The conventional wisdom of many around us is that overweight people represent the unhealthy side of the spectrum and skinny people represent the healthy side. But this belief could be a very dangerous thing.
I’m sure many of you have heard the term “skinny-fat” in the past, but the correct medical term is “MONW” or metabolically obese normal weight. This entails one who is “under lean” so to speak and “over fat” — essentially not enough muscle mass and too much visceral fat.
Sadly, diabetes and pre-diabetes numbers continue to rise and not just in the obese population but many thin people out there today are being diagnosed as “metabolically obese”. This is becoming increasingly more common in children as well. It’s bad enough that many of the kids in North America are overweight or obese, but what’s far more staggering is how few kids are seemingly healthy. Signs of pre-diabetes include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high cholesterol.
Often times, because one is skinny, he or she believes they have the means to tolerate a diet that includes many breads, pasta, sugars, sweets, and “occasional” alcohol. That simply adding a walk or occasional jog to their lifestyle is all they need to sustain their thin lean physique. Look inside these individuals, however, and chances are their blood markers will tell a completely different story.
Insulin is responsible for storing visceral belly fat and leads to hormone and metabolic changes which leads to muscle loss and inflammation. A diet high in sugars, wheat, grains, and alcohol keeps insulin levels consistently high in the body, making a person more susceptible to pre-diabetes and eventually type-2 diabetes, whether they are skinny are overweight.
To find out if one is metabolically obese, it would be wise to check their fasting blood glucose and blood pressure levels as well as their HDL/LDL cholesterol ratios. All three can be done through your Doctor or healthcare provider.