Weight loss apart it’s the best health kick I’ve come across after a lifetime of addiction to food generally, bread, jam and cheese in particular, fish and chips and chocolate, all the usual deprived childhood habits, frantically interspersed with all the usual diet fads. These all worked for a while but then bad habits either crept in by stealth or crashed back in with crazy cravings.

When I discovered that a medically supervised fast could rapidly relieve me of arthritis and depression at the same as rejuvenate me I set about reading the recommended literature and have never been on a diet since. Once I’d stopped eating and discovered how it felt to occupy a chemical and additive free body I began to explore organic foods and ultimately have come to a balanced diet.

I’m in better health than ever. Great feeling at my age. I bless that GP, unusual and alternative that he was, and extraordinarily difficult to get an appointment with!

I’m still an addict by the way! Just can’t kick the chocolate and the coffee! Well, food generally, with every meal enjoyed – organically produced cheeses, fish and some meat, but always accompanied by home grown vegetables and salads. I love wine too, though addiction can’t take hold here since I fall asleep after two glasses.

And water! Plenty of it, from waking till late afternoon. Not too late though – as FXH says we all have some problem or other. Still, an aging bladder is manageable, and occasionally ‘wetting myself’ seems a small price to pay for a good meal out with friends and plenty of laughter.

If I’d been rung up and asked those questions by some survey-taking call centre person I would have quibbled about the wording of every single one.

In whch case, PC, you would have achieved your aim. You’d be put on their internal “Do not call: difficult arsehole” register.

The only thing this proves is the lack of communication skills on the part of the scientists.

Word, desipis. If I’d been rung up and asked those questions by some survey-taking call centre person I would have quibbled about the wording of every single one.

both the originator Quetelet and the reviver Keys (1972) specifically stated that the BMI was designed for population studies and was inappropriate for individual assessment. But it’s easy, so it gets misused.

this is what i was referring to in my second paragraph. Doctors shouldn’t use BMI to assess obesity in the consultation, but as a screening tool its validity is assessed by different standards.

Your talk of ectomorphs and endomorphs makes me think of Traveller:2300 …

8x cups of black coffee 8kcals
mother energy drink 208kcals
Celery 6x stalks 62cals
Apples large raw 116cals
tuna in lite oil x2 466kcals
corn, raw, small 62kcals
spinach raw 2x cups 14kcals
corn wraps x6 389kcals

Total consumption 1325kcals

Base metabolic rate -2521kcals
Activity level desk job -504kcals
Exercise -429kcals

Net kilocalories -2129kcals
Weight/gained lost -304g

There are plenty of active obese people who feel fit and well, so where do they lie on the “health problem” chart?

There are plenty of people with cancer that feel fit and well. Feeling fit and well doesn’t necessarily mean you are.

BMI is a useful tool as is the waist measurement one thats increasing used as a rule of thumb. They are probably best called indicators or proxies than measurements of obesity.

Dr S – I’m no inclined to the “absence of disease” view. I think it leads to an idealalised state of being that doesn’t exist in many people and it leads to thinking of anyone who is sick or disabled as different or the other.

I see health as the successful management of whatever diseases or disabilities one has so that they don’t have more impact than is unavoidable.

Most people actually have some ill health, many need to wear glasses, people have deteriorating hearing, some have a back back, people have genetic predisposition to certain illnesses , some high cholesterol isn’t due to diet, many “bad hearts” aren’t due to lifestyle, not all diabeties can be prevented, bowel cancer can’t be prevented, cataracts can’t be prevented, and so on, it is rare to see a person who doesn’t have some less than perfect health.

The successful management of whatever degree of less than perfect health we all have is influenced mainly by access to services, educational level and financial security.