What does it mean to be healthy? Is it a number on the scale, the size pants a person wears, being able to run a mile or is it something that cannot be seen by the naked eye? America has become the fattest nation and the most delusional at how to truly be healthy. With so many people striving to lose weight the focus has shifted from getting healthy to who can lose the most weight in the shortest amount of time. Reality shows like “The Biggest Loser” has glorified extreme weight loss and has given viewers unrealistic expectations when trying to lose weight and get healthy. Society today has become obsessed with physical appearance, specifically a person’s weight that the mind automatically assumes a thin person is in better health than someone who is overweight. The truth is actually the complete opposite. Trisha, a member of an elite fitness club, spoke about the moment she realized her weight loss goal needed to be reevaluated. Trisha weighed almost 300 pounds and was only 5 foot, 4 inches. Her work out partner, Rebecca, was the complete opposite when it came to looks. Rebecca was almost 5 foot, 11 inches and around 120 pounds. Trisha envied Rebecca’s body type and would give anything to trade bodies. Based on their heights and weights most people would look at them and automatically assume the thinner person would win if they raced against each other. After 6 months of working out together Trisha started to realize how much more she could do of everything! She could lift more weight, do more repetitions and stay at a harder pace on every cardio machine they used. One day while on the Stairmaster, Rebecca once again had to completely stop the machine and take a breather while Trisha was at a fast pace nearly jogging up the st... ... middle of paper ... ...n Toronto and his team determined an underweight individual has almost twice the chance of dying than someone who is overweight. (Underweight or overweight: Study looks at which is deadlier. March 29 2014). There needs to be a line drawn on how much weight a contestant can lose since it is clear the contestants cannot draw that line for themselves. Reaching an unhealthy weight that would disqualify a contestant from the grand prize is not enough to change the mentality of being thin is being healthy. Works Cited Underweight or overweight: Study looks at which is deadlier. (March 29 2014). Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/underweight-or-overweight-study-looks-at-which-is-deadlier/ 'Biggest Loser': Where are they now? (2012). Retrieved from http://www.today.com/id/40423712/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/biggest-loser-where-are-they-now/#.U1R-q1ftdJs
In the article, “Too ‘Close to the Bone’: The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness,” Roberta Seid goes in depth on the emotionally straining and life altering trials women take on to try to portray society’s “ideal” body over time. She delves far into the past, exposing our culture’s ideal body image and the changes it has gone through over time. The article brings to light the struggles of striving to be the perfect woman with the model body. On the other hand, in the article “Rethinking Weight”, author Amanda Spake, details the many differing views of obesity. Spake voices her opinion on the idea that being overweight, and not losing weight, is caused by laziness. “Too Close to the Bone” and “Rethinking Weight” both deliberate about weight issues that are
“I wish to be the thinnest girl at school, or maybe the thinnest 11 year old on the entire planet.” (Lori Gottlieb) Lori is a fun, loving, and intelligent straight A student. In fact, she is so intelligent that even adults consider her to be an outcast. She grows up in Beverly Hills, California with her self-centered mother, distant father, careless brother, and best friend, Chrissy, whom is a parakeet. Through her self-conscious mother, maturing friends, and her friend’s mother’s obsession with dieting, she becomes more aware of her body and physical appearance. Something that once meant nothing to Lori now is her entire world. She started off by just skipping breakfast on her family vacation to Washington, D.C., soon to escalate to one meal a day, and eventually hardly anything other than a few glasses of water. Lori’s friends at school begin to compliment her weight loss and beg for her advice on how she did so. But as Lori once read in one of her many dieting books, her dieting skills are her “little secret”, and she intends on keeping it that way. It is said, “Women continue to follow the standards of the ideal thi...
It is natural for a society to be concerned for the future generations. With the rate of obesity growing in adults and children, many begin to see it as an issue that needs to be addressed. New reports show “ childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years” (cdc.gov). Overweight and obese are not actually the same. Overweight is defined as “having excess body weight for a particular height from fat,” and obesity is defined as “having excess body fat” (cdc.gov). With obesity comes the chance for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Both can be
At the Gym, written by Mark Doty, dramatizes the conflict within the mind of a bodybuilder and his desire to change who and what he is. The speaker observes the routines of the bodybuilder bench-pressing at a local gym, and attempts to explain the driving force that compels him to change his appearance. The speaker illustrates the physical use of inanimate objects as the tools used for the “desired” transformation: “and hoist nothing that need be lifted” (5,6). However, coupled with “but some burden they’ve chosen this time” (7), the speaker takes the illustration beyond the physical use of the tools of transformation and delves into the bodybuilder’s mental state. The speaker ends by portraying the bodybuilder as an arrogant, muscular being with fragile feelings of insecurity.
People often go through their life working-out and going to the gym to get “buff.” For ninety-five percent of Americans that do work out, few can say that they have pushed themselves as hard as possible, but I have the distinct, and often painful, pleasure of knowing that there is another way to work out. This option is unlike any other that I have ever personally been through; and is a way that I would not wish on any average American. 4:55 a.m. Seventeen degrees Fahrenheit, a mild breeze of ten miles per-hour-- for the fifth day in a row and second consecutive month, it is time for me to wake up, make the face-numbing, core-hardening walk through the snow to the Mildred and Louis Lasch Football Building.
Is obesity really a serious health concern or is the “epidemic” merely a result of highly fabricated, misleading ideas of politicians and the media? The article, Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic? By W. Wayt Gibbs featured in the May 23, 2005 edition of Scientific America, raises this question. Most health experts and average people believe that obesity is one of the most prevalent health concerns today, resulting in increased risk for other major health issues; such as; heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, and the chance for early loss of life. However, other researchers are suggesting that the consequences of being overweight are being blown out of proportion. Naturally, they do acknowledge that obesity rates are increasing and being overweight can play a role in other health conditions.
