Recently, in class, we’ve been talking about the so-called “obesity epidemic.” I feel that obesity indeed is a problem, but not to the extent that the media is taking it. Chapter 10 of Everything’s an Argument discusses casual arguments which are apparent in everyday life, such as obesity. It can be argued that insecurity of body image is an effect arising from 1: the over exaggeration of obesity by the media, 2: Emphasis of “perfection” in the media, and 3: Values on body image from parents and peers.
I’ve never been one to fuss about weight and body image; weighing a mere 100lbs give or take what I had for breakfast, but after being bombarded by media images of perfection, worries about “catching” obesity, and seeing my own mom strive for bodily perfection with the aid of diets, concerns about body image began to stir in my mind. I was a nutrition major for a while and spent just about everyday learning about the content of food, what is healthy, and the definition of obesity. While taking Nutrition 311 I became obsessed with reading the Nutrition labels on everything I ate making sure that I avoided trans and saturated fats at all cost in order to lessen my risk of getting that little belly pudge and becoming overweight. What was I thinking? I became miserable; a slave to the nutrition facts label and food pyramid, and my surroundings didn’t exactly help to alleviate the concerns with body image. I’d watch E! News everyday and see the latest updates on the glamorous Kira Knightly or how Angelina Jolie was the epitome of perfection; noting on how both were skin and bones. During commercials, the woman from Cheers (Kristy Alley, I believe) and Valerie Bertonelli would come on Jenny Craig commercials and praise the product for making them thin, and in lines the values of the media; beautiful. That’s still not the end to my evil influences of thin is beautiful. My twig-like best friend would take me shopping with him and complain of how he moved from and extra small sized T-shirt to a small, (how terrifying!), while I’d get periodic phone calls from my mom proclaiming her delight of how skipping breakfast helped her lose 5 pounds and allowed her to reach her ideal of 115 again (yikes!). I’m surprised I made it without turning anorexic.
In the end, after completing Nutrition 311, I decided that being a nutrition major just wasn’t for me. I just enjoy the delicious saturated fat and empty calories of Hostess cupcakes way too much and my life is stressful enough minus the added stress of worrying how many calories I’m about to put into my mouth and how many miles I’ll have to run to work it off. The media and society are over exaggerating the whole problem of obesity in America. I think that all these influences and ideas of perfection are merely causing people to think they are “morbidly obese” when, in fact, they are actually quite healthy.
