Most of this article just completely blows my mind. Just one horrifying example after another about self-destruction and how society encourages it.
Are you sick of advertising that portrays American women as excessively thin, hollow-eyed, and self-absorbed?
by Francie M. Berg
If so, you may be happy to know that during Healthy Weight Week, Jan. 21-27, health providers across the country emphasize the value of maintaining one's own natural weight, rather than losing weight.
The year 2006 was not reassuring. It was a year in which fashion industry moguls admitted that a size zero is no longer thin enough for them: they demand models in size double zero, negative zero, and even negative two. The death in Brazil last November of model Ana Carolina Reston, who reportedly carried just 88 pounds on her 5-foot-8 frame, and three other self-starvation deaths in quick succession within a few weeks in that country, caused an uproar, but little effective change. While the city council in Madrid, Spain, did start a small rebellion, banning models with a body mass index under 18 from the Madrid Fashion Week runways, a move that reportedly would bar up to 40 percent, model agencies deny their models are too thin. They reject regulation of any kind. We just wouldn't use someone who was really underweight or too thin, says Sarah Doukas, Kate Moss's agent.
Dieters weak from hunger can be found anywhere. In New York, subway authorities recently announced that fainting dieters are among the top causes of train delays. Between Oct. 2005 and Oct. 2006, sick passengers caused about 400 delays each month or some 12 to 14 delays every day. Most of these were dieters who faint from dizziness, said Asim Nelson, transit emergency medical technician.
However the media continue to emphasize the risks of obesity and downplay any risks of underweight, in spite of national studies that dispute this logic. Research at the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Apr. 2005), reveals that the risks of obesity have been much overstated, and that in fact fewer deaths are associated with overweight than with underweight or with so-called normal or "healthy" weight.
This hysteria over weight is causing tragic problems for children and for people of all sizes. Instead, we want to help them move ahead to improving their health in positive ways,² says Francie M. Berg, a licensed nutritionist and adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, whose organization Healthy Weight Network started Healthy Weight Week 14 years ago.
Berg contends that whether a person enjoys good health or not is more a matter of lifestyle than weight. During Healthy Weight Week people are encouraged to improve health habits in lasting ways: to live actively, eat normally and nutritiously, relax and feel good about themselves and others. It's a time to celebrate the diversity of real women, as well as men, and to help them shift focus from failed weight loss efforts to being healthy at their natural sizes.
One of the week's events is Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day, on Tues., Jan. 23. The 18th Annual Slim Chance Awards are announced, spotlighting the four worst weight loss products. This year's winners:
PediaLean, a fiber capsule for children that can clump into an obstructive mass in their throats and stomachs; Isacleanse, said to remove [nonexistent] toxins and pollution from your body; ChitoGenics, claimed to block sugars, carbohydrates and fats; and the Magic Ear Staple, stapled into the cartilage
of your upper ear to suppress appetite. (For past awards see
http://www.healthyweight.net/past.html> )
Health experts are only beginning to realize the risks people take in efforts to reshape their bodies to thin ideals. These risks range from abdominal pain, faintness and depression, to bone loss, heart arrhythmias and sudden death, says Berg. Her recent books Underage and Overweight and Women Afraid to Eat, articulate the damage done to children and women by current approaches to weight in our society.
Top 10 Reasons Not to Diet
1. Diets don't work – dieters don't lose weight in a lasting way.
Dieting causes short-term weight loss, continuing no more than six months, followed by weight
regain. Often more weight is gained than was lost. (Studies show dieters are more likely to become
overweight than people who eat normally.)
2. Dieting can cause lasting injury and even death.
Sudden death from electrolyte imbalance or heart arrhythmia is a real risk. Each year dieting
is related to severe health damage and deaths in the United States.
3. Dieting disrupts normal body processes.
Rapid weight loss puts the body in a stressful, defensive state. The body tries to defend itself against
weight loss, decreasing metabolism, heart rate, temperature, and sexual function, as well as
intellectual, emotional, and social activity.
4. Dieting causes weight cycling (repeated weight loss and regain).
Research shows weight cycling is associated with higher death rates.
5. Dieters often feel tired, lightheaded, and have difficulty concentrating.
They may lack essential nutrients, including high quality iron, zinc, protein, and calories.
6. Dieting leads to binge eating, overeating, and chaotic eating patterns.
Dieting disrupts normal eating. By definition, dieters override internal signals of hunger and satiety,
so they may no longer know when they are hungry or when they are full.
7. Dieting leads to disordered eating, and is the primary precursor for eating disorders.
Many experts believe the high rate of eating disorders in the U.S. is due in part to high numbers of
people restricting food and becoming chronic dieters.
8. Dieting causes food preoccupation.
People who diet spend more time thinking about food and eating. This "drive to eat" when food is
limited is believed to be a survival trait against starvation.
9. Dieting diminishes women, and increasingly men and children.
Dieting focuses attention on appearance, rather than character, talent, or personal fulfillment. And
unfortunately, dieting mothers become role models for dieting children.
10. Dieters put their lives on hold, "waiting to be thin."
Instead of playing the anticipation game, accept and respect yourself and others. Live the life you
want now. Develop a healthy lifestyle, and let weight come off as a result, or not. Live actively, eat
well, and feel good about yourself. You deserve the best – right now.
______________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from "Top 10 reasons not to diet," in
Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today's Weight-Obsessed World, by Frances M. Berg. Copyright 2006, 2001, 2000. Healthy Weight Network. All rights reserved. This special feature may
be used as a handout or in nonprofit newsletters for educational purposes only and when printed with this citation. It
may not be reprinted in books or publications for sale or on the Internet without written permission from the publisher.
Healthy Weight Network, Hettinger, ND 58639 (www.healthyweight.net).
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Currently listening :
Rather Ripped
By Sonic Youth
Release date: By 13 June, 2006  |
In my defence, it was issued the year I graduated high school--1977-- and I was a bit...distracted.