After attending the meeting I left with a new view on overweight people. After seeing the tears and emotions of the people who expressed their feelings I have a better understanding of overweight people. The people who attended this meeting were suffering from a disease. One person used a great analogy. The food is their allergy. When they eat the food they have a negative reaction. One of the main reactions discussed was how they would willingly eat the food but they never knew how much they would need to satisfy that craving. Most people said the craving was never satisfied.
In the American Culture we have adapted many ways of the Greek and Roman Empires. Our society has the laid back lifestyle of the Greeks and the physical fitness of the Romans. Statistics show 45 percent of Americans set a goal every year to achieve weight loss/fitness. Of that 45 percent, and just under half of Americans still maintain their New Year’s Resolution (Hub Pages). The question is why is weight-loss so important in America? There are many answers and factors that play into figuring out the equation. One factor is the increase of obesity in our country year in and year out. Other key factors is the impact of media on our culture to look slim and be sexy, and even children’s toy figures have become more masculine and unrealistic. Although our society is becoming more accepting that not everyone can be a Barbie and Ken or resemble characters from our favorite action figures, the combination of these major factors help answer the equation to why weight loss has become so prevalent in our society today.
Americans are becoming more obese due to the challenges of the economy because healthy food is overpriced, fast food restaurants at every corner, and not enough motivation to exercise. If we are going to make a change, we need to take baby steps. A healthy world is a happy world.
Studies show that fat people suffer from embarrassment, pressure to diet, judgement, and insufficient health care, all leading to a feeling of remoteness in society (Kirschling). Due to the discrimination of overweight individuals in America, a pro-fat movement has broken out, completely contradicting the pro anorexia and pro bulimia movements. This movement focuses on the acceptance of living out an obese lifestyle. America is tolerant to larger sized individuals do to our easy access of unhealthy food and toleration of sedentary lifestyles. However, this mentality of “I acknowledge the fact that I am overweight and I will remain this way because it is acceptable now” is not necessarily healthy in the physical way. Yes, accepting yourself and your body is mentally nutritious, but countless illnesses can come with this if you are not consuming the proper diet and engaging in exercise. Body positivity has gained a whole new meaning. Being positive about something when you are knowingly impairing it is contradicting. A considerable part of the pro-fat movement is the theory of health at every size. Scientifically, this notion is false. For example, an individual with an eating disorder is obviously sickly in size. Medical experts claim they need restorative health possibly in a hospital. Therefore there is no such thing as health at every size. If society embarrassed an obese individual by pointing out
In modern society, the media has a very big influence on our lives. Whether it be a film, a cartoon, or a television series, it is going to impact our daily life in some way. A nasty habit that the media has started is casting overweight characters as gluttonous eaters, aggressive, overtly funny, bullies, reassuring best friends, or sloppy dressers. This makes society as a whole look negatively at overweight people because of their presumptions. Sadly, those stereotypes have been around for over fifty years and still exist today.
In our ever-changing society, the one common thread that now every American seems to possess is a desire to have a body that is not hour-glass (1950’s) nor waifish (1990’s), but one that is lean, trim, and can physically go the “extra mile”. I speculate that the all-around athletic look is so popular because it is probably one of the hardest body types to achieve. In earlier times, hour-glass figures were the product of genetics and corsets, and the emaciated Kate Moss look could simply be achieved by starvation. To be physically fit inside and out is something that every person can control and achieve, but only through strong self-discipline. “The $52.9 billion fitness industry is constantly coming out with activities and products designed to get and keep us interested in working out” (Whigham-Desir 84). Two of these types of work-outs, specifically Tae-Bo and Spinning, were created just for the purpose of keeping “us” interested in working out. Despite this revolution in the fitness industry, many false preconceived notions about losing weight persevere and impede the movement.
Tie to Audience: Weight loss has always been a popular trend in society, whether it being for health reasons or just for self-image satisfaction. For instance I’m sure at one point you have thought about your weight in a negative or positive way. Maybe there has been a time where you have really put some thought into the way you look and decided you weren’t happy
Many people have been persuaded to believe that being overweight is more of a major risk factor of death than being underweight. But, they are mistaken; believe it or not in reality being underweight puts you at a higher risk of death.
For most people, the phrase , “you are what you eat”, rings more than just a few bells. In a growing visually appeasing society it may come as a surprise however that most Americans are overweight and that poor diet/obesity is a leading cause of death in our country. There are many ways that Americans try and attack this problem, the most common being dieting and exercise. Yet with all the money spent yearly on diet programs and personalized fitness regimens, Americans still top off the list in percentage of adults that are overweight. As of 2010, more than one third of all Americans were overweight and that number continues to climb at an alarming rate. In 2012 , there was an estimated twenty billion dollars in revenue for any and all diet books, diet drugs, and surgeries (1). Capitalism has a say so clearly, one aspect of the money is pushing the mentally weak toward fatty foods, the other form is racking in twenty billion on improper self discipline and fitness fads of those trying to be the opposite. Even with the increasing numbers of diets and obesity prevention programs, American obesity remains an instable issue. In our society obesity has become a primary link to heart diseases and other preventable lifestyle illnesses that can lead to early death. Why is our society overweight, and why is it our attempts to correct the issue have yet to yield positive results? Without the proper understanding that obesity is a social disease, our society will continue to seek quick fixes for obesity and never address the ongoing issue at it's core.