I Want to be Skinny Essay

Many Americans are looking for a quick and easy fix to their weight problems which in turn can cause an even greater problem in the future. More often than not if diets don’t work it’s because they are misled in believing that they will lose weight with little to no effort.

The author of this article begins her analysis of the rise in eating disorders by acknowledging America’s obsession with being the ideal weight. From an extremely young age, American children are being taught that women in movies and on the covers of magazines possess the ideal figure. The author states “Children are being taught…being fat is the worst thing one can be” (Bordo 1). This is disturbing to say the least. There many attributes worse than being overweight: dishonest, cruel, and murderous to name a few. Bordo also uses an example in the first paragraph of her essay that is appalling. Alicia Silverstone, the lead role in Clueless, was completely bombarded with insults about her weight, though she had only gained a few pounds since her starring role. The advertisers did

Food. It is essential for survival. Without it, people die. However, oddly enough, many struggle to live without it to accomplish the standards that our culture has created for us. We are taught that being thin is perfection and will lead to a happier life. However, lurking are the health risks that one pays for obtaining the “perfect body”. Still, along with a distorted body image, others struggle with keeping weight down and fall into the diet fads that the world parades. From movies, magazines, and television, the media also sends us messages that being fat is bad and unhealthy while being thin and beautiful is acceptable. The impact of such influences has increased eating disorders in America. These disorders do not

Many Americans struggle with difficulties of weight loss, not only losing the weight but keeping it off. Different methods are used for losing weight, such as, exercise, various types of dieting and some medically needed procedures. Even though weight loss is vital to many people’s careers and futures, it doesn’t mean that it’s easier for these people than it is for you and me. The difference is that most people have a state of mind that they can’t afford to fail. So they are willing to pay thousands

In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by the Centers of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has become overweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time when Americans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods. However, while all of that was going on, the number of obese Americans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 million

For a long time, obesity has been one of the notable health concerns that America has struggled with during the last five decades .Obesity as a health concern is not limited to America alone, it is a serious concern among other affluent societies like European countries. A considerable number of Americans spend a significant amount of money trying to lose weight. Obesity become an important focus in the news items during the year 2002.According to research findings, the rate of obesity among the American was at an average of 12% in 1990 and this rate was at 23% in the year 2005(Menifield, Doty and Fletcher 83-8).

The United States of America is nation that is known for its romance with guns and food. Not the most glamorous idea to be known for but in a way the comical characteristics fit the ever growing nation. Yet this obsession with the greasy, cheesy, and always supersized holds a much grimmer reality. Obesity in America is through the roof with 36 percent of American adults being classified as obese. This alongside the rapid growth of childhood obesity has created a love for shows about weight loss and health like those of “The Biggest Loser”. These inspirational shows help to show that “it” can be done, the seemingly impossibility of losing the hundreds of pounds that need to go. Though the shows are inspirational and entertaining, they are dangerous for all of the people who have lost all this weight disillusioned that they can keep it of, furthermore the

With the weight loss industry, media, and health professionals bullying individuals by attaching harmful stigmas to individuals of certain size and weights, numerous Americans are fed the lie they must partake in the various dieting plans and drugs provided by the money-thirsty companies in order to become accepted by society. However, the truth lies not in the media’s falsities that take far too many people ransom: instead, the truth is uncloaked when the adverse outcome of what the reality of dieting and consuming weight loss drugs is examined. Not only prevaricating their ads and commercials, the weight loss industry, media, and health professionals cause psychological and physical damage to millions when they partake in their latest drugs, products, or meal plans. For this reason, America must abolish the weight loss matrix in which it is captured. Although this will be no easy task, the falsity of the obesity epidemic, dieting drugs and programs, and acceptable standards of size and shape as presented by the media can be revamped. Parents and health care providers alike must take responsibility and have discussions with today’s youth about the misconceptions portrayed by the media and the value of what true nutrition looks like. Planning family meals together to ensure

Obesity will affect more than 1.3 billion people globally by 2030. Americans need to see how being over weight can have various health issues on ones body. However, we see obese and overweight people every day in our lives and who is to blame? Ourselves or the food industry? The choice one makes in their dietary plan affects their weight and overall well-being. Obesity among Americans remains whist although it is still on the rise. Recognizing the perception of being over weight in the United States has now become a new norm, as a result; Americans should incorporate that being overweight comes with consequences.

In the United States, Obesity is one of the most common physical features for both men and women. Obesity has become one of America’s main health crisis, due to poor eating habits along with lack of exercise leads the cause of obesity. Many people do not participate in sports activities or is capable of working out every day. In result, their body is not able to lose the amount of calories of the harmful food. This debate consist of rather it is lack of exercise, or the most popular subject too much fast food. Majority of obese people are known for eating out a lot and not being aware of the amount times they eat.

Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. The Unites States has even been termed an overweight nation. Some twenty to thirty percent of American adults are now considered obese (Hwang 1999 and Hirsch et al 1997). With this in mind, Americans constantly look around themselves determining their weight status as well as that of those around them. While some Americans do fit the healthy category, others enter the underweight, overweight, and even obese categories, all of which can be unhealthy.

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

Obesity, the condition of being severely overweight, is a serious issue in the United States that is gradually beginning to affect more and more citizens. In recent years, the number of Americans suffering from this chronic disease has significantly increased. Researchers have found that nearly one third of the U.S. population is considered overweight and, on average, three hundred thousand individuals die yearly as a result of obesity (Hollands et al. 2). When one participates in little to no physical activity and their diet consists mostly of high fat foods, chances are they will gain weight. If someone becomes obese, they may develop serious health related issues that, in some cases,

Therefore, the commendation of such look and shape commercializes unhealthy body image and procreates eating disorders. Unfortunately, at present the commercialism of a perfect body is encountered by almost everyone on everyday basis. The public is bombarded daily with images of glamorously thin women in commercials, on billboards, in movies in magazines and etc?According to Melanie Katzman, a consultant psychologist from New York, the media has actively defined the thin ideal as success and treats the body as a commodity. (Rhona MacDonald, 2001) It is evident that the persistent advocating of the media and the society produced a constant pursuit of thinness, which became a new religion. A study conducted by Harvard researchers has revealed the effect of media and magazines on adolescent girls in high schools. The children were exposed to fashion magazines and television commercials, and a while after were given self-rating surveys. The study found that sixty-nine percent of the girls said that magazine pictures

According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).