Dieting in America is used to help in weight loss and many women are obsessed with their desire to lose weight due to the promotion done by the media through advertisement. Dieting is preferred by young women who fail to encourage eating healthy food and doing exercise. Women who have gained a lot of weight are not satisfied by the way they look making them depressed and develop eating disorders. SMU center for body fitness found that, dieting that is targeted to help in weight loss is the reason why many women go for exercise in the gym. American women believe that, beauty can only be attained when a person has small size. Many advertisements and coverage by the media have informed the public that dieting is very important in their effort to market their products such as surgeries, plans for losing weight and pills. Women in America buy beauty products to maintain a good look that can be appreciated by everybody. (Basow, 2008)
Models are supposed to have considerable height of more than five feet so that they can appear attractive. Many models have a height that is very difficult to be attained by most Americans where only a chosen few have been able to achieve it.
Every woman can be beautiful provided that, he maintains a proper diet and exercise regularly. Media still perpetuates the myth of beauty through marketing and advertisement to young women. According to health department in United States, American children want to remain thin making girls who are ten years of age feel good when they are slim. Many advertisements concentrate on how food should be consumed and people watch them for many hours during the day. The media concentrates on showing the models in their shows and ignores all other women. Many models that are used during fashion shows are thinner and it is unfair to portray small minority of models to indicate how average American women should look like. Many advertising companies use thin models in their promotions because, it is a sign of self-esteem and the tactic has been used for a very long period of time to attract and retain customers all the time. American women have experienced eating disorders and when survey was done using female students, twenty-eight out of thirty desired to lose weight and were not happy about their big size. People have believed that they can only appear beautiful when they are thin which makes fitness industry progress even though self-esteem of women is affected negatively by those who are not able to remain thin.
Every day, dieting fads are used such as low carb, South Beach, popcorn and low foods diet. Many young women prefer surgery to help in weight loss and dieting pills where half of women in America are already dieting according to health department and those who offer human services. More than ten billion dollars have been spent by Americans every year to purchase dieting products because, women and girls in America have low self-esteem and distorted images of their bodies because of marketing strategies used by advertising companies making four in every five American women to be unhappy with how they look. (Frühstück, 2007)
Media have decided to concentrate on women as potential consumers where beauty myth is perpetuated as a way of preoccupying women with the way they appear so that they can lose their interest in sexual, economic and political equality. The outcome of this campaign by the media is to frustrate the average woman due to the way they look and end up struggling to become beautiful. The culture of consumers created by advertising companies and media has damaged the image of women because, once they watch advertisements on what they can do to remain thin, they purchase products that can help them lose weight. There is evidence of loss of self-esteem in American women where recent studies indicate that ninety-one percent of the surveyed women use dieting to control weight. (Basow, 2008)
America’s Obsession With Fad Dieting
Dieting has obsessed many Americans making them use current diet found in magazines and displayed in the books. Fad diets are common because; they are implemented with ease and have immediate results with great improvement in how the users feel. The disadvantage with fad diets is that, they are effective in short term in helping to lose weight since many people use them and lose weight immediately but the lost weight is regained back after five years. Though dieting is very popular, cases of obesity and increased weight are noticed. The amount of money spent to reduce fat in Americans each year is thirty billion dollars mostly by people who visit gym. Many people do not know the best means of losing weight where they are supposed reduce the level of intake of calories and do a lot of physical activities. There are different forms of fad diets with specified foods to be consumed such as grapefruit and combinations such as the Zone which are taken as rotation diets. Other diets are taken depending on blood group and others eliminate carbohydrates in the diet. Those who take fad diets are associated with thinness and wealth and if fad diets function properly, there would be no more obesity and overweight. (Barbas, 2004)
