EDITORIAL: Obese and skinny, both unhealthy

America has a weight problem. Actually, two. One is obesity. The other is the near-anorexic beauty ideal, shown on the runways of Fashion Week. Both are unhealthy.

Two in three Americans are obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For children, it's one in three, the impetus for first lady Michelle Obama's launch last week of a national public awareness campaign to promote healthier lifestyles for kids. It's a timely campaign. Weight-related chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart problems and cancer, are big contributors to the nation's soaring health-care tab. But it's a tough campaign in our junk-food, electronic-diversion, couch-potato culture.

With Americans losing the battle of the bulge, the notion that you can never be too thin seems a cruel rebuke. But that's the message from the world of high fashion, where the body ideal is a size zero. That's the sample size of women's clothing that most designers make. For models to fit into those size-zero samples, their hips can be no wider than 33 inches. But the average American woman is a size 12 or 14. And one in three females who are already underweight or at normal weight still report trying to shed pounds, according to the CDC.

Combating these weight extremes sends contradictory messages. For the obese, it's pay closer attention to your weight. For the too-thin, it's stop obsessing about your weight. The important message for each is: Focus on your health. hN