WRIT 101.28: Sustainability

How do societal influences play a part in thoughts about obesity?

Since my sophomore year of high school, I have flooded my schedule with classes in sports medicine and exercise science. I loved learning how to fix a sprained ankle in time for the big state basketball game, why your arm bends a certain way and why it can’t bend another way and why we have all sorts of different bones for different reasons. I can honestly look back at these classes were my favorite.

But there was always one unit I dreaded: the nutrition unit. I loved learning all the nutrition information and learning about good foods and healthy choices to see how they compared to my personal lifestyle, but I absolutely hated the obesity section. Every year as school was coming to a close, my teacher would start class with a lecture about how numbers on a scale didn’t matter, it was how we felt about ourselves, that we were getting the right amount of fruits and vegetables and eating right with the right amount of exercise. He would give us warning so we could be sure to bring shorts and a sports bra for the girls or just shorts for the boys. I remember the last time I had to go through the awful practice. I was relieved that this was the last time that I had to face this. My hands were shaking and I dreaded the entire thing. I was thinking to myself, “Please, don’t let me be too big.” I was wearing my pink sports bra and black running shorts. My teacher always asked for volunteers first. Of course, nobody ever volunteered. Secretly, everyone hoped that it would take too long and they wouldn’t have to be measured. Finally my turn came. In the back room were my teacher, myself, and two runners on the track team. “Great,” I thought to myself. “Obviously I am going to be the biggest in this group; these girls have gone to state since their freshman year.” I went first. My teacher started with my hip, grabbed the skin and pinched hard and shook the skin to separate the muscle and fat. Then he did the same thing on my arm and thigh. He was secretly writing down numbers while he did this. I was relieved when it was finally over. The last time I had to do this was finally done with. He told me my results. I was considered moderately obese. My heart dropped. I was dancing competitively, teaching dance, and taking technique classes. I was dancing 27 hours a week and considered moderately obese? My teacher assured me that I looked fine and as long as I felt good about myself, that was what mattered most. Like that helped at all. I was put in a room with two girls who were considered almost perfectly healthy.

This practice isn’t something that is uncommon throughout the United States. One school in Burlington, Massachusetts says, "There are so many youth these days that are severely overweight, their body fat is way out of whack. So we try to address that by making them realize they have to start paying attention to what they eat and the importance of exercise." (Pozniak August 16, 2010) He would take out instruments to measure everyone’s body mass index, or BMI using a skin caliper. Even after the pep-talk, people were still very concerned about their body images after finding out they were obese, people from the high school quarterback football star, to the track star, to me, a dancer dancing 27 hours a week was considered obese. That’s never easy to hear, especially being a teenager. So how does society’s pressure on obesity play a role on people physically and psychologically?

Here in Montana, I have many friends that assume that since Montana is known for being such an outdoors state and so many people are physically active, that obesity isn’t a problem here. But, statistics tell us otherwise. In Montana, 39% of the people are considered overweight, and another 23% are considered obese (Center of Disease Control 2007-2008). Meaning combined in Montana 62% of the population is considered overweight. Sure, these numbers are lower than the national numbers, but we still have to consider what these numbers really mean. Obesity is a problem everywhere and there are other problems that are associated with obesity besides just having excess weight. People are bullied to the point of suicide because of their weight. Some people have social problems like not wanting to leave their house because of the bullying. Mental problems are associated with obesity because of poor self-esteem. Some mental problems get so bad people can develop eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating. These are all serious problems that everyone sees every day and it is time we did something about them. But, before we can do anything about the problems, we need to be educated about the problems that happen.

Obesity is defined as having an abnormally high amount of body fat in comparison to one’s overall body weight. Typically over 25-30% of the body’s weight comes from fat, depending on gender (Medical Dictionary). As humans, fat is an essential part of our diet and is necessary in our body. It provides energy and is needed to prevent illnesses in which fat is lacking from the body. Fat is needed so the body can absorb vitamins and helps produce endorphins. (eatingdisordersonline.com 2012) Obesity can be associated with illness, disability, and in some cases even death (Medical Dictionary). Of adults who are 20 years old or older, 33.9% of them are considered obese. This means almost 34% of our population is obese, that’s over 1/3! (Center for Disease Control, 2007-2008) Of adults who are 20 years old and older who are overweight but not considered obese, 33.4% fit this category. (IBID) This means that 66.7% of the population is over what is considered to be a healthy weight. Of adolescents ages 12-19, 18.1% are considered obese. (IBID) This means almost 20% of teenagers are obese and not getting enough exercise or eating correctly. 19.6% of children ages 6-11 are considered obese and 10.4% of children ages 2-5 are obese (IBID). Meaning almost right after we are born, people are looking at us to see if we are obese and every 1 in 10 kids ages 2-5 are considered obese!

