Changing the 'Fat is OK' Equation

Watch out – we’re headed for trouble bigger than we have ever seen, no pun
intended.

I have talked about this before, but it’s worth discussing
again: Every year Americans spend more and more money – billions of dollars - on
weight loss remedies, and every year we are still fatter. There is something
morbidly wrong with this equation. And it gets worse!

We are beginning to
see that as women (men, too, but most studies are done on women) find themselves
further and further from the way they ideally want to look, they have to find
ways to cope (other than eating) with the discomfort.

Eating is a temporary comfort but then makes the problem worse, so new coping
mechanisms are being found like taking on the “if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em,”
attitude. Women may feel like they have lost the battle to look like the girls
in magazines, so they’re going the other way - the fat and happy, or “I’m so OK
with it,” team.

It is understandable and natural to look for ways
to fit in and feel better about oneself. We all need to find a way to
feel OK – even when we feel terrible.

But this is creating a new
phenomenon called fat talk, where women support each other by cutting themselves
down. And because they are all fat – it’s OK. Since they self-deprecate, as a
way of bonding and supporting each other, they all feel better and fit
in.

Yes – we need to find support, and comfort, but not for staying
unhealthily overweight, and not for giving up.

We have to right this
wrong turn or being OK with being unhealthy will be a new part of the
upside-down equation mentioned above: Every year Americans are heavier and more
unhealthy, and every year they are more and more OK with it.