Why Women Like to be Skinny

         
 There are many questions which rise while thinking of being skinny.  Some of those question which can rise, is when was the last time a woman looked herself in the mirror? Did she accept her self or she thought she is chubby and she needs to lose weight?

Scientific studies indicate that this dissatisfaction and preoccupation with one's body size and shape has increased dramatically over the past several decades. "People today are far more critical of themselves for not attaining the right weight and look ... appearance, good looks, and fitness are now the meaning of one's social worth," says psychologist Judith Rodin in her book Breaking the Body Trap. In addition, a Psychology Today survey found that not liking one's body depends largely on weight. Fifty-four percent of young women ages 13 to 19 and 41 percent of young men in the same age group say they do not like their bodies because of what hey weigh.

Nearly two thirds of Americans are overweight and nearly one in six worldwide carries excess weight, our weight-obsessed western culture has very little tolerance for plus size people.  Regardless of their education, credentials, or personality, overweight men and women are treated with less respect, date less frequently, and are often paid less than their smaller-sized counterparts – and it can all take a big toll on their self-confidence. (http://www.fashionforrealwomen.com/plussize/: Diana Pemberton.)

Should people mind their body size in order to fit on their out fit? This is the question which many people get confused but the result comes depend on the society and the way it interpret things. One of the good examples is a girl who went to school, and since she was plump. She experienced hard times and so she hard to try her best to lose weight and become skinny like other girls. Jill Persia said, ‘’ I was convinced that if only I were skinner, magical things would happen my brother would stop calling me ‘’cow’’, and I would get a boyfriend.’’

People try to loose weight because societies force them into not accepting themselves. It's getting harder and harder to find clothes that recognize the fact that one has a waistline. And I do think most women do, as much as our weight-obsessed culture might suggest otherwise. When one got Ethics Girl's problem she has a hard time gaining weight but an easy time losing it. What's strange is the resentment she often comes across from other women and girls. I don't think one has led a charmed life simply because she is a size 0. Dressing is one of the important in people’s life. Nearly everybody in the world care what kind of clothes they put on and how they present themselves in the public.

Being in a society which makes being slim is the way women should look has lead to wrong impression to women who are healthy or chubby. Different kind of actions are being taken by people to be in shape, much more women take even plastic surgery in order to maintain their body shape, like breast surgery was taken by Beyonce so that she could revel her body features while performing on stage.
Women also tend to loose their slim body features after give birth and having kids. Some women who are mothers do not recover back and end up with big belly and chubby even after delivery

Does anyone ever think about how the overload of these images in the media affects the average woman? Well, for most women it doesn't exactly have a positive effect. In fact, the idea of the media's (and consequently, everybody else's) "ideal" woman often makes "normal" woman self-conscious -- even if they have nothing to be self-conscious about. (http://www.hilary.com/fashion/bikini.htmlHilary fashion by Hilary Rowland)

Part of the beauty of humanity is the variance: the fact that we are not all one size, one color, one height, one weight, one shape, one ethnicity, one religion, one set of abilities, one opinion, one set of tastes, one style, one outlook. To really see our value as people, we have to value other people, whether or not they are the same as we are in any of these categories. It is our diversity that makes us amazing. (Brilliant mind broken body; by Danlos Syndrome).

Tips about losing weight is everywhere around the net and make women go crazy in America. Every single day the advertisements talks about slim fast, losing weight, and even many shows try to impress people losing weight as party of being accepted in the society. Gyms are everywhere country wide and people are willing to pay for gym or buying their own working =out machine at home. It doesn’t mean that people should not be healthy but the idea it self of making people losing weight is not right because their people who look good when they are little bit chubby and not good when they are skinny.

Women spent more than their time talking and discussing about their body features in the salon at the mall since even the percentage of  time spent by America shopping is more that 50%. Looking good is one of the common behavior to any ideal woman who want to look strong and beautiful. Cathy Lu once said, ‘’ you are at the mall when you spot the perfect dress in a store window. But does it look good on you? You don’t even have to shimmy out of what you are wearing. A full size of the dress flashes on an especial mirror.
Living healthy is a decision which one can make, time after time. It might be hard at the beginning but it gets simple day after day if one keeps on making better decisions. Good nutrition is important for everyone-especially active women.  The time has come for women to stop judging and begin appreciating their bodies in order to rise a new generation of women who can focus on becoming healthy rather than losing weight at any cost.