Studies have shown that “both maternal and paternal acceptance of the child were related to lower perceptions of threat and positively influenced coping. Similar work suggests that parental acceptance is related to children using more problem-solving skills and being less fearful when confronting stressors (Elsevier Science, 2002). I grew up in a home where my parents were completely accepting. We were taught to surround ourselves with people who made us feel better about us feel better about ourselves. Everyone that came through our door was completely accepting of everyone, no matter their size, sexual orientation, religion, or any other stereotype you could think of. But I have seen the other side of this too.

I have friends that are constantly told that they are not good enough for their parents. They have a constant battle for feeling good about themselves, whether it be about weight or about grades. They are under constant pressure about so much and it can really get under their skin. They eventually can’t take it anymore and have a breakdown. I feel the saddest part of this whole experience is having the feeling that you aren’t good enough for your parents. When I was living at home the worst words I could hear from my parents were, “You disappointed me.” And with the lifestyle several of my friends had, that was a harsh reality and they had to accept that that was how their parents felt about them. I feel like the way I grew up helped with the self-esteem that I now have, but social media has definitely played a part in knocking down my self-esteem. Media makes it hard to accept yourself for who you are because of the “perfection” that is seen in media.

For many teens, their size and being obese is the least of their problems. The constant teasing, bullying, taunting and poor community treatment is what matters more. Especially in girls, clinically diagnosed depression is the bigger concern. A recent study shows that obese children rate their quality of life as low as young cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. There are increased rates of depression, isolation, low self-esteem, which as these children grow up, leads to being less likely to be accepted to college, less likely to be married and more likely to be in a lower socioeconomic class (CRC Health Group).

The biggest thing that I have learned as I have explored the topic of obesity is how easy it is to be considered obese or overweight. Many teenagers have the media to look at and the pictures of the movie stars sexily playing in the water in the newest bikini with their ribs popping out and they’re the size of a twig. Really? That’s how society wants us to look? They have no muscle on their body and absolutely zero fat, which might I add is incredibly unhealthy. As a dancer, I constantly feel the pressures of having to be super skinny. Many of the costumes that are consistently present in the dance world are very revealing, and who wants to have their love handles sticking out or the McDonald’s fat sticking out? It’s always rough when you have people on your team that are extremely skinny too? Because compared to them you look fat. But, I have been broken of the word “fat” I prefer voluptuous. I have learned that I am a dancer, I am getting plenty of exercise and I am eating right, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with my body. I was made a certain way and I need to accept myself for the way I was made and appreciate the differences I have from other people and enjoy the fact that I break the cookie cutter mold and have qualities unique to myself. If there is one thing I want to pass along to anybody who reads this paper, it is that as long as you feel comfortable with yourself and are eating right and getting enough exercise, you are beautiful the way you are. Healthy needs to be the new skinny. Not the “I’m so skinny I look like I have never eaten in my life” look. It is a constant pressure to have a certain look and finding self-appreciation is quite possibly one of the hardest things a teenager can do, and once they have, they have found the key to their own happiness.

Works Cited

Center for Disease Control “Overweight and Obesity” Center for Disease Control

2007-2008, April 11, 2012 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/stateprograms/fundedstates/montana.html

Puhl, Rebecca and Brownell, Kelly “Ways of coping with obesity stigma: review and conceptual analysis”

Elsevier Science November 7, 2002, April 10, 2012 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147101530200096X

Pozniak, Alexa “Schools test Chikdren’s Body Fat”

August 16, 2011, April 10, 2012

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117278&page=1#.T4tR-atAbEU

Eating Disorders Online “Why Our Bodies Need Fats”

April 16, 2012, April 16, 2012

http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/nutritional/fats.php

Medical Dictionary “Obesity”