Such a Pretty Face...


Articles Dante Alighieri Arthur Dent Jesus Jones Thomas Paine Other Authors Contact Us! Letter to the Editor Dante Alighieri Arthur Dent Jesus Jones Thomas Paine	Such a Pretty Face… Arthur Dent "You have such a pretty face" has got to be the worst "compliment" anyone has ever given me, mostly because of the second half of the statement which most people omit...except for my bitch of a grandmother, but hey...at least she's honest. She says what others are only thinking: "You have such a pretty face -- if only you weren't fat." Yep, that's the only real problem with me. I'm fat. Apparently, if I weren't overweight, I'd be perfect. Body image issues are huge in this country. Why? It starts with advertisers shoving fat-laden fast-food and soda at us, all while showing us that thin is beautiful and fat is not. (How many fat super-models are there? Ummm...I rest my case.) The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that television is especially detrimental to children's health because of its promotion of a poor diet while simultaneously pushing an unreasonably thin body type. Childhood obesity is so out of control that the Surgeon General has declared it a "national epidemic," and so many obese children and teenagers are developing diabetes, a disease commonly associated with overweight people in their 50s, that the name has been changed from "adult-onset diabetes" to "Type II diabetes." According to a recent study, at any given moment, 80 percent of girls age 9 and over are on a diet. That means that these girls have already been sucked into finding endless fault with their bodies. This path only leads to more weight problems, as girls who take measures like popping diet pills or fasting to lose weight are at the greatest risk of becoming obese. Once obese, things get even worse. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, only 20-30% of obese teens will lose their excess weight. Meanwhile, our self-esteem suffers; we feel like crap about our bodies and question our own self-worth, all because we're not thin. Let's face facts: it's no fun to be fat. Think about it -- who can you still make fun of without incurring the wrath of the PC Police? Fat people. After all, people who are overweight are fat by choice, right? Wrong! I never asked to be fat. Somewhere along the line, food became a source of solace. Parents can be abusive, friends might be unavailable, but food? It will love me, right? Oh sure...it loves my hips, my thighs, and every other part of my body where it can take up residence and stay awhile. And in the meantime, I hate the fact that I don't look like "everyone else," that I can't wear the latest fashions, that I often feel uncomfortable in my own skin, but most of all, I hate myself for allowing my body to get so out of control. What then? What's the effect of all this self-loathing? It's pretty simple: when you hate your body, you're less likely to take positive risks, like dating or trying out for the drama production, and more likely to take up negative behaviors, like casual sex or smoking, as a way to compensate for that hole in your self esteem. No one can build our self esteem for us -- we all have to do that for ourselves. For those of us who are overweight (and that's more than 25% of all teens), dieting is not the answer -experts agree on this. Furthermore, even exercise to control weight is not a good idea. (Exercise itself is great - but do it because it's good for your body and not simply to lose weight.) What, then, should an overweight person do? First step: cut out the soda. According to David Ludwig of Children's Hospital in Boston, "For every additional serving of soft drink consumed, risk of becoming obese increased by 50%." Think about that for a second. With every 20 ounce bottle of Coke, 2.5 servings of soda, your risk of becoming obese goes up 125%. Is it really worth it? Water is a much better choice anyway, especially for girls. Not only does soda add tons of sugar and calories to your diet, it leeches calcium out of your bones. Second step: cut down on time with electronics. According to recent studies, the average American kid watches TV for 3 hours a day and surfs the 'net or plays video games for another 3-4 hours/day. If you get home at 3pm, that means that 3pm - 9pm is taken up by electronic media. That's time we could be out being active...or at least doing something productive. Instead, we plug ourselves in and look for a "quick fix" for our burgeoning waistlines. That's the thing, though - there are no quick fixes. Believe me - if there was a magic pill, I would have found it. An amazing thing happened to me about a year ago, though: I made some major lifestyle changes, and the weight started to come off. I am no longer "fat," although I am not yet "thin." I still want to be thin, but I'm a lot happier just feeling like I fit in. Funny thing is, though, that the problems I had before I lost weight are still here. I used to think that if I could just lose weight, everything would be great. I'd have lots of dates, my parents would get off my back, and I'd suddenly become popular. Well, I lost a bunch of weight, but none of those things happened. That taught me that the "fat" me was the same person as the "thinner" me. Yes, I do feel better about myself now, but I'm still the same person, fat or thin. Losing weight has greatly improved my health, but the body-image issues remain because I will never look like a model. But I shouldn't have to! It sucked to be really fat, but it taught me to be compassionate towards those whose body types are outside the norm. It also taught me that our society is fond of stereotyping people based on looks. (Damn it, fat people are not lazy slobs who eat bon-bons and watch TV all day any more than thin people are vegetarians and exercise-junkies!) Being fat taught me that what I look like doesn't define who I am unless I let it. Some days, I look in the mirror and think, "Hey…I look pretty good!" but other times, I still see myself as fat and disgusting. Fighting my brain over my body image is a daily battle, but I'll continue to fight it. I might even win, with the help of my friends. This is a fight for my health and my life, after all. At least I'm not alone-even though we don't talk about it, I know that many (at least 25%) of you are fighting the body-image battle, too. And on that note, it's time to take a walk… Editors' notes: The list of references for this article was too long to print, but it is available on request. Email Arthur Dent if you want to provide feedback regarding this article.	Archive Back Issues Why? 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Such a Pretty Face…

Arthur Dent

"You have such a pretty face" has got to be the worst "compliment" anyone has ever given me, mostly because of the second half of the statement which most people omit...except for my bitch of a grandmother, but hey...at least she's honest. She says what others are only thinking: "You have such a pretty face -- if only you weren't fat." Yep, that's the only real problem with me. I'm fat. Apparently, if I weren't overweight, I'd be perfect.