Fad diets function by reducing caloric intake where more energy is utilized in the body than it is taken leading to weight loss. Cabbage soup, low carbohydrate diet and grapefruit help in losing weight. Long-term intake of such diet ensures there is no weight gain. There are tips for recognizing fad diet in the right ingredients although weight is lost easily because of losing too much fluid but not fat. Fad diet is recognized as loss of weight when there is no exercise but physical activity is the only means of losing weight without gaining it later. Fad diets do not have adequate diets and should therefore be avoided. A diet is considered optimal for reducing weight if average caloric intake is reduced and physical activity is increased. Vegetables, grains, fruits and dairy products reduce instances of chronic disease and are inexpensive and convenient for use. (Watkins, 2007)
Children have vivid memories about the diet they consume and they have their preferences as a result of satisfaction derived from consuming a certain food. Some diets act as treatment for ulcers and provide body with the necessary energy. Proteins in the diet help to build the body and should be taken together with small amounts of carbohydrates. The diet Dr. Levins was not delicious but it helped to put off weight but would later come back but Levins wife was on diet all the time which made her remain skinny. Many people remained fat due to consumption of diets containing high proteins because; they have been popular for over forty years. In America, they consider eating high protein diet consisting of meat, cheese and egg where after a given period of time, it is possible to lose 100 pounds. The food taken may cause obesity especially carbohydrate diet. Dr. Barry who came up with Zone diet said that, high intake of carbohydrates results in increased insulin which leads to increased body fat that is difficult to get rid of. However, magical foods for helping to gain weight or lose it are not in existence but calories are the ones that matter. Hospitals in America have means of controlling metabolism of consumed food so that weight gain is controlled and people do not become obese. This seeks to determine different compositions in a diet where fat ranged from zero to seventy percent. This showed that weight is determined by calories consumed. (Watkins, 2007)
Proponents of diet containing low carbohydrate and low protein say that, they make people lose cravings for their food. Doctor Atkins says that, many diseases can be controlled by eating proper diet and not trying to lose weight because; the body can become weak. Fluctuations in blood sugar come as a result of consuming refined carbohydrates and there are no false hunger pains. After taking any kind of diet, one may feel there are no more hunger pangs but as time goes by, hunger returns back. Patients who were obese consumed diets containing low carbohydrate and other high carbohydrate diets. After some time, reduction in appetite was noticed and people were comfortable because they were able to survive on little amount of food. Thereafter, appetite reached basal levels and there were no more changes to psychological reaction as a result of the kind of diet taken. Food pyramid is the tool number one in dieting which contains all types of grains, vegetables, fruits and protein, dairy and sweets and fats that are served sparingly. (Farley, 1986)
Atkins helps in reducing appetite so that the food taken can be minimal. It is a diet containing low carbohydrates and promotes a healthy heart and good memory with wellness benefits. Dr. Phils ultimate solution to weight loss help to understand personal health on how people view themselves and their weight where toxic messages are supposed to be replaced with positive thinking. Jenny Craig used a method of three levels where there is a plan of food, mind and body to help in losing weight and keeping it off. There are monthly newsletters, tips and recipes and support by counselors who advise people on proper diet. Nutrisystem helps dieters who like to consume different varieties of food in various quantities where they buy them and cook them to make them ready for consumption. Selection of food is done and meals to use for the whole month are delivered to them in pouches of microwave. Slim-Fast is diet shakes where diets are developed by companies such as pasta, soup and snacks all to help people in losing weight. Weight watchers help people who encounter problems of gaining too much weight. It had begun when there was a weekly meeting of friends to discuss how to lose weight. The group increased in number with men and women from all over the world. (Biber, 1996)
Obesity and overweight in America
According to the studies, there are internal problems as a result of obesity and overweight where both of them are determined by index of mass in the body which only considers the weight and height of a person. Body fat is not measured by index of body mass making athletes and muscular people to be categorized as obese or overweight. Athletes who are professionals can have excessive weight which is beyond their control. Alternatively, old people who have reduced muscle mass may be categorized as healthy despite nutritional deficiencies that affect them. Many Americans have gained more weight even if having less weight does not mean that someone is healthy because; what is most important is to be active. Doctors found that, people who have gained more weight remain healthy once they engage in exercise all the time. Obesity is not new because, most Americans talk about weight and legislate about it so that they can look for means of eradicating it by avoiding fast food and concentrating on a healthy diet. (Watkins, 2007)
