A popular proverb says, you are what you eat, and this looks to be a brief essence of the main issues for contemporary nutrition studies. Having overcome the borders of physiology, this field of knowledge focuses on cultural, social, and gender dimensions, finding new answers and bearing the following questions to study.
The nutrition of a single person has a strong cultural aspect, being influenced by traditions of a family circle and the whole nation. Not only does culture influence food and nutrition habits, but as well food influences the World culture rather strongly:
During a relatively brief period of time, the fast-food industry has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture. Fast food and its consequences have become inescapable, regardless of whether you eat it twice a day, try to avoid it, or have never taken a single bite (Schlosser 4).
Social aspects of nutrition are also very wide. Social status and mode of life have a strong impact on the individual’s nutrition habits.
As well, an individual’s shape, which is defined mostly by nutrition, implies several aspects, such as cultural, social, gender and others. The fashion for plump and slim shape has changed several times, which depended on life standards, culture, and traditions, prevailing aesthetic standards, and ideals.
Particularly, in Victorian society, the issue of slenderness was in the limelight.
In some cases, post-war periods were marked by the people’s desire to grow thicker, as it indicated prosperity. At the same time within some prosperous communities, slenderness is considered a status attribute, implying healthy food and doing sports.
Today the World community prefers to struggle against plumpness, leaving it for the Renaissance paintings. Slenderness has become a cult translated from the movies, podiums, and mass media to the people’s everyday life.
Nowadays anorexia has become an element of fashion as well. The neologism “rexy”, which combines anorexia and sexual appeal, illustrates the trend of the modern young people’s mode of life.
Harmless and fascinating at first, the process of losing flesh becomes an addiction, gradually conquering the whole individual’s living space and will. The documentary “Thin” reveals the strength of anorexia’s psychological implication. Some patients after being hospitalized still believe in “Ana” and continue wearing red bracelets which are the symbol of anorexia. This reveals the unreadiness to be treated and begs the question of the staff’s competence and psychological contact with the patients. “Thin” illustrates several misunderstandings between patients and staff, which become especially sharp when a doctor says he understands how difficult is for the patient to fulfill certain elements of the therapy.
Among the considered causes of anorexia are those genetic, neurobiological, nutrition, psychological, social, and environmental. On the basis of them, a three-axes (mind-body dualism, control, and gender power) model has been developed (Counihan 231).
Today these explanations seem to be reasonable but insufficient. Thus, the most obvious challenge in the struggle against anorexia is to extract the basic mechanism for anorexia.
Vadim Rotenberg, a founder of a search activity concept, considers feebleness the main cause for the anorexic people to challenge the abilities of their bodies. Feeling feeble to influence the stream of life causes the desire for taking control of at least a certain field (Rotenberg 90).
The further evolution of this behavior model is characterized by compensation of the everyday life failures with the new achievements in losing flesh. Correspondingly, growing thin becomes the main aim for the person, overtaking the bigger part of time and efforts.
This leads to regress in other fields of life and forms a certain “circle moving”: the more an anorexic person fails in his activities, the more restrictions are put on the daily food allowance; emphasizing diet procedures deflect attention from other activities and causes the new failures. This makes anorexic people write lists similar to “2 peanuts, 2/3 cucumber” in “Thin” and persistently go towards their goals.
The characters of the “Thin” documentary illustrate this circle: nutrition issues became the key points of their life, and their psychical state became dependent on them. The patients are in a state of depression and burst out emotions both when failing in keeping the treatment schedule and meeting the necessity to be treated by means of “disgustful” food.
The final paragraphs of Justine’s brochure about anorexia sound consonantly to Rotenberg’s assumptions. The character who overcame anorexia admits finding unhealthy pleasure in her disease. She assumed that stimulated her ED because she wanted to test the limits of her abilities. She wanted to “rehearse” her interaction with the world around her. After getting better she felt mature and strong enough for storming adult life. Justine considered her ED a necessary condition to look into the future with courage (Justine 174).
Rotenberg’s idea of wrongly oriented search bears the appropriate practical approach for curing anorexia. The patient should be given another field for search and challenge. Human life includes a wide range of stimulating factors that give the chance to struggle and win. The first step for the patient with ED should be captivating and not too complicated in order to bring the taste of victory. To help the person to find such a way is the crucial point for rehabilitation.
Despite everybody has a right to plan personal nutrition, showing the reverse side of the “thin beauty” is an effective means of struggling against anorexia. The “Thin” astonished viewers’ responses have confirmed its efficiency.
Bibliography
Counihan, Carole, Estrik, Penny Van (Editors). Food and Culture: a Reader. 2nd ed. Oxford: Taylor & Francis, Inc, 2008. Print.
Justine, Cuny, Marie-Thérèse. Ce matin j’ai décidé d’arrêter de manger. Paris: Oh Editions, 2007. Print.
Rotenberg, Vadim. “Anorexia Nervosa: Old Contradictions and New Theoretical Approach”. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice Volume 4, Issue 2 Jun. 2000: 89 – 92. Print.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Print.