WIRT: Interesting Chart Shows 6 HEALTHY-weight Women All Look Different on the BMI Scale!

Came across a great article on Cosmopolitan today showing a chart (created for them by New York-based startup Body Labs), of 3D body scan images of six different women all 5-foot-7-inches weighing 145 pounds with a ‘normal’ BMI of 22.8. They all look different even though all the women have the same BMI numbers. (There’s a second chart of a male version below too.)

Body Max Index or BMI as it is more commonly called, is a value derived from the mass (weight) and height of an individual (body mass divided by the square of the body height), and is an attempt to calculate the amount of tissue mass (muscle, fat, and bone) in an individual, and then categorize that person as underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese based on that value.

Using me as an example, (I’m old school so I did it in Imperial measurements), I am currently overweight according to this BMI calculator, with a BMI value of 25.8:

(I’ve embedded a calculator at the end of this post if you’d like to find out your BMI also.)

However, there are criticisms of using the BMI to define obesity in individuals, one of which being that BMI was designed for population studies, not individuals. Let’s check out these charts.

WIRT: A Canadian Model With VITILIGO Is Changing the Face of Fashion

Today I came across a few articles online about a Canadian model who has Vitiligo – the skin disease that probably the late Michael Jackson suffered from.

Vitiligo is a chronic skin disease where portions of the skin have white patches due to skin pigment loss, sort of like when someone suffers from 3-degree burns, but more pronounced. It occurs when skin pigment cells die or are unable to function. The cause is unknown but few theories range from autoimmunity, genetics to viral causes. There is no cure.

Canadian-born model, Winnie Harlow (real name Chantelle Young-Brown) from Etobicoke, Ontario, has this disease but has not let it hold her back in life. She was a former “America’s Next Top Model” contestant and although she did not win, her attitude was right on track even then as she told The New York Post in a 2014 article:

“[There was] an uproar on social media. I said, ‘Calm down. It’s just a show — and a reality show at that.’ I was cracking up.”

WIRT: GREASE is the Word - Your Toilet is NOT a Trash Can...

What I Read Today in a local newspaper, was not a news article or story but rather a PSA ad about dumping grease in toilets. I’m sure many of you are guilty of this - I am. With me it’s not in the toilet, but rather down the drain.

I actually feel quite guilty as I write this post and honestly didn’t think  I was doing any harm.

I like to make my own french fries which involves peeling a lot of potatoes and a great deal of deep frying. After awhile, when the oil is no longer needed, I would dump it, while it was still hot, down the drain. I figured it was still warm.  But now that I think about it, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

I no longer dump grease down the drain and now I’m asking you to do the same.

Did You Know…

WIRT: “IT’S A LONG SHOT”

Today I read an article, “It’s a Long Shot”, in our local newspaper, The Standard, which was quite interesting and entertaining about lottery tickets for the younger demographic, which was worthy of some sharing.

Apparently, lottery ticket sales to the younger generation, (ages 18-34), aka the “millennials”, aren’t as good as they’d hope it to be. It’s so low in fact, that the provincial lottery corporations are hiring a consultant to come up with new games and strategies, the paper states.

I’m surprise they are even encouraging this! However, if they must do so, instead of hiring a consultant to come up with new gimmicks or tactics, why not just consult the targeted group itself by getting them to fill out a survey of some kind… or better yet – just ask them!