How can a country be "weight obsessed" while having hunger and millions and millions of under nourished citizens, and at the same time produce so much agriculture for exports? That is not ONE but TWO contradictions!! There is so much food yet there are so many hungry people for lack of being able to feed themselves then there are those who choose to be hungry. There is so much agricultural surplus yet there are so many really and truly hungry people out there for lack of not being able to feed themselves?!?! Makes a person think!
The pressures to be a "super-girl" begin at a very young age nowadays. Whether inflicted by demanding parents, the media, coaches or teachers, the result is a serious lack of self-confidence. There are very high expectations for girls to achieve and be this ‘perfect woman”. They often equate achievement with love. They become people-pleasers, more so “women-pleasers”, in search of the love and acceptance they so desperately crave. This epidemic is so bad that there are websites that teach you how to become anorexic or bulimic and how to conceal it! You read what these sites say about food being the enemy and we must overcome the enemy. We have to take notice of this and save our kids, family and friends before it’s too late.
We read the magazines displaying perfectly proportioned, underweight models who are the "Beauty Ideal." There are always low-fat cookbooks and diet books on the bestseller lists. Now, even Barbie has made a huge comeback! We watch TV shows featuring perfect families consisting of perfectly beautiful, thin members with not an ounce of fat on them. What kind of message would you expect a kid (or anyone) to form from this barrage of media influx? We see stars like Hillary Duff, Mary-Kate Olsen, Paris Hilton and the latest Beyonce Knowles and it’s like they had nothing to lose and now that they have lost so much weight its like why are they doing this to themselves? They don’t look healthy nor do they look happy, so many of them battle with drugs and alcohol. Is it really worth it? Hollywood has gone STUPIDLY SKINNY!
These cases of self-inflicted starvation that sadly affects so many women in particular is as a result of the media abusing us by attacking and manipulating us. I mean who really came up with what the “perfect” woman looks like? Don’t go based on any pictures because even the stars will admit that they don’t look like that. So then why deceive us by bombarding us with these airbrushed illusions? Well face is skinny sells and skinny always beats out the average sized woman who embraces her curves. Why? Cause of this false mentality.
I wonder if women themselves realize that they are being manipulated by the media and end up competing amongst themselves. Is it really a battle of the bulges or a fight to see who best matches up the deceptive illusion of the ideal woman? Take television advertisements, first you see these skinny models advertising the swimwear then you see the Jenny Craig or one of those lose the weight pills then you see the ice cream advertisements, the pizza the cakes from TCBY and Baskin Robbins. The same is seen in the magazines. Talk about a slap in the face!
Why do women torture themselves by denying the most basic human need: food? Moderation is the key, over-eating isn’t good either but to become so obsessed with ones weight so as not to be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of this life is just sad to say the least. We become so brainwashed that even the thought of having a slice of cake makes us feel so dirty and guilty. Something is definitely wrong. We obsess, get irritable, and make those around us miserable by our obsession either by trying to make them feel guilty for our hang-up or push them away. So the depression drugs are popped like popcorn into our systems, the psychiatrists take our money for our countless hours spent on the couch trying to figure out why and the divorce lawyers make their bundles of money cause of broken homes.
Hollywood mama’s take a severe beating. When you get pregnant it was abnormal for starters ( but now being pregnant is the in thing ), kids just get in the way of their blossoming careers. So it takes nine months to gain all the pregnancy pounds and these women are expected to lose the pregnancy pounds overnight. How stupid is this. These women buckle under the pressure and get depressed and obsessed to lose the weight even before the birth. So then you wonder if they even stop for a moment to appreciate and welcome the bundle of joy. You don’t hear about the parents being so happy about being blessed with the precious gift of a child, its I have to lose this weight. Not even a couple weeks after and these mamas are depressed because they can’t get off the weight. What in the world!! It took nine months to put it on and they expect to lose it overnight?! Lunatics are what they are!
Competitive by nature, women set rigid standards to make themselves the best according to the standards imposed by society. The lack of self-confidence aids in the development of this distorted lifestyle. Why cant women be comfortable in their own skin, we always want the other woman’s skin, eyes, teeth, nose, breasts etc. What is really important is what is on the inside, WHO you are not what you look like. Yes taking care of our physical bodies is important but our bodies and outward appearance DOES not define who we are. We need to learn to love ourselves just the way we are, big nose, small nose, spaced teeth, big eyes, blue, brown or green, the love handles, wrinkles and all.
Remember one, absolute perfection is impossible. Two, in working towards that perfection, which can never be obtained, its ourselves and those nearest and dearest to us that we are ultimately hurting. Only through learning and re-learning to love and appreciate ourselves as the women God made us to be can we overcome this raging war within.
