America seems to be fighting a loosing battle against obesity. This is reflected in the lasts statistics indicating that despite the latest efforts by the government as well as nutritionist against obesity, the rate of obesity is increasing and currently it is at an all time high.
This is ironical bearing in mind the amount of information in the media encouraging people to adopt healthy eating habit in effect to contain the increase of obesity. Certain social group seems to be the most affected by this situation that has attained pandemic status in America.
They include lower income class American citizens due to their limited dietary options as well as women. Obesity is occasioned by a number of factors including unhealthy weight loss methods as well as media weight loss campaigns that seems to objectify women bodies as such leading to low self esteem. Media campaign on healthy eating is thus contributing to the increase of obesity in America.
Recent figures portray a young and increasingly obese American generation. It has now been reported that about 20% of young American are obsess and that the rate is increasing at an alarming rate. This is despite the concerted media campaigns that encourage people to adopt healthy eating habits.
To being with, healthy eating campaigns have sexualized women bodies thus turning them into objects. This mainly occurs through media adverts by corporations that do advertise healthy food. In these adverts, lithe, slender women are used to encourage people, especially women to eat healthy to achieve such status.
As such healthy eating campaigns use extreme feminine beauty as a product of healthy eating. Furthermore such weight loss TV programs as The Biggest Loser and Celebrity Fit Club, only add to the objectification of women bodies. As scientific research has revealed, such objectification and sexualization does have severe emotional consequences characterized by low self esteem.
There is a knowledge gap in America public about healthy and unhealthy eating habits. This gap is occasioned by the confusion created by the excessive media campaigns and advertising slogans by health food companies.
Many people with weight concerns, especially women develop a consciousness about their bodies as a result of these public healthy eating campaigns. As such they are more predisposed to adopting unhealthy eating habits such as eating too little food, inducing vomiting when they ea and use of diet pills.
At worse, people with this condition result to fasting. They thus become ashamed of their eating habits and as such may acquire uncontrolled eating habits. This means that at times they may experience moments of excessive eating followed by induced vomiting, or fasting.
What they do not know is that such weigh loss methods just expunge extra food from their bodies, but not extra calories. Calories thus accumulate in their bodies and as such, lead to weight gains as well as increased risk of lifestyle diseases. This increases their anxiety about their body weight leading to heightening of such unhealthy weight gain behaviors leading. This lead to a cycle of futile weight control efforts.
Media campaign intended to help in the control of obesity seem to inadvertently lead to an increase in obese rate rather than controlling it. This is because of the misinformation that results from these campaigns. If America is to control obesity it must urgently reevaluate the strategies it is using to fight obesity. Otherwise obesity is here to stay.