Built Like an Asian American

My personal health book has a chapter on weight management.

Of course the author couldn't resist bringing up the controversial body mass index (BMI). Hilariously, she introduces it after this sentence: "Rather than rely on a range of ideal weights for various heights, as they did in the past, medical experts use various methods to assess body composition and weight." Um, using BMI is relying on a range of ideal weights for various heights.

But the BMI section nevertheless had something very interesting: a list of people it doesn't work for. I knew about muscular people, but they also list:
* growing children
* pregnant women
* nursing women
* the elderly
* Asians

The elderly? I can't imagine what that's all about, so I did some research. Apparently, after age 65, you get to/should weigh more.

Officially on average, the ideal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9. But for people over age 65, health problems happen with BMI below 23 and above 33.

Possible reasons I've read about include:
* higher susceptibility to undernutrition
* higher risk for hip fractures from falls (higher weight protects bones)

Asians? Apparently they are naturally supposed to be smaller. I think I might fit their numbers better than the numbers for my heritage.

Review: The Alchemist

A bunch of hooey.*

That's my review of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. But I really liked this paragraph:

"Tomorrow, sell your camel and buy a horse. Camels are traitorous: they walk thousands of paces and never seem to tire. Then suddenly, they kneel and die. But horses tire bit by bit. You always know how much you can ask of them, an when it is that they are about to die."

Reminds me of Louis L'Amour books. Also, of house plants--the peace lily is like the horse and warns you before it's too late that it needs water.

*Many spiritual books don't speak to me. But if they speak to you, I'm happy for you to love it so much that you have your own personal copy with all the best parts highlighted plus extra notes in the margin.

And that's even though I think this book could be dangerous. First, it encourages you to go after your dream (aka "Personal Legend") no matter what--without even evaluating whether the dream is any good. The character wants to dig up a hidden treasure. Plenty of people want to be rich--I don't see how this helps the world. But you are supposed to give up everything else if you really want your dream.

Well, having only one goal does make your choices more clear. But I prefer having many goals even though it involves constant re-prioritizing. Also, I think that once you have more information and experience, it can be good to revise your dream.

Also, I don't think it's true that once you decide to pursue your dream, the universe will conspire to help you. I think you will start noticing things you didn't notice before. I think once you've committed, you become open to ideas that that you dismissed before. But I don't think there are any guarantees. (Sometimes your dream is to become an astronaut, even though you have coke-bottle glasses and crossed eyes and are an eight-year-old Argentinian.)

And if you think that anyone can achieve their dream if only they try hard enough, then you are in a position to blame the victim. If someone isn't happy, you might decide it must be their fault because they aren't trying hard enough. And I find that unconscionable.

Here's another quote to show you a specific example of something I interpret as nonsense:

The alchemist told the boy to place the shell over his ear. He had done that many times when he was a child, and had heard the sound of the sea.

"The sea has lived on in this shell, because that's its Personal legend. And it will never cease doing so until the desert is once again covered by water."

Uh, no. It sounds like the sea because of the way our ear is built and the way we are eager to interpret what we hear as the sea. This has nothing to do with whether the Sahara has yet sunk back into the ocean.

**

All that said, I did enjoy the story of a man who chooses sheep herding because he likes travel, and then crosses from Spain to Morocco and travels across the Saharan desert learning interesting things. I give this book 2 stars out of 5.

Review: "Valentín"

My Spanish teacher and then one of my classmates recommended the movie "Valentín".

It's set in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 1960s. And it's about a boy who lives with his grandmother and dreams of becoming an astronaut, in spite of his bad vision, cross-eyes, and Argentinian citizenship. (Why, yes, that was foreshadowing in my last post.) And he doesn't just dream. He studies, he builds rockets, he practices wearing space boots, he practices holding his breath as long as possible.

He is also fascinated with romantic relationships and asks everybody questions about how they work. He's charming, honest, and makes friends easily. So it's fun hanging with him throughout the movie.

The movie is about him being assertive. He makes friends with the musician across the street even though his grandma is suspicious. He tells his dad's new girlfriend the truth when he decides he likes her too much to lie. Later, he tracks her down when he wants to confront her. He looks for a way to get medical care for his grandma when she needs it. He looks for a way to have a home of his own when his grandma can't take care of him anymore.

The movie reminds me a little bit of "About a Boy" because it's also about figuring out about how to live life. And it reminds me a little of "Dead Poet's Society" because it's about taking action to get what you want, only it works out better in this movie. In the end he says you try things and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Fortunately, they mostly do work for him.

This movie is in Spanish, available with English subtitles. Many Argentinians have an Italian background, so I've heard their accent sounds a little like Italian, and I did notice that at times.

The subtitles were missing in some parts. From what I could tell, those parts weren't essential to the story, but I would like to watch this again when I know more Spanish. I could understand the boy's accent pretty well, though I had trouble with Grandma's.

I recommend this movie and give it 4 stars out of 5, maybe more.

(Three posts in one night? This can happen when you try to sleep with a stomach reminding you that you've eating too much chocolate babka in one day and a brain reminding you that you've experienced a lot of interesting media recently.)