Body image issues are huge in this country. Why? It starts with advertisers shoving fat-laden fast-food and soda at us, all while showing us that thin is beautiful and fat is not. (How many fat super-models are there? Ummm...I rest my case.) The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that television is especially detrimental to children's health because of its promotion of a poor diet while simultaneously pushing an unreasonably thin body type. Childhood obesity is so out of control that the Surgeon General has declared it a "national epidemic," and so many obese children and teenagers are developing diabetes, a disease commonly associated with overweight people in their 50s, that the name has been changed from "adult-onset diabetes" to "Type II diabetes." According to a recent study, at any given moment, 80 percent of girls age 9 and over are on a diet. That means that these girls have already been sucked into finding endless fault with their bodies.

This path only leads to more weight problems, as girls who take measures like popping diet pills or fasting to lose weight are at the greatest risk of becoming obese. Once obese, things get even worse. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, only 20-30% of obese teens will lose their excess weight. Meanwhile, our self-esteem suffers; we feel like crap about our bodies and question our own self-worth, all because we're not thin.

Let's face facts: it's no fun to be fat. Think about it -- who can you still make fun of without incurring the wrath of the PC Police? Fat people. After all, people who are overweight are fat by choice, right? Wrong! I never asked to be fat. Somewhere along the line, food became a source of solace. Parents can be abusive, friends might be unavailable, but food? It will love me, right? Oh sure...it loves my hips, my thighs, and every other part of my body where it can take up residence and stay awhile. And in the meantime, I hate the fact that I don't look like "everyone else," that I can't wear the latest fashions, that I often feel uncomfortable in my own skin, but most of all, I hate myself for allowing my body to get so out of control. What then? What's the effect of all this self-loathing?

It's pretty simple: when you hate your body, you're less likely to take positive risks, like dating or trying out for the drama production, and more likely to take up negative behaviors, like casual sex or smoking, as a way to compensate for that hole in your self esteem. No one can build our self esteem for us -- we all have to do that for ourselves. For those of us who are overweight (and that's more than 25% of all teens), dieting is not the answer -experts agree on this. Furthermore, even exercise to control weight is not a good idea. (Exercise itself is great - but do it because it's good for your body and not simply to lose weight.) What, then, should an overweight person do?

First step: cut out the soda. According to David Ludwig of Children's Hospital in Boston, "For every additional serving of soft drink consumed, risk of becoming obese increased by 50%." Think about that for a second. With every 20 ounce bottle of Coke, 2.5 servings of soda, your risk of becoming obese goes up 125%. Is it really worth it? Water is a much better choice anyway, especially for girls. Not only does soda add tons of sugar and calories to your diet, it leeches calcium out of your bones. Second step: cut down on time with electronics. According to recent studies, the average American kid watches TV for 3 hours a day and surfs the 'net or plays video games for another 3-4 hours/day. If you get home at 3pm, that means that 3pm - 9pm is taken up by electronic media. That's time we could be out being active...or at least doing something productive. Instead, we plug ourselves in and look for a "quick fix" for our burgeoning waistlines.

That's the thing, though - there are no quick fixes. Believe me - if there was a magic pill, I would have found it. An amazing thing happened to me about a year ago, though: I made some major lifestyle changes, and the weight started to come off. I am no longer "fat," although I am not yet "thin." I still want to be thin, but I'm a lot happier just feeling like I fit in. Funny thing is, though, that the problems I had before I lost weight are still here. I used to think that if I could just lose weight, everything would be great. I'd have lots of dates, my parents would get off my back, and I'd suddenly become popular. Well, I lost a bunch of weight, but none of those things happened. That taught me that the "fat" me was the same person as the "thinner" me. Yes, I do feel better about myself now, but I'm still the same person, fat or thin. Losing weight has greatly improved my health, but the body-image issues remain because I will never look like a model. But I shouldn't have to!

It sucked to be really fat, but it taught me to be compassionate towards those whose body types are outside the norm. It also taught me that our society is fond of stereotyping people based on looks. (Damn it, fat people are not lazy slobs who eat bon-bons and watch TV all day any more than thin people are vegetarians and exercise-junkies!) Being fat taught me that what I look like doesn't define who I am unless I let it. Some days, I look in the mirror and think, "Hey…I look pretty good!" but other times, I still see myself as fat and disgusting. Fighting my brain over my body image is a daily battle, but I'll continue to fight it. I might even win, with the help of my friends. This is a fight for my health and my life, after all. At least I'm not alone-even though we don't talk about it, I know that many (at least 25%) of you are fighting the body-image battle, too.

And on that note, it's time to take a walk…

Editors' notes: The list of references for this article was too long to print, but it is available on request. Email Arthur Dent if you want to provide feedback regarding this article.