Pro-Long Diet Research Paper
Introduction
“36-24-36” Does it sound familiar to you? Have you ever come across these numbers in your life? Are they the numbers that keep wandering in your mind? It is the ideal measurement for a perfect body. It is the criterion for being a model. It is the size that most ladies dream of. It is the reason that keeps ladies go on hellish diets all the time.
It is dreadful to hear that even twelve years old girls are yelling to go on a diet with no reason. It is frightful to hear that there are an increasing number of people suffering from bulimia and nausea because of prolong diet. It is even more terrible to hear that in every five persons there is one who is currently going on a diet.
The aesthetic standards of women have changed …show more content…
based on times and geographical changes. The beauty of a person is the combination of inner beauty and outer beauty. However, nowadays the media impact that skinny women are beautiful. It is found that weight loss is no longer an issue merely reserved for obese persons but for the rest of us. It is obvious that the trend of losing weight has become so prevalent that it has already been turned into a noticeable problem in our society.
Methodology
In order to support my point, I have conducted a small-scale survey regarding the weight loss issue with ten short questions. The field sites where I conducted the survey are Fremont Clubsport Fitness Center, Fremont Main Library and Washington Hospital. Due to the time limitation, I picked three absolute unrelated locations that have a bigger chance to reach various kinds of people. All of interviewees are females with age group ranging from 11 - 20 years old to 41 – 50 years old. The first few questions were about their opinion on weight loss whether they thought it is a serious problem. The middle part of the questionnaire is focusing on the experience of the interviewees that they considered themselves as overweight and if they had ever tried losing weight. Final section is questions about the method and the reason for going on a diet.
Research and Observation According to my conducted survey, over 60% of my interviewees think that it is inappropriate to be a dieter when one is still a teen. Obviously, the majority is staying at the same position with me that it is too risky to go on a diet during teenage years. Half of them believing that losing weight is a very serious problem among teenagers and the other half think that it is a problem but not that serious. The weight loss problem has arisen to become a major social problem that it is time for us to make a topic of concern. Not surprise me that almost 100% of them think that staying slim is a major trend nowadays. About 70% of my interviewees have gone on a diet. With the survey and the interviews that I did, I come to the conclusion that dieting is a very popular trend nowadays but also a very serious social problem. Although the majority believe in staying slim is beauty, one of my interviewee has the agency that she loves herself being overweighed. She loves food and she never think of giving up on her beloved food for a perfect body.
The word “diet” has been wandering in the mind of most of my interviewee for one-third of their life already. One informant who is only nineteen years old told me that she has been spending the past six years on dieting. She couldn’t accept her classmates told her that she looked fatter after summer when she was grade six. However she regretted intensively going on diet and caused gastritis. She now realized the importance of health and understands the harms that are followed by improper diets.
From my research and observation, nowadays people are severely affected by the media and peer influence to accept the concept of “thin equals beauty". Most interviewees told me the reasons for them obsessively about slimming because of they are lack of self-confidence.
Five Sociological Questions
- How does the ideal measurement for a perfect body influence individual perception and behavior?
- What sociological theories become apparent while observing this group/issue?
- What are some distinct characteristics or social norms found in this group?
- What do people within the group think about what they are doing?
- Why does this group exist and what is its history?
Most of the research results showing that ladies irrationally go on a diet are based on the concept of "thin is beautiful". People see obesity is a negative and distort the evaluation of self-body figure. Regardless of whether how much are their weight, female are blindly loss weight to meet the labeling of beauty. Plus the rendering of media, ladies will spend a lot of money to participate in a variety of slimming treatments, even using inappropriate weight-loss methods, such as diet and induced vomiting. Nowadays media such as television and internet spreading these wrong messages on perfect body is leads a social determinism. The downsizing ethos has become popular to the youth level, and gives them a serious impact. “Thin is beautiful” is already become a social norm. Parents, friends, work colleagues, and geographic neighbors may participate to the enforcement of norms on body shape. (“Social norms, Ideal Body Weight and Food Attitudes”, 6)
.
Why is “thin” will become synonymous with modern “beauty” and health”? Some of the modern medical scientist monopolizes the explanation of health. They may magnify the scariest aspect of heart disease, blood clots, high blood pressure and other illnesses. Then they claim these disorders may lead to obesity. Due to these reasons, more people will join the on diet group due to healthy issue.
If one of my interviewee is New Left (Wikipedia.org), the interviewee may link up the slimming issue with the Marxism by Karl Marx. This may have been lead to another set of statement: slimming has a class nature. Back to the 60’s and 70’s while Hong Kong was in the era of capitalist primitive accumulation, lower classes were suffering in the shortage of food supply. Loss weight is not popular due to most people did not take physical lines into consider. In the 80’s, number of lower classes become middle classes and loss weight became a leisure activities. This is also another meaning for middle classes to represent them on an equal footing with upper classes. On the other hand, the shrewd capitalists see fitness as a business. The businessmen rationalize the need of slimming to continue exploit the middle classes’ production of surplus value.
