Skinny Bitch

The United States of America has been classified as the "Fattest Nation" of the world. Unemployment and poverty are the biggest problems that lead to obesity. Depression and boredom drive people to turn to food for comfort, albeit a temporary comfort. I can say from first hand experience, that I have been in situations that have stressed me out so much that I have indeed turned to food for comfort. Eating a great big ice cream or a doughnut, not to mention a giant muffin provides a temporary sense of euphoria that for just that one second you feel great. But once that passes, there is a tremendous sense of guilt that assaults you.

When I was vacationing in Austin, I found at a Borders a book called "Skinny Bitch". I was most intrigued by what I read in it. Some of you may have read and some may not. If you haven't, I think you should! It exposes a lot of practices in the food processing industry that you probably knew but were in denial about. I certainly was! When people told me that milk was not really "vegetarian", I like everyone else made fun of them. I had to realize the truth once I read that book. I'm not saying that "Skinny Bitch" is the bible to food, but it provides insights that you need to be aware of and of course take what they say with a grain of salt. If I had to describe "Skinny Bitch" in a few words, I'd say that it is a "permanent crash diet" for the modeling industry or for whoever is obsessed about looking good.

In the last few months I have become more aware of the number of shows that are aired on TV about "Fat" people. Way more than necessary even. It seems as if the whole country is obsessed by it. "The Biggest Loser", "Fat Sally" are just a few. Agreed that they are inspirational, but it can get overwhelming too. I happened to walk in to Borders this morning, and I found that almost 50% of the new arrivals have something to do with weight loss. Workout routines, Bob & Jillian (For those of you who don't know, they are the trainers on the Biggest Loser. I love Jillian), cookbooks, weight loss biographies, just to name a few.

Is all of this exposure actually helping people? Or do they just forget about it once they are done reading? How much does it cost to eat healthy and can people afford to do so in these troubled times? I don't know if these are questions that I will ever know the answer for. But they still need to be asked.

What have I learned from all of this: 1. Staying healthy is not an option but a necessity. 2. Use the exposure from the media to my advantage and learn from other people's mistakes. 3. Use your head and don't blindly accept everything that is thrown out at you by the media. 4. Read the ingredients label before buying processed food. 5. Count calories (not to the extent of being paranoid) and exercise daily to maintain good health.