At 12:15 PM 2/8/2001 +0100, Dre de Man wrote:
>'[...]I can't imagine why you fail to see that any singer who can reclaim the
>physical energy required to drag around an extra 20 or 30 pounds all
>day, may not be considerably better disposed to his art, quite apart
>from his otherwise compromised longevity.[...]
>
>An interesting point of view. On the other hand, walking around with a well
sitting bakcpack with 20 pounds does not take much energy, except in the
mountains. And: overweight people mostly are tired quit fast, and have to sit
much more often after a walk etc., so I don't have the feeling they are very
fit. Probably the bad consequences for their veins and heart more than
compensate (in a negative sense) for the exercises involved in the extra weight
they have to carry
I suspect the health consequences of obesity are due more to
shame and rejection than real physical causes - the reason I say
this is that in Samoa, it's the fat women who move freely and
live the longest, while it's the thin women who get the very
diseases that are associated with obesity in this country.
Interestingly, when Samoan women live in America, it's the other
way around, just as it is for american women in general. At
least this shows that it's not genetic, for the Samoans, but
that it's either cultural or dietary or a little of both.
In the case of opera singers, I think both the psychology and
the physiology are altered in remarkable ways. Divas don't
suffer from rejection or shame, usually, and singing may have a
salubrious effect on general health. Also, if I didn't already
know it, one can see from this list that singers care very much
about what they eat.
Moving extra weight around is not a burden if you have the
muscle to do it easily - consider the horse. fat people who are
depressed and don't move much do get weak - so do thin people
under such conditions, and, if so constituted, they get fat.
But healthy, active fat people do exist, and singing is one
activity that tends to keep them healthy - aside from the
hazards of singing :)
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