What is Beauty?

What is beauty?

There is no right or wrong way to answer this question. Beauty - physical and non-physical - means something different to each person. The Oxford Dictionary defines beauty as “the quality of being pleasing to the senses or to the mind.” People have different measures and ideas of pleasure so it makes sense that beauty has a variety of meanings. 

However, American culture has a much more narrow definition of beauty. The media bombards men, women, and children with images of supposedly attractive, “beautiful” figures. An American ideal is displayed upon TV ads, billboards, magazines, cartoon characters: everywhere. Beginning at a young age, children unknowingly have an extreme expectation of beauty. Girls overwhelmingly grow up playing with Barbie dolls and watching Disney princess movies while boys save the day with action figures like G.I. Joe and play violent video games. What seems like natural, innocent fun and inherently teaching children that to be beautiful, happy, and successful, girls must be thin and naive and boys must be strong and fearless. 

As children become young adults, they are exposed to more media and increasingly taught who they are supposed to be. Magazines, television, movies, internet ads, billboards: they are inescapable. Each one illustrates the same definition of beauty. Women always appear tall, lean, and thin and men always large, muscular, and powerful. In these advertisements, these are desirable and worthy qualities. 

College and high school students reflected these exact values when asked what is beauty? They answered that beautiful women are pretty, tan, have a lovely smile, and are long and lean while beautiful men are tall, strong, have a six-pack and nice eyes. There is an intense focus on physical characteristics and the conventional American beauty ideal. 

The National Eating Disorder Association reported that one quarter of television advertisements sent out messages about attractiveness and that 47% of girls in grades 5-12 want to lose weight because of magazine pictures. It’s no secret that women loathe themselves each year after watching or hearing about the Victoria’s Secret fashion show or that the majority of Americans make annual resolutions to lose weight and fit into a smaller size. These goals are not about health - they are about appearance. If beauty is up to opinion, then why do people spend so much time, money, and effort promoting and pursuing this distorted definition of beauty?

When asking children what they aspire to be when they grow up, they do not respond with answers like “thin” or “strong” or “pretty.” Instead, they pick inspiring role models like the President or a book or television character who serve  a more wholesome purpose in making the world a better place. Yet as they grow up, teenagers and adults often feel more pressure to strive to be “beautiful” and at times put more value on achieving this than other life goals. There is beauty in the magic of being a firefighter or a teacher. It pleases the mind, the world, and contributes a better world. There is more value in having a beautiful mind and character than an aesthetically pleasing body. Children understand this concept but the media murders this notion every single day at every place Americans look. 

While it is impossible to avoid media images, it is important to be mindful and critical of media images. The media should not define beauty for the individual. 

Fat Talk

The term “fat talk” refers to negative conversation that degrades the body. Daily, women question “does this make me look fat?” or remark that their hips, legs, butt, you name it are too imperfect to be tolerated. Often, people spend so much time criticizing themselves and others that they cannot appreciate the body for what it is and the beauty it possesses. 

American culture even reinforces this behavior. Girls and women are expected to be dissatisfied and critical of themselves and are viewed as vain of they are not. There is a scene in the popular 2004 movie Mean Girls where four friends stand in front of the mirror and tear their perfect bodies apart. Viewers do not even question this behavior as strange or self-hating. Similarly, men and friends anticipate the classic “does this make me look fat?” question and view it as typical female behavior. Even statements like “you lost so much weight you look great!” carry the idea that he or she did not look good before and emphasizes the perceived need to always be thinner. 

All this fat talk is contagious and spreads a negative body image that leaves girls and women feeling like empty failures while destroying any sense of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. 

The same phenomenon occurs in the male population. Men and boys put themselves and others down for not being strong and muscular enough. Men, just as much as women, are embarrassed and hesitant about beach trips and the way they look for occasions. They are criticized in media for being scrawny or having a “beer belly” just as often as women are criticized for putting on baby weight or “letting themselves go.”

Instead of being in the fat talk mindset, people should take some time to appreciate the body they do have and everything it does for them. No body is perfect and every body is different. Even models scrutinize their bodies and have to go through intensive photoshopping to achieve the images released to the media. It is unfair that people are pressured to devote so much time and energy to improve bodies that are beautiful treasures the way they are. 

Try complimenting people on things other than they way they look. Celebrate how the body functions. Take a look in the mirror and focus on favorable qualities. It’s empowering to love one’s body and oneself and instills a lasting sense of confidence and worth. Feeling good about the body will inherently motivate and instill healthy behaviors and achieve an all-around better quality of life. Practice and promote a fat talk free conversation. 

Sunscreen

The past few days have unofficially marked the beginning of summer weather. Sunny, ninety-degree days inspire some of the population to turn on air conditioners and find relief from the heat while others fetch bathing suits and bask in the sun. 