So it stands to reason that if you move beyond your weight, so will everyone else.  If you wear clothes that flatter your body and draw attention your face, that’s where people will look.  If you use some sleight-of-hand tricks that make you look taller and trimmer, people will think you are taller and trimmer.  If your apparel fits well and is perfectly acceptable for the situation, people will find you perfectly acceptable, and get right down to business. A small size is no guarantee of success and happiness in life; good skills, self-confidence, and a polished appearance can often take you much further.

Everywhere when one looks in the media the women that symbolize beauty are small. Does being beautiful in America mean one have to wear a size 0? In the 1950’s beauty was about being healthy and looking healthy. Marilyn Monroe was between a size 12 and 14 ( www.womanisme.com: by Bridgette Jean) Today the media is teaching young girls that one looks best at a size 0 and that  starving oneself to become thin is ok. It has been made within society that if you are anything over a size 6 you are fat.  Some time ago, Star magazine published a story about Beyonce being a size 12. The media went ballistic. People were saying everything from, “I couldn’t believe Beyonce was that big!” or “That is just an outright lie!” This is why there have been reports of young runway models that have died, because they starved themselves in order to look perfect for a fashion show. A question come when one think, why can’t Americans just be happy with their bodies that were given? The average American woman actually wears a size 12. Being healthy should always be a woman’s main goal in maintaining her weight. This means people should learn to love their bodies which were given and focus on weight loss as a goal to being healthy not skinny.

What a lot of the world does not seem to realize is that thin people get picked on just as much as people who are overweight get picked on. Thin people are being discriminated against more and more and the people doing it are thinking it is okay. Thin people get name such as being called anorexic thin. Some of the thin people tends to get annoyed of having comments made about them if they go to the bathroom after eating a meal. Many thin people are tired of being told to eat more after they just finished off a huge meal. The world is making such a huge effort to make over weight people feel more accepted and appreciated by society, that in doing so they're making the skinny people feel abnormal. (www.helium.com)
Being skinny is not easy, and sometimes it can be downright irritating. So next time one see a particularly thin person munching or eating on a hamburger, please refrain from asking them why they have that body type. Let's stop working on making just one type of person feel appreciated, and instead embrace all the sizes and shapes people come in.
                 
 By saying American women we are not only talking about Caucasian women but also all the other women of different cultures who are in this country. Unlike the old United States, the new one has people from almost all origins of the world. The unfortunate thing is that all these people including women when they come to this country; they are all under the pressure to fit in their new communities. Sadly enough this pressure is sometimes more for women than for men. Being that the country was first dominated by white people, with their women being built in slimmer structures, it was hard for the new African women with fuller shapes or the Latino women with heavy bodies and so on to adjust themselves to this new culture they were coming to.

Women from different ethnic backgrounds found themselves having to change how they looked to fit into clothes that were tailored to white women’s shapes and not for the fuller heavier Brazilian, African, Indian or Latino woman. These women being mother and teachers made sure to teach their girls to be slimmer from when they were young so that the do not go through what they went through when they were coming into the country; also because these parents do not want their children to be teased of being fat. Therefore without knowing it we have a nation of women who are already too skinny or trying to be skinny, and those who are not are busy hating themselves because they think they ugly. Apparently anything above a size 2 is being Fat.

Another major issue that makes American women to want to be skinny would be gender issues. We have long known how the male and female genders influence each other. Just like the way we know generic things like a man needs to be masculine, ready to go to war at any point or to lift things because that is what a man is, and they are supposed to be the stronger ones physically among the two genders. The same way we know that women are supposed to be the weaker ones, always needing help from men, and generally just smaller.

Therefore gender constructions in our country have made the man to want to be and look bigger and bigger and consequently the woman to want to be smaller and smaller in order for her to be more feminine. Forgetting the most important thing that people are what they are and not what they look.

