The New Norm
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University came out with a study which says that by 2015, 75 percent of Americans will be overweight and 41 percent obese. Currently, 66 percent of us are overweight and obese. So, is being large the new norm?
The researcher warned that something has to change or obesity will become the leading preventable cause of death. For the past 30-plus years, we have been a dieting-obsessed country. Diet books are always on the best seller lists. Diet gurus are pop culture icons. Just about everyone knows how to lose weight. Still, we keep getting bigger.
I wonder if this is just another step in human evolution. Or perhaps we are making a cultural shift to larger bodies, much like we were in the late 1800s and the 1950s. I know a lot of us, myself included, blame society for contributing to our fatness. Fast food, constant commercials, hectic but sedentary lifestyles all lead to bigger bodies. We know what needs to be changed, but no one seems to be willing to make those changes. So, just what else are we suppose to do?
I want to continue to lose weight, but I know I will never be as thin as society wants. I won't even make it to the height/weight chart recommendations. I'm fine with that, and as long as my health continues to be good, I don't see myself making many more changes than I already have. So, maybe it is time for society's expectations to change.
In the Majority
Dan,
I think it is safe to say that you are in the majority, both with your weight issues and with your idea of beauty. If most of us didn't think skinny was beautiful, there wouldn't be the ultra thin models and the taunt, muscular men on our magazine pages and television screens. I wonder though if that idea of beauty will change over the next decade or so since most of us weigh more than the "experts" say we should. Since overweight people still have romances, get married, explore the world, etc, perhaps we are slowly learning to accept each other for who we are and to see the beauty instead of the waist size.
Judging the future by the past
First of all, I have no idea what our society will look like in the next five to ten years. However, it has changed a lot in the last forty years in some ways. We don't even "wink" at things on television, the Internet, and video games today that would have horrified our society in my teenage years. People used to evaluate what a person meant by the words that were spoken. Nowadays, what a person says is evaluated by the thought police. It is not what a person says, it is what other folks "think" that person meant. The truth used to be just that... the truth. Nowadays "truthiness" is in vogue. Someone doesn't have to be actually truthful, they just have to be truthy about what they say. You know sort of the truth. When I was much younger, curves used to be in fashion. The "hourglass" figure. Nowadays, the skinnier the better in every aspect of our society. Will this change? Will heavier folks become vogue? Will we grace the magazine covers on the newsstands? Will someone be judged beautiful because they weigh 200 to 250lbs., as opposed to 80-120 lbs? If I had to lean one way or the other, I would say no. Overweight people suffer the unspoken character trait as being without self-discipline. It seems that whether a person is job searching or just walking on the beach, if you are heavy that works against you. I think that is what I see everyday. I know people who have done everything they can to lose weight. They succeed. They get a lot of compliments. They feel great about themselves. Then... they regain the weight plus more weight. No more compliments and no more feeling great. I just don't see this revolution in perception of beauty happening. I hope that I am wrong. I hope peole look at me and think to themselves "Gosh, Dan is good looking, I want to look just like him." I am not holding my breath on that one. I am far to used to the look that says "What a slob." I don't have anything to blame except myself and my love for fattening foods. I will say one thing though. I am generally a very happy person when I eat the foods I like. I am miserable when I eat the thing that are good for me.
Being overweight myself, (and the fact that I have been overweight since 1971, when some sort of genetic switch turned on saying to my fat cells "grow"), I read your blogs with interest, and I might add, a whole lot of compassion. In 1970, I was 160 lbs. I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted, and it did not matter. I stayed the same size with my 30" waist that I had since I was 16 years old. Now, it is 2007, I weigh in at 282 pounds today. Four months ago, I was 305 pounds. I am only 5'10" tall. So, I have to admit that I am fat, obese, morbidly obese, collosal, king-sized, etc... the list could go on and on. I remember when I was a 30" waist. I made fun of old men who had 50" waist. Now, I am size 52 waist. For the last few years, I don't make fun of anyone's waist size.
I would like to say that when I see the fat person's televison shows telling me that fat is beautiful-- I never believe it. No, not for one second. I have cheered for Kirsti Alley, (since I thought she was very sexy looking as a vulcan officer on Enterprise) for her weight loss effort. But, she still has a long way to go before she will look like the tight waisted blond on her commercial.
As a fat person, I have endured years of well wishing people talk to me about diet and exercise-- Every, single, day of my life. I have sat through countless meals where I work and I have listened to nothing except diet and exercise conversations. I swear, if they made a rule that no one could talk about diet and exercise--- no one would have anything to talk about. Isn't that a shame?!! Our culture talks about diet and exercise as if there is not another topic in the world. No one talks about Shakespeare, Aristotle, Plato, Sophicles, or any other philosopher or intellectual. No one seems interested. I think Oprah, if she made a map of her life, the time blocks would be divided by age and body size.
I think our society likes to look at skeletons that have designer gowns draped on them. Just as I find nothing attractive in my own obesity, neither do I find the skeletal look to be attractive either. Last night, I watched a little of the Hooters beauty pagent. Needless to say the contestants all looked great. I thought it was ironic however at how many of them were starving and wanting to eat hamburgers and french fries.
So, to end this diatribe, maybe it is in the collective gnome of our society to become the very thing we hate--FAT! We can't stop being fat because our DNA says to our fat cells "grow!" I also believe it is a conspiracy fueled by the diet soda industry. I have drunk at least 500,000 gallons of diet soda. I only get bigger. They have made a ton of money selling me diet drinks and diet sweetners. The only thing different is that I can't stand the sweetness of plain sugar, my sweet tooth needs the stuff that is a 100 times more sweet. I have to put Splenda on my sugar for it to taste good. Go figure!