I will go off for such a long tangent about people promoting anorexic body images. It is not funny, because I annoy the hell out of people. But I'm just as harsh on obesity.
I suppose I take a very controversial viewpoint - obesity is unacceptable. Starved is unacceptable. Both have some fairly intrusive and unpleasant health risks, and just because anorexics (and particularly bulimics) are very likely to suffer similar problems as obese people doesn't make obesity a healthy lifestyle choice. At least with most of the people I've talked to, when you point out a skinny person that's an idol and have them confront/contemplate the idea of anorexia as a lifestyle choice, skinny is not so appealing anymore. I wish it got a lot more press, but I don't think it's as widespread outside of the modeling industry and teenage support groups.
The real key is activity, and most people tend to think of this in the form of exercise. What you eat will not matter near as much as how active a lifestyle you life. And that doesn't have to be pouring money into gym memberships. I think one of today's biggest problems regarding an active lifestyle is that a lot of work available and a lot of work spent trying to make a difference in some way is spent in front of a computer. Spending time to make a life on a computer is very useful... but it robs us of our time to move about, which makes exercise and the like a chore. :(
That being said, I'm technically obese according to my BMI. And I'm still not eating my best. I don't blame myself or others around me, and I don't think obese people need to blame themselves either. Blame has no place in health... all we need to do is recognize where we are and what we can do to live healthier. That is, if we want to life a healthier life and listen to our bodies needs... I don't really think the body functions as well when it's overweight, since the system would be somewhat out of balance, right? (Mine doesn't at least... I'm so freaking inactive.) And taking care of the body means that it wouldn't become an obstacle in empathizing with the spiritual... but I could be talking out of my ass.
Our science (always ruining the party) has given us relatively clear insight on our health, and I'm not sure it's a wise decision to stay obese because ancient cultures with no knowledge of organic chemistry and metabolism thought obesity was beautiful. I don't see how it's useful, except as an excuse.
Forgive my harshness
I suppose I take a very controversial viewpoint - obesity is unacceptable. Starved is unacceptable. Both have some fairly intrusive and unpleasant health risks, and just because anorexics (and particularly bulimics) are very likely to suffer similar problems as obese people doesn't make obesity a healthy lifestyle choice. At least with most of the people I've talked to, when you point out a skinny person that's an idol and have them confront/contemplate the idea of anorexia as a lifestyle choice, skinny is not so appealing anymore. I wish it got a lot more press, but I don't think it's as widespread outside of the modeling industry and teenage support groups.
The real key is activity, and most people tend to think of this in the form of exercise. What you eat will not matter near as much as how active a lifestyle you life. And that doesn't have to be pouring money into gym memberships. I think one of today's biggest problems regarding an active lifestyle is that a lot of work available and a lot of work spent trying to make a difference in some way is spent in front of a computer. Spending time to make a life on a computer is very useful... but it robs us of our time to move about, which makes exercise and the like a chore. :(
That being said, I'm technically obese according to my BMI. And I'm still not eating my best. I don't blame myself or others around me, and I don't think obese people need to blame themselves either. Blame has no place in health... all we need to do is recognize where we are and what we can do to live healthier. That is, if we want to life a healthier life and listen to our bodies needs... I don't really think the body functions as well when it's overweight, since the system would be somewhat out of balance, right? (Mine doesn't at least... I'm so freaking inactive.) And taking care of the body means that it wouldn't become an obstacle in empathizing with the spiritual... but I could be talking out of my ass.
Our science (always ruining the party) has given us relatively clear insight on our health, and I'm not sure it's a wise decision to stay obese because ancient cultures with no knowledge of organic chemistry and metabolism thought obesity was beautiful. I don't see how it's useful, except as an excuse.