To many, summer means sunshine and tanning. Laying out in the sun with the latest novel or a good friend is a staple summer enjoyment. Though pleasant, spending time in the sun has its consequences. The FDA, as well as parents, grandparents, and friends, recommend sunscreen as a defense, but many ignore this advisory for the tempting thrill of a summer glow. Reconsideration may have advantages. Using sunscreen today is more beneficial than it has ever been. New FDA regulations in effect June 2012 require that sunscreens offer protection not only against burns, but now against the skin cancer. 

In the past, sunscreen has protected against UVB but not UVA rays. UVB rays lead to typical first degree skin burns. However, UVB and UVA rays both contribute to skin damage and the development of skin cancer: an increasingly prevalent problem caused by sun exposure. 

Now, anything labeled “broad spectrum” will protect against UVB and UVA rays for more complete sun defense. Products with a sun protection factor (SPF) below fifteen are marked with a warning label stating that the sunscreen does not protect against the development of skin cancer. Products with an SPF greater than fifty are not proved to be more effective at protecting skin and are now labeled as SPF fifty plus. Claims such as “water-proof” or “sweat-proof” can no longer be made because they are misleading; sunscreen washes off upon contact with water. Instead, the term “water-resistant” is being used and water-resistant sunscreens must be labeled with standard protection time. 

Skin cancer is scary. It is reassuring that the federal government has taken measures to protect citizens against this threat, but people can take responsibility to further protect themselves. The FDA recommends limiting time in the sun, covering skin with clothing, and reapplying sunscreen every two hours. These are simple measures that may take away from the summer bronze everyone is aiming for, but in the long run, it may be worth it. 

http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm258416.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/14/fda-posts-sunscreen-rules-after-decades-long-delay

The Non-Diet Approach

American’s love dieting. The perceived need for thinness drives men, women, and children to tweak their eating habits every day. People try cutting calories, eliminating carbohydrates, and loading up on protein to slim down and tone up. 

According to the National Eating Disorders Association - http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ - twenty-five percent of American men and forty-five percent of American women are on a diet at any given time. Ninety-five percent of this population will regain the lost weight within five years. Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors (skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives). It’s horrifying. Why the tragedy, you might ask? The answer is simple. Diets are not sustainable. They harm the body to a great extent. Overly cutting calories starves the body and prepares it for famine. Eliminating carbs, the body’s primary fuel source, forces it to break down existing body tissue to make glucose fuel. Once the body uses it’s needed amount of protein, it must break down the extras for elimination. These are all exhausting, stressful processes that leave dieters tired, hungry, and grumpy.

A more realistic path to achieve health is the non-diet approach. Eat when hungry and stop when full. Choose a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eat that cookie if it will satisfy your craving. Exercise because it makes you feel good. Aim for total health and well-being. The body will adjust to it’s natural healthy weight if treated well and fed as needed. There are no “good” or “bad” foods - every item is acceptable and the body will express how much and how often it should be fed.  And when the body is restless and desires physical movement, exercise. It really is that simple.

Counting calories and fad diets are overrated. Health is not about size; it’s about being the best body you can be. That largely means learning to understand and trust your body. This will increase self-esteem, personal power, and happiness. That’s the basic point of dieting really, isn’t it? Happiness. Confidence. Understand your body, treat it well, and it will be happy! :)

http://www.unh.edu/health-services/ohep/nutrition/non-diet-approach-health-every-size-haes

Opinion: Achieving Health

It’s the beginning of spring, summer is around the corner, and what consumes everyone’s mind? Getting the beach body that American insist will bring happiness, love, and success. 

To achieve this blurred perception of perfection, men, women, and even children will engage in risky behaviors by overly cutting calories, going awol with excessive exercise, and worshiping fad diets. Many will do anything necessary to shed pounds, tone muscle, and strive to become the photoshopped idols American’s constantly see in popular culture even though the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females (National Eating Disorders Association). 

American’s are missing the bigger picture. We overly focus on being thin versus healthy. The obesity and heart disease epidemic scares us into believing that weight loss is health. Constant exposure to unrealistic body images in the media convinces society that they are inadequate and unhappy. This can be harmful, especially to young adults and adolescents who are experimenting and adopting life-long behaviors. The National Eating Disorder Association released that over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. Furthermore, 35-57% of adolescent girls engage in crash dieting, fasting, self-induced vomiting, diet pills, or laxatives. There is so much focus on appearance beginning at such a young age that we are blind to true meaning of being healthy. 

It is correct to identify obesity, weight gain, and high body mass index (BMI) as a growing problem among the United States and the link to chronic disease. This a real and serious issue. However, more significance should be placed on overall health as opposed to size alone. Thinness does not always parallel health. Health exists at many shapes and sizes and individuals should be encouraged to find their personal measure of health. 

Americans should consider stepping back to re-evaluate what is more important: shedding pounds to fit into a smaller size pant, or maintaing a healthy body that allows a successful and happy lifestyle?