Content warning: mentions of eating disorders

America has become obsessed with body image. From the doctors condemning the obesity epidemic to the Fat Acceptance Movement, focusing on our appearances has become the topic of the moment. Unsurprisingly, much of this body image obsession has turned into worrying about our diets. How many of you have spent 15 dollars on a juice or vegan salad recently from a health store? I love that kale-apple-pineapple juice as much as the next girl, but is drinking 30 grams of sugar really “healthy,” let alone worth 15 dollars? As a nation, we spend billions of dollars on healthy food each year – the health food industry is projected to exceed one trillion dollars by 2017. We jump from trend to trend: vowing to avoid gluten, fat, sugar, meat … whatever latest food is condemned as “evil” by popular food blogs.

And yet, despite all our veganism and juice cleanses, America is still in the throes of an obesity epidemic. Ironic, no? Over two-thirds of adults in America are overweight or obese, many of them in low-income and food insecure communities. The dichotomy between healthy eating and rampant obesity is explained quite simply by a number of studies: America has a really messed up relationship with food. Think of all the movies where the weeping girl drowns her feelings in a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Americans interpret eating “bad” food as an emotional reward, and therefore have a higher propensity to binge-eat than people from other countries. That’s why countries like France, famous for its butter and cream saturated dishes, have a much lower obesity rate than America. Without placing such a negative connotation on “good” vs. “bad” food, people don’t emotionally binge-eat.

Moreover, though it perhaps seems paradoxical given our obesity rate, America has a disturbingly high rate of eating disorders. Every freshman worries about the Freshman 15: it’s what makes us roll out of bed Saturday morning to go to the gym to run six miles. But where’s that happy medium? It’s really hard in college, striking the balance between eating healthy (seriously, French fries and ice cream as your sole form of nutrition every night just isn’t healthy) and not obsessing over your every meal.

That obsession can often turn unhealthy. According to Vaden Health Center, “Concerns about diet, weight and attractiveness are prevalent among Stanford students. These concerns can lead to unhealthy preoccupations with body weight and eating, affecting self-esteem, wellbeing and vitality.” Some people read “eating disorder” and think that it’s simply an attention-grabber by spoiled, vain girls concerned only with their appearance. There are people with “actual” problems – like cancer or diabetes – while this is only a selfish mental issue. But body acceptance is a major issue that’s sweeping America and hugely impacting our generation.

The body positivity movement has tried to tackle that issue head on. I have to confess, for a long time I thought that movement was rather ridiculous. I interpreted it as encouraging obesity, and thus promoting a host of health problems. As the movement has gained more traction, however, I’ve started to see it in a more positive light. It’s admirable that these women are able to celebrate and honor their bodies, regardless of whether they fit within our narrow conception of so-called “beauty.” Body positivity isn’t about glorifying obesity, but about encouraging girls and women to love their body instead of turning to potentially harmful diets that can lead to disordered eating.

Some doctors, on the other hand, critique the Fat Acceptance Movement for promoting unhealthy body types. Recent studies have been performed that dispelled the myth that you can be overweight and still healthy. In an interview with Time Magazine, the lead doctor of a new study, Dr. Caroline Kramer, discussed this myth: “This concept of healthy obesity came in the last 10 years, and it compares people who are obese but metabolically healthy to only metabolically unhealthy overweight people. Some studies report that if you are obese but metabolically healthy, you are protected in a way. We don’t think that is true.”

But you know what else increases risk of death? Anorexia. According to one study, around 24 million people suffer from eating disorders in the U.S., and a young woman with anorexia is 12 times more likely to die than other women in her age group without it.

This extreme, the image of “thinness” that models and actresses constantly promote on social media, is not much better. This recent trend of extreme thinness exploded in the 1990s, with model Kate Moss famously claiming that, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Today, young models like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner are “thinspiration” to young tweens and teens everywhere, who hope that by restrictive dieting, they can achieve the same body types. Bella Hadid was recently slammed by the press for losing too much weight for her upcoming Victoria Secret fashion show, and she fired back by claiming that models have insecurities too, and that it’s not fair to attack someone based on their appearance, no matter their size. In my opinion (though I know many people might disagree with this) “thin-shaming” is as hurtful as “fat-shaming.” However, it does beg the question: How does the media influence our own body perceptions?

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know it affects mine. In this world where we’re all bent on achieving perfection, gaining the perfect abs and figure is only one rung on the ladder of perfection.

Maybe it speaks to human arrogance, our obsession with our bodies and beauty. Maybe it speaks to our insecurities, or the pressure we feel to streamline our images (both literally and figuratively).

So if we go back to our group of freshman fretting over the Freshman 15, where do we find the balance? We have three trends that seem to be going head to head: combatting the obesity epidemic, promoting body acceptance and fighting against disordered eating. How can we fight one problem without making the other two worse? Does one trend have to preclude the other?

America’s lack of moderation worries me. We jump from crazy restrictive diet (Cabbage soup diet! Raw food diet! Paleo diet!) to just crazy diet, binge-eating on our “cheat” days. We “splurge” on dessert and then spend hours ruminating over our supposed failures. Life is about moderation. We shouldn’t have to resort to extreme diets to achieve some impossible – and unhealthy – standard of beauty, nor should we apathetically accept an unhealthy body shape. America needs to find a happy medium in its attitude towards body shape.

 

Contact Caroline Dunn at cwdunn98 ‘at’ stanford.edu.