By: Leiat Lovell 

Modified by Lulu Mero

Adversity in Life

People who are facing adversity and even some people who are poor are often considered as being disadvantaged in life. To be known in the society the poor need to prove themselves as capable beings in order to face the world of opportunities. In the process of proving their abilities extra effort is needed in most cases especially if they are facing a challenging life of poverty. However, the society takes time to recognize efforts of poor people, and since they are poor, extraordinary efforts could help them to catch up with wealthy people. 

There are many cases of successful people who came from unrecognized societies or even poor backgrounds, but persistence and hard work have managed to pull them through. Sometimes it takes poor people to have the right attitudes so that friends or family can support and make it easier to achieve goals. In most cases I do agree that facing adversity, being poor or an outsider can actually be a key to success.

According to the article, ‘‘The Use of Adversity’’ by Malcolm Gladwell, readers can learn that life can be always much harder for poor people, but there is often a way for them to succeed. In the same article Weinberg was explained that as a poor person born in Brooklyn who made it through to be ‘‘Mr. Wall Street’’ working from a janitor to a company where he got opportunity to express his point of view without being discouraged since he was not sharing a background similar to other workers.. Such an example explains how poor people can use their outsiderness to make it through life. Malcolm also added that outsiderness gives the rich class of people or middle class people a contrary understanding of poor people by exaggerating their otherness while poor people can end up benefiting since they are already considered differently.

Eagerness and willingness to prove that poor people can do something contrary to their unfavorable life conditions can also contribute to their success. Today, it is real hard to be recognized if poor people do not have the power or resources. Resources can be anything such as money which we consider as wealth.  Sometimes human being tends to count Intelligence as a resource which people can attain. As written in New York Times the article “A hired Gun for Microsoft, In pursuit of Google,” by Miguel Helft, the story contains a good example of how poor people can archive success through eagerness and willingness or self discipline. Lu, who is from China facing poor life was well explained in person and helped to us readers have an understanding of how personal discipline of doing work and give a try can actual be a key to success. A hardworking man, Lu who receives $10 per month salary in China to a Microsoft engineering executive, has proved to readers that poor people can improve their lives in into better life or even change it to wealthy life.

Persistence in life is one of the most important aspect I believe poor people can use to become successful. There is no one is perfect and since even the poor people have their own ways to follow their dreams. Based on a blog, ‘‘7 Sure Fire Ways to develop Persistence’’ by Donald Latumahina, I was very impressed with the way he categorized seven ways to develop life persistence. Latumahina listed the seven ways to develop persistence as follows: learning the life of successful people, expecting a hard way not an easy one, don’t underestimate the amount of time required, having a big why, knowing how to handle failures, finding partners, and minimizing of stress. A good example of a person known worldwide is Oprah Winfrey whom in the past has passed through a number of challenges, yet made it to the top among the billionaires in the world. A short history of Oprah as written by Janet Mock, ‘‘Oprah Biography’’ states what kind of life Oprah has experienced in the past, and make the readers and the fans get to know her childhood which she had a lot of troubles including being sexually abused and even movements of settlement between living with her mother, father or grandmother due to family status. 

Oprah took those obstacles as challenges in one way or another she learnt how to handle her failures such as giving herself one more chance to go for her dreams to success. Oprah is such an encouragement to the poor people especially black people who are facing adversity life that now look on her as an icon to success and even sometimes using her guidance through her media shows.

To conclude, I do believe that facing adversity, being poor, or being an outsider can actually be the key to success. Examples of some of famous people who show readers that they started with struggling poor life from their some point in life, but they managed to make it through life; encourage readers and even some poor people to use their good examples as their icon towards changing struggles towards success. 

THE S.K.Y

How shall i describe the sky?
The loft colors up so high?
The fluffy clouds, the gentle pinks
A thunderhead on the brink

The magnificent magenta,  cool blues
Shades of purple every hue
The tranquil way the clouds go bye
And lightning bolts flashing in the sky

The firmness, the softness, the wonderment of all
Painting pictures on outside walls
Sunrises, sunsets, never once the same
As if a picture in a frame

How shall i describe the sky?
The lofty colors up so high
Should i say it gentle or wild?
Sometimes playful as a child...

"The sky is not a limit, it can be over achieved" Dr. Prof. Lulu Mero

Who should be responsible for reducing obesity? How?