Have you ever felt guilty because for having a single scoop of blueberry cheesecake ice cream?
Have you ever felt guilty because of drinking a small size peanut butter milkshake? Have you ever felt guilty because of having a McDonalds’ kid value meal? If your answers to the above questions are “yes”, I’m afraid you will have to consider having an appointment with a psychiatrist. People who have engaged in a diet too long will always arise an unusual kind of uneasiness. They even feel guilty for having a regular meal like a plate of pasta. Like one of my interviewees who had gone on a yearlong diet. She told me that she felt so reluctant and also guilty to eat even half of a sandwich for lunch. I believe she is just one out of a thousand on-diet girl who is having these kinds of psychological problems.
Concession and rebuttal One may question, how can weight loss be seeing as a negative issue? What about those who are seriously obese? What about those who are diseased because of being overweight? Undeniably, there are always exceptional cases. I have to admit that there really are some overweight people who need to watch out for their weight and even go on a diet. I think only those who are permitted and advised by doctors should go on to a diet but of course in a healthy way. People should not start losing weight because they felt they are
“fat”.
Solution What should we do to cope with this problem? What should we do to save the seriously addicted ladies? What should we do to keep them endangering their lives through dieting? I believe the most effective way is education. By showing them the dangers of the improper dieting, it will help to reduce the number of people going on a diet. I believe that some dieting people are too ignorant to have any idea about the bad effects that may bring. They are only attracted to the beautiful look that may result from losing weight. Once they are told about the drawbacks, they may hold back to their diet plans. The last but not least is to correct people’s wrong perception on “thin is beautiful”. Education is always an effective way in solving social problems.
Conclusion
“I say to you today, my friends, even though we face of difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up live out the true meaning of its creed” (King 291). I have a dream that people will stop going on meaningless diets one day. I have a dream that people’s value on inner beauty will be overwhelm the value on outer beauty one day. I have a faith that my dream will come true one day.
Definition of Key concept
Agency – It is the capacity of a person to act in a world.
Informant – A person who provides information about a person or an organization.
Labeling – It is the definition of self-image. The self-image is generated through the interaction with others, while label of others is an important factor.
Social determinism – It is not just a means to solve the problem, but also a manifestation of the social value of ethical, political and cultural theoretical perspectives.
Social norm – refers to human’s rules of social behavior and the criteria of social activities. It is derived from human’s need in order to live together in a society.
Work Cited
King, Jr., Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream.” Motives for Writing. Ed. Robert K.
Fabric Etile. “Social norms, Ideal Body Weight and Food.” October 9, 2006.
“36-24-36” Does it sound familiar to you? Have you ever come across these numbers in your life? Are they the numbers that keep wandering in your mind? It is the ideal measurement for a perfect body. It is the criterion for being a model. It is the size that most ladies dream of. It is the reason that keeps ladies go on hellish diets all the time.
It is dreadful to hear that even twelve years old girls are yelling to go on a diet with no reason. It is frightful to hear that there are an increasing number of people suffering from bulimia and nausea because of prolong diet. It is even more terrible to hear that in every five persons there is one who is currently going on a diet.
The aesthetic standards of women have changed …show more content…
based on times and geographical changes. The beauty of a person is the combination of inner beauty and outer beauty. However, nowadays the media impact that skinny women are beautiful. It is found that weight loss is no longer an issue merely reserved for obese persons but for the rest of us. It is obvious that the trend of losing weight has become so prevalent that it has already been turned into a noticeable problem in our society.
Methodology
In order to support my point, I have conducted a small-scale survey regarding the weight loss issue with ten short questions. The field sites where I conducted the survey are Fremont Clubsport Fitness Center, Fremont Main Library and Washington Hospital. Due to the time limitation, I picked three absolute unrelated locations that have a bigger chance to reach various kinds of people. All of interviewees are females with age group ranging from 11 - 20 years old to 41 – 50 years old. The first few questions were about their opinion on weight loss whether they thought it is a serious problem. The middle part of the questionnaire is focusing on the experience of the interviewees that they considered themselves as overweight and if they had ever tried losing weight. Final section is questions about the method and the reason for going on a diet.
Research and Observation According to my conducted survey, over 60% of my interviewees think that it is inappropriate to be a dieter when one is still a teen. Obviously, the majority is staying at the same position with me that it is too risky to go on a diet during teenage years. Half of them believing that losing weight is a very serious problem among teenagers and the other half think that it is a problem but not that serious. The weight loss problem has arisen to become a major social problem that it is time for us to make a topic of concern. Not surprise me that almost 100% of them think that staying slim is a major trend nowadays. About 70% of my interviewees have gone on a diet. With the survey and the interviews that I did, I come to the conclusion that dieting is a very popular trend nowadays but also a very serious social problem. Although the majority believe in staying slim is beauty, one of my interviewee has the agency that she loves herself being overweighed. She loves food and she never think of giving up on her beloved food for a perfect body.
