Are you too thin?

If you weigh less than you should weigh given your height. Height and weight together determine the Body Mass Index (BMI). People with a BMI of 18.5 or less are underweight. Anyone over 65 is already underweight with a BMI of 20. Are you curious about your BMI? Take the test www.plushealth.nl/bmi.

Why are some people too skinny?
They take in fewer calories than they burn. This can have various causes. Some eat fewer calories than they actually need. Others burn more calories than they take in. Still others have fast metabolisms, so food passes quickly through the intestines and the body doesn’t have enough time to get all the nutrients out.

The result: the calories you ingest are immediately consumed and you store hardly any calories in the form of body fat. Irregular, rushed or unhealthy eating can also contribute to being underweight, according to dietician Suzanne Bader of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

How bad is that: being too thin?
Being underweight has health risks. For example, you have an increased risk of bone fractures due to osteoporosis (bone loss). Underweight women are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease because they produce less estrogen. Moreover, people who are too thin often have a bad condition; they more often feel listless, tired or gloomy, and recover less quickly after an illness.

Bader: “Problems with a thin body are often brushed aside, like: be happy that you can eat everything. But being too skinny is really no fun. A lot of skinny people don’t consider themselves beautiful. Buying nice pants is a disaster. And you get cold faster than others.”

What can be done about it?
According to Suzanne Bader, it is almost always possible to gain a few kilos. For example, take a snack a few times a day, eat ‘full’ products instead of lean products and add an extra knob of butter to the hot meal. Bader: “You can also improve your appetite by trying out new flavors and dishes. Maybe you will enjoy eating more and you will eat more as a result.”