Raw food diet
This is involved in consuming food that has not been cooked. Once the food is cooked, fifty percent of the nutrients are lost and deviation from diet by most people is as a result of missing warm food. These warm foods are very enjoyable especially during cold season when one desires to keep his body warm due to extreme cold temperatures. Therefore, people may end up ignoring the loss of nutrients after cooking food and concentrate on the satisfaction derived from consuming warm food. (Frühstück, 2007)
Diet with Negative calorie
Some of the consumed food requires a lot of energy to be digested and this energy is gotten from other calories in the body. Many people do not understand how food can have negative effect on the body through utilizing the already metabolized food, but they understand the reality after taking the foods that demand a lot of energy to be metabolized. This type of diet does not have much help in the body because, for it to be digested and be utilized in the body, the body loses more calories which can take a lot of time to be regained back. (Lingen, 2005)
Eating disorders
Eating disorders make people diet in an effort to lose weight and they do exercise every day. There are exaggerated eating behaviors that are observed every day and can be noticed with ease. This can happen in situations where some people isolate themselves and engage in physical activities that help them to lose weight. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people do not want to increase their weight and are very sensitive to the size of their body. These people make a choice on the kind of food to eat, do a lot of exercises and abstain from eating food and even if they eat a little; the foods turn out to be an obsession. Other anorexia people enjoy high intake of food which they later vomit before it is digested in the body. (Farley, 1986)
Bulimia is another eating disorder where, after taking a lot of food, too much exercise is done and even vomiting so that the body can not feel effect of the food or the food can have no help in the body leading to weight loss. For a person to be diagnosed with bulimia, he must be purging many times especially after every two weeks. People eat junk food when they are alone because; they have the appetite to consume huge amounts of food and shy off from being noticed. Anorexia is similar to bulimia although anorexia people are thin and weigh less bulimia people can have normal weight and some cases overweight. (Farley, 1986)
America’s Obsession with Food and Eating
Everybody is aware that alcohol and drugs are dangerous to human health due to the addictive chemicals they contain. Food is not dangerous to health and people in America believe that they can not be addicted to eating. However, many Americans are either obese or overweight because of overeating. Overeating is unhealthy habit especially for people who eat sweat food in large quantities, their taste buds get used to sugar and they can not do without it. Americans become addicted to food especially when food is eaten to reduce painful feelings since immediate satisfaction makes them feel guilty and blame themselves. However, food is needed for survival but those who overeat do it not only because their bodies need it but also because they desire to eat it in the mind. Many young people in America overeat because; they like the taste and desire to continue eating more of it without considering the effect of overeating such as being overweight. (Lingen, 2005)
Solution to overweight problem is changing behavior and making positive choices of the food to be taken. People can be able to control eating by controlling their urges since it is emotional but not biological need. Americans who do not enjoy socialization and derive their comfort from food are likely to overeat. They are supposed to be guided on how to avoid eating too much food and engage in entertainment rather than concentrating on food. Obese adolescents should be taught the importance of food and forget about eating too much food while at home because they can have sudden increase in weight. (Chapman, 2005)
References
Basow S. (2008): Devoted to the Thin Ideal: Springer
Barbas S. (2004): Weighty Issues: American Quarterly
Biber H. (1996): Am I thin enough yet? The cult of thinness and the commercialization of identity: American contestants
Chapman S. (2005): The obsession with medical advances and the high cost of false promises: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Farley D. (1986): Eating Disorders; When Thinness Becomes an Obsession: Oxford University press
Frühstück S. (2007): University of California, Santa Barbara Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics: Journal of Japanese Studies
Lingen S and Vader A (2005): The policies of food and fat: Harvard University press
Watkins P. (2007): Self-Help Therapies for Dieting and Weight Loss: Anderson Konz