Dieting

In The Beauty Myth it says "in 1985 90% of woman thing they weight too much" and "On any day 25% of woman are on diets, with 50% finishing, breaking, or starting one" (pg. 185). I asked 10 of my family and friends if they were comfortable with their weight and only 2 of them said yes. Three of them are on diets, two of them work out regularly and are trying to eat healthier, one is on the brink of anorexia, and the other two that are unhappy with their weight don't really do anything but complain about it. Six out out of the eight people that are discontent with their bodies are on diets and that number changes almost everyday. The first three go on diets, then break the diet, then start a new diet, then give up, then start up again. The two that work out regularly and eat healthy do work out regularly but can never keep up with a diet, it's always the "I'll start tomorrow" or the "today's my last day I swear" speech. And then there's the one friend who is almost anorexic with the 30 different daily diets shes on. It's interesting how out of six people who are on diets none of them can really keep them, and some of them have actually gotten worse since they started dieting and have risked their mental health.

I find it really interesting that dieting in The Beauty Myth has become such a negative thing yet in reality there are numerous of different types of dieting. If there is an obese or slightly overweight person and they come to you and say "I'm starting this new diet in a few days", the common reaction is "Oh good for you!" or "Good luck I hope it goes well". Where as, if a thin person comes up to you and says. "I'm starting this new diet in a few days" the common reaction is  "WHY!?" or "but you're already so skinny". Yet neither one of them actually said what kind of diet they're going on. The obese person could be going on a diet where they only eat once or twice a day or are cutting out nutritious foods that people need to stay healthy, and the thin person could just be cutting out chocolate and soda They are both going on completely different diets, one much more dangerous than the other. Yet, we perceive dieting as one thing, depending on the person who is doing it and don't actually realize the difference. Many people tend to jump to conclusions though because of the person that says they are doing the dieting and I think that has something to do with the way media and society has made many people view dieting.