Does being obese mean being fat? I don’t think so. Obesity does not stand for being fat; it is a health problem that occurs after an individual gains weight and accumulates excess fat in the body. Being obese has an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and increased health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and breathing difficulties.  Since obesity is a health problem, considerations for reducing the effects of being obese should be taken seriously. But there are still questions such as: who is responsible for people being obese and how can they help to reduce it?

Today, complaints about obesity are directed everywhere. Some believe that the government is responsible, others believe it is the food industries, while some believe it is an individual’s responsibility to take care of his or her health. Personally, I don’t have any one to blame, but I believe all these groups mentioned are responsible in one way or another for allowing obesity to increase and reducing obesity.

Regardless, the way people handle their lives have great impact on their health in general, which can be seen even in the case of obesity. When an individual becomes overweight, it is mainly caused by poor eating habits and lack physical activities. Secondary factors for obesity include medical problems, genetics problems, and physiological problems, such as not being able to digest any food consumed. Individuals can also be overweight by relying on machines and cars that prohibit movements of the body, which prevents burning food consumed. In the article, “Are you responsible for your own weight? Pro” by Radley Balko, the author explains that the problem of obesity is personal and shouldn’t be taken seriously as a public matter.  Balko suggests measures “Give Americans moral, financial, and personal responsibility for their own health, and obesity is no longer a public matter but a private one- with the costs, concerns and worries of being overweight borne only by those who are actually overweight.” In that case Balko discusses the matter more lively as a libertarian who believes that individuals have freedom to choose in life and if they take responsibility for their actions, they will make better decisions.

People should have the right to eat food of their choice without limitations, since eating is a pleasure and expresses a human fundamental health need. If eating is only about fuel for energy without considerations of taste, then people could end up consuming supplements such as vitamin tablets that will not force them to burn excess fat from food. But food is crucial to life and enjoyment, and they should be free to choose what they eat. Thus, it makes individuals responsible for their health and how they work or handle their life styles to maintain good healthy with prevention of fat.

The food industry is always blamed for supplying food that is unhealthy and lead to obesity. A good example is when I once asked a man eating at McDonald’s the reason why many Americans are overweight and he told me that from what he saw in New York people are chubby mainly because of the convenience of cooking or to preparing healthy food, so they end up buying fast food because they are fast, affordable and convenient. He also told me that surveys show that the US has a great number of people who are obese compared to other countries because America is the busiest country and there are many fast food industries that people depend on, although they definitely blame the industries for their obesity. The question is still why these industries are blamed while they are part of a business, and people are not compelled to buy their product? Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle are professors who specialize in health, discuss the topic obesity as they analyze who is responsible and some measure which can be taken to reduce obesity. In the article “Analyzing a visual: Obesity” by Brownell and Nestle, we learn that food industries spend more money on to their advertisements in comparison to the government’s budget in nutrition-education program. In that case food industries such as McDonald have increased its number of customers worldwide, while its food is not all healthy.

The government is responsible for people’s health since it is created by the people for the people. When government makes laws for the food industry, such as to forcing restaurants to list calories on the menu for consumers to be aware of, it will help reduce the amount of high caloric consumption by people. Nestle suggested that “government should be doing everything it can to create conditions that lead to healthy eating, support parents in raising healthy children, and make decisions in the interests of public health rather than private profit.”  According to Nestle, the government is the last group which is responsible for controlling or reducing obesity and it needs to use power in combating or helping to reduce obesity. A good example of government powers to reduce obesity is found in New York, the state has been one of the first to pass the law requiring restaurants to post calories on their menu, and so far the news has shown improvements in people who buy food in any of the restaurants that shows the number of calories in the food they buy. Children obesity is more serious than adult obesity. It should be taken care of by the government. Children are the future of the society. So, we need to educate them about healthy eating habits and exercise.  Since the government is in control with public school it is easier for it to make sure that those students get healthier food provided by the school.

Therefore, individual and group awareness about healthy life habits will help reduce obesity; only if one and all do their part will the reduction of obesity become possible. When people have healthy bodies, there is also a healthy society.

By: Prof. Dr. Lulu Mero