what do you think is healthy?

[Caterina]

How much do you think beauty and health are interrelated? I've read several articles that make the point that true beauty is merely healthy...clear skin indicates vigor and the lack of disease, muscles and strength, curves and vital fertility...

However, there are some things that are obviously not healthy yet considered beautiful...some cultures force women to have rings that stretch their necks, some cultures stretch out their earlobes and lips, our culture encourages us to shave, pluck, be underweight, and wear high heels. Then there are the examples from history where very overweight women were considered beautiful. Or when corsets actually squished women's intestines out of place.

I've recently lost about five lbs and feel healthier...I feel healthy. I weigh 148.

So what weight would you think is actually healthy? The BMI? Are you sure its not culturally influenced? Just want to hear some ideas...

[rocio]

Health is certainly the number 1 factor of beauty. Yes, we live in a culture where super-skinny is "supposedly" beautiful. But it's not. Most guys aren't attracted to a girl with skin and bones and no curves. Personally, if I see a super-skinny girl, I don't think that's as beautiful as a more curvy woman.

 

When you see someone wearing high heels, you don't necessarily think about the effect it's having on her spine. What you see is well-defined calfs (making her look athletic) and a taller woman (similar to what you'd see if a woman had great posture and held her head high).

 

Regarding BMI, I think that anywhere in the "normal" and "overweight" ranges are both healthy and optimally beautiful. "Underweight" and "obese" can also be beautiful if the woman is healthy and takes care of herself, but it's not so ideal.

[shes2smart]

BMI is simply a number that represents your height in relation to your weight. It says nothing about a person's health.

 

Saying all people with a certain BMI number are healthy is like saying ALL Americans/Canadians/Catholics/Aethists/or any other large group of your choosing are all the same.

 

BMI does not take into account one's gender, one's level of physical activity, one's genetic background, one's dietary habits, one's habits regarding tobacco usage or any number of other factors that influence a person's health. A heavy sendentary person and a super-fit athelete can have the same BMI, but they most likely will not have the same level of health. A thin sedentary smoker may have a "healthy" BMI while a heavier, non-smoking active person may have an "unhealthy" BMI...but in reality the sedentary smoker is more likely to develop a life-threatening illness.

 

Real indicators of good health include one's blood pressure, cholesterol level and blood sugar levels. These are things that are not visible to the naked eye.

 

What's considered beautiful changes from one culture to the next and even changes within the same culture over time. What's considered beautiful probably has more to do with a show of higher status than one's health. When food was scarce, fat was seen as a sign of affluence and thereforeeee attractive. In the past, being pale was thought attractive, again because the implication was that you were affluent enough so that you did not have to labor outside. At one time in Chinese culture a woman's bound (and deformed because of the binding) foot was considered attractive -- also an indicator of affluence -- she came from a family that didn't need her to be able to work in the fields. link removed

 

Today, food is cheap and plentiful...and what does culture hold as an ideal? Someone who can go without it. And someone who's tan is thought attractive -- implication being s/he is a person who doesn't have to toil away as a cubicle drone and has time to lie around in the sun.

 

So, I think there is greater relationship between beauty and affluence (or the appearance of affluence) than beauty and health.

[lifestream]

I don't think body modification is always unhealthy.

It's hard to distinguish, because I probably won't be consistent of what I think is healthy and not. I find crushing a girl's feet unhealthy mainly because she's too young to consent.

 

On the other hand, there are many different cultures that use body modification as symbolism in regards to spiritual journeys, quests and tribulations and the like.

 

There are exceptions to the rule, but in general your relation of affluence and beauty is spot on. Even further in the past it was seen as attractive to be overweight, as this meant that you had plenty of food and never went hungry. This usually meant a mate who could provide.

 

Btw, cool Night Elf

[rocio]

It seems to boil down to health in the end. If a woman is affluent, that means she is healthy enough to bear healthy children. If a man is affluent, it means he can provide for a healthy family.