The word “diet” has been wandering in the mind of most of my interviewee for one-third of their life already. One informant who is only nineteen years old told me that she has been spending the past six years on dieting. She couldn’t accept her classmates told her that she looked fatter after summer when she was grade six. However she regretted intensively going on diet and caused gastritis. She now realized the importance of health and understands the harms that are followed by improper diets.
From my research and observation, nowadays people are severely affected by the media and peer influence to accept the concept of “thin equals beauty". Most interviewees told me the reasons for them obsessively about slimming because of they are lack of self-confidence.
Five Sociological Questions
- How does the ideal measurement for a perfect body influence individual perception and behavior?
- What sociological theories become apparent while observing this group/issue?
- What are some distinct characteristics or social norms found in this group?
- What do people within the group think about what they are doing?
- Why does this group exist and what is its history?
Most of the research results showing that ladies irrationally go on a diet are based on the concept of "thin is beautiful". People see obesity is a negative and distort the evaluation of self-body figure. Regardless of whether how much are their weight, female are blindly loss weight to meet the labeling of beauty. Plus the rendering of media, ladies will spend a lot of money to participate in a variety of slimming treatments, even using inappropriate weight-loss methods, such as diet and induced vomiting. Nowadays media such as television and internet spreading these wrong messages on perfect body is leads a social determinism. The downsizing ethos has become popular to the youth level, and gives them a serious impact. “Thin is beautiful” is already become a social norm. Parents, friends, work colleagues, and geographic neighbors may participate to the enforcement of norms on body shape. (“Social norms, Ideal Body Weight and Food Attitudes”, 6)
.
Why is “thin” will become synonymous with modern “beauty” and health”? Some of the modern medical scientist monopolizes the explanation of health. They may magnify the scariest aspect of heart disease, blood clots, high blood pressure and other illnesses. Then they claim these disorders may lead to obesity. Due to these reasons, more people will join the on diet group due to healthy issue.
If one of my interviewee is New Left (Wikipedia.org), the interviewee may link up the slimming issue with the Marxism by Karl Marx. This may have been lead to another set of statement: slimming has a class nature. Back to the 60’s and 70’s while Hong Kong was in the era of capitalist primitive accumulation, lower classes were suffering in the shortage of food supply. Loss weight is not popular due to most people did not take physical lines into consider. In the 80’s, number of lower classes become middle classes and loss weight became a leisure activities. This is also another meaning for middle classes to represent them on an equal footing with upper classes. On the other hand, the shrewd capitalists see fitness as a business. The businessmen rationalize the need of slimming to continue exploit the middle classes’ production of surplus value.
Have you ever felt guilty because for having a single scoop of blueberry cheesecake ice cream?
Have you ever felt guilty because of drinking a small size peanut butter milkshake? Have you ever felt guilty because of having a McDonalds’ kid value meal? If your answers to the above questions are “yes”, I’m afraid you will have to consider having an appointment with a psychiatrist. People who have engaged in a diet too long will always arise an unusual kind of uneasiness. They even feel guilty for having a regular meal like a plate of pasta. Like one of my interviewees who had gone on a yearlong diet. She told me that she felt so reluctant and also guilty to eat even half of a sandwich for lunch. I believe she is just one out of a thousand on-diet girl who is having these kinds of psychological problems.
Concession and rebuttal One may question, how can weight loss be seeing as a negative issue? What about those who are seriously obese? What about those who are diseased because of being overweight? Undeniably, there are always exceptional cases. I have to admit that there really are some overweight people who need to watch out for their weight and even go on a diet. I think only those who are permitted and advised by doctors should go on to a diet but of course in a healthy way. People should not start losing weight because they felt they are
“fat”.
Solution What should we do to cope with this problem? What should we do to save the seriously addicted ladies? What should we do to keep them endangering their lives through dieting? I believe the most effective way is education. By showing them the dangers of the improper dieting, it will help to reduce the number of people going on a diet. I believe that some dieting people are too ignorant to have any idea about the bad effects that may bring. They are only attracted to the beautiful look that may result from losing weight. Once they are told about the drawbacks, they may hold back to their diet plans. The last but not least is to correct people’s wrong perception on “thin is beautiful”. Education is always an effective way in solving social problems.
Conclusion
“I say to you today, my friends, even though we face of difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up live out the true meaning of its creed” (King 291). I have a dream that people will stop going on meaningless diets one day. I have a dream that people’s value on inner beauty will be overwhelm the value on outer beauty one day. I have a faith that my dream will come true one day.
Definition of Key concept
Agency – It is the capacity of a person to act in a world.
Informant – A person who provides information about a person or an organization.
Labeling – It is the definition of self-image. The self-image is generated through the interaction with others, while label of others is an important factor.
Social determinism – It is not just a means to solve the problem, but also a manifestation of the social value of ethical, political and cultural theoretical perspectives.
Social norm – refers to human’s rules of social behavior and the criteria of social activities. It is derived from human’s need in order to live together in a society.
Work Cited
King, Jr., Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream.” Motives for Writing. Ed. Robert K.
Fabric Etile. “Social norms, Ideal Body Weight and Food.” October 9, 2006.