Medical industry obsession with Apple/Pear shapes,

[HockeyMom]

and Waist Hip Ratio. I work for a school district in Florida which self insures. They have gone totally overboard with all this to the tune of "appointing" health coaches for all ($1M) and even penalizing with higher rates for Non Compliances with their rules and regulations.

First of all, they assume that everyone is either apple or pear, no matter what your WEIGHT is. Where do you store your "excess" fat? If it is not in your HIPS, you are at risk of a heart attack and must lose weight and go to a gym. Increased premium.

Here is why this one size fits all (sic) across the board standard doesn't work. One of my coworkers is 5' and weighs 90 lbs. She has a 23 inch waist, 32 inch hips, wearing a size 0 or 00. She is classified as APPLE shaped and is at risk of a heart attack by the insurance.

Same for me at 5'2" and 100 lbs. with a 25 inch waist, 33 inch hips, wearing a size 1 or 0. I am "apple shaped" also.

Are both of us supposed to DIET so we can lose the "excess" FAT around around our waists and not have a heart attack? WHAT FAT? Apple shape? Maybe an EATEN APPLE. Or how about another category. CELERY shaped.

My excess fat is well ABOVE my waist, as in I wear a 30DD bra. If that is being an apple, guilty as charged. Maybe I need breast reducation so I won't have a heart attack? I doubt EXERCISE will make my cup size go down. I also have fat upper arms. That risk of heart attack too? Sorry, exercise won't help there either. I work with a 45 lb disabled child who I push in a wheelchair and LIFT CONSTANTLY. I used to have fat, flabby upper arms. Now with all this lifting I have FAT, HARD arms. Yeah, exercise.

Vanity is bad enough, but when you have stupid health insurance PENALIZING even SKINNY people who don't fit in their one size fits all mold, I say ENOUGH is enough.

I even read somewhere these morons are now saying short people are at risk of heart attack too. Add that one to our health insurance list added penalties. One ABSURD study said it was because mothers didn't eat right during pregnancy that they had SHORT KIDS. Can you believe that one? GENES has no bearing whatsoever, because they YOU, or THEY, couldn't do anything about it. Right?

My New Year's resolution. STAY AWAY from DOCTORS. CANCEL this insurance.

[madrchsod]

1. heart attack prone?...what about the men?

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Shortness is now

a pre-existing condition.

[bemildred]

3. It's all about the "higher rates for Non Compliance".

Scientifically speaking this is all phenotype discrimination to the extent it is not pure horseshit.

[ellenfl]

4. someone at the insurance company does not know their shapes.

from your description, you are both pear-shaped, not apple. apple would be mean your biggest measurement is the waist. think tweedledee and tweedledum.

ellen fl

[HockeyMom]

5. BMI

from what I have read this WHR is supposed to used in conjunction WITH the BMI. The insurance is saying that BMI is not an accurate measure of a person having a heart attack but whether they are apple or pear shapped. From what I have read about this, if you have a low BMI (Under 18.5) you are considered underweight and your WHR is irrelevant because you don't HAVE excess fat wherever. My BMI is 18.3. My waist according to them is supposed to be 23 inches or less because my hips are so small. See how stupid this is?

Bottom line is that they want people to "fail" this so they can charge them more money, or have the coaches "counsel" them on diets or work out plans. I certainly don't need to lose weight and if I get any more exercise than I get with my job, I WILL have a heart attack.

[hedgehog]

6. I think you raise a valid question - how much of what we

think we know is based on valid, repeatable and repeated scientific research, and how much on a single interesting study that has been amplified in the popular press? It sounds impossible, but the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes documents how some unproven theses became the basis for health and dietary policies in the US.

[CrawlingChaos]

7. I hear you HockeyMom

Don't let them get to you with this silliness. My understanding is that the all-important number is waist measurement, because the risk comes from visceral fat packed around your internal organs. So with a 25" waist, you definitely don't have that problem and you're at LOW risk! It's annoying and counterproductive of them to use such a wide net that drags in clearly healthy people and subjects them to needless stress and worry.

I know how you feel though. I had a "fitness evaluation" once (groan) - my first and last. I'm 5'4", but because of my tiny wrist and elbow measurements, they wanted me to weigh 108 lbs. I weighed 120 lbs, 24" waist, 36" hips and did not consider myself at all overweight. I had recently discovered weight lifting and was pretty proud of my new muscles, but instead of any acknowledgment for that, I was flagged as "over 10% overweight" and told to avoid high-impact exercise until I'd dropped some of the chunk. It was a completely demoralizing experience and I vowed, NEVER AGAIN.