No More Couch Potatoes!

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Many people today – not just Americans – suffer from eating disorders. If they’re not obese, they have anorexia or bulimia – or both!

It is popular belief that only teenage girls get eating disorders. But that is a lie. Though it is true that the tendency is often seen in teenagers, and especially the females, eating disorders extend to other groups of society as well. It starts earlier, and seems to last longer than it used to in the past. And otherwise normal middle-aged people have been known to have them, too.

Curious by nature, I search for a way to explain these disorders, and find myself placing the blame on society.

Firstly, there is the lifestyle we crave today. Children spend half of their day in school – which is good, for education is important. Though the tendency to go out and play lessens as they are offered electronic devices like computers, portable game consoles and the like.

It starts there, and evolves until the children spend every free minute in front of a screen, which often results in obesity and addiction. In addition, we can afford all the food we want, and the invention of devices that do the work for us (e.g. cars) reduces the amount of exercise of the average man today.

Secondly, there is the media. Everyone and their cat seem to be media slaves today. They watch as skinny models strut across the screen, attempting to convince you that this is “the look”, at the same time promoting food and other luxuries that we don’t really need.

And sadly, most people seem to be influenced by it. This is where the problem usually starts. Because they don’t believe themselves to have “the look,” their self esteem is lowered. This can head into three directions, the first being the least harmful – meaning that the person feels bad, but doesn’t do anything that leads to an eating disorder. The second direction is over-eating in an attempt to drown their sorrows, resulting in obesity. The third is where our person either doesn’t eat, or throws up any substance that they do take in – meaning anorexia and bulimia.

The media annoys me the most. It infuriates me that they think they have the rights to tell you what you should look like. Who are they to decide that? I believe that every individual should be able to look the way they want – within reason. But I don’t think anyone has the right to dictate what’s right or wrong. In fact, I believe that there is no such thing as “the look” – everyone has their own style, and as long as they’re healthy, I shan’t complain.

Go get your own “look”!