American Women and Their Obsession with Dieting

I had a comment from my previous post that I thought was worth addressing here. In a nutshell, I think the writer was asking, why are American women so focused on dieting so much when women are beautiful and healthy naturally? Ironically, I also remember reading an article last year in which the author, not an American, asked why American women dieted their bodies away to nothing, then used surgery to replace the breasts they dieted away?

Two fair questions. American women are unhealthily obsessed with diet – you only have to look at Hollywood to see that. The average Miss America contestant of today is about 20 lbs. underweight. Most of them would be screened for eating disorders by any nutritionist. What most frightens the hell out of me, however, is that in a recent poll, 51% of nine and ten year old girls stated they felt better about themselves when they were adhering to a diet. 81% of ten-year-old girls are afraid of being fat and 42% of girls in first through third grades state they want to be thinner. This is freaking insane … no, it’s more than insane, it’s absolutely horrifying. What normal six- or seven-year-old should be worried about her weight??? Why aren’t we teaching our kids about fitness and health instead of body image?

God willing, my Katie will never have those unhealthy ideas put into her head. I know it’s inevitable that she will be exposed to the frenzy from her friends and the media. By that time, however, I hope to have enough sound, healthy education drilled into her head that she can reject the freak body image obsession for the madness it is. I’m afraid, though, the whole situation is a lost cause, given the spotlight on how “thin is in.”

Here are some other joyous facts about America’s obsession with image:

§ Actresses Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz and singer Diana Ross all meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for anorexia.
§ Pamela Anderson is 5’7” and weights 120 pounds. She is supposed to be the “voluptuous ideal,” yet she is 11% below ideal body weight.
§ A generation ago, Marilyn Monroe set the beauty standard at 5’5” and weighed 135 pounds. Today, her agent would probably tell her she had to lose weight.
§ A study found that 25% of Playboy centerfolds met the weight criteria for anorexia.
§ Twenty years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.

Insane.

For myself, I’m hoping I’ve learned not to focus on “diet” as much as I’m focusing on “health.” I need to get my body fat % into a healthy range. I need to continue to keep bad carbs like refined sugar and white flour out of my diet. I need to get off my ass and move every day, to be routinely active. In other words, I need to live life like a healthy person, not like an unhealthy person. And I need to teach my daughter what it means to do the same. I need to stay off the diet bandwagon and be the kind of person everyone wants to be like – so they ask what I do and start to understand what good body image really is.

Maybe other American women will even join me someday :)