. TOI