We all tend to value what meets the eye. It’s human nature! When it comes to our health, how we look can seem more important than how we feel (how else to explain high heels?) I’ve been thinking lately about how our language reflects our priorities. For instance, there are only a handful of descriptive words for feeling sick to your stomach -- queasy, nauseated, unsettled. But there are literally dozens of synonyms for throwing up, the outward manifestation of feeling sick to your stomach. I won’t list them here. After all, this is supposed to be a food blog. In fact, just saying “food blog” makes my stomach feel a little... unsettled.
Anyway, the point is, outward appearances carry a lot of weight for us -- pun intended. If you’re thin and fit in our society, it symbolizes that you are successful, happy, healthy, and popular. If you’re overweight, it suggests you are a failure, lazy, and have no self-discipline. Never mind that many highly successful people battle their weight (think of Oprah!) We all fall into the trap of judging books by their covers.
The New York Times health column calls our attention to a new blog this week, called Weightless. Unlike most diet blogs, this one's refreshing goal seems to be to help readers focus less on the numbers on the scale and more on making peace with their bodies. I particularly like this post, which picks apart the ridiculous diet advice given by women’s magazines.
Weightless has a lot of potential. It will be interesting to see where it goes. The blog’s biggest drawback so far is that it’s targeted only toward women. In this day and age, body image problems affect everyone.
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