By Jenn Press

Advertising Manager

Let’s start with the word DIET. Look at it, the word DIE is baked right in! That’s because if you conform, you’ll never get out alive. Once you decide to go on one of these fabulous fad eating regimens such as the Atkins diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Hollywood diet, aka crap your insides out, and my personal favorite, Slim Fast, you vow to completely alter your lifestyle and go insane forever.

I feel when I ask some people what they do for a living, their response should be, “I professionally obsess about food. I was going to become a lawyer, but being completely neurotic took up too much time.”

We eat when we are hungry, and don’t eat when we’re not hungry. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The way a meal works seems to require a much larger scale of planning.

We become hungry, then we decide what we can eat that would satisfy the craving, keep us full until the next scheduled eating time, and fit into the daily calorie requirements these yo-yo diets have invented for us.

I feel like society was much more confident when Marilyn Monroe’s figure ruled the world, instead of Paris Hilton.

Do people just want a reaction for their so called ‘success’? I feel like shaking these people’s hands and saying, “Congratulations on being thin. Wow, you are really a role-model to us all.” Or “I met the Nobel Peace Prize winner the other day, but that was nothing compared to you. I’ve never seen someone so toned before!”

“I shouldn’t, I can’t, I was bad today,” sound like words out of a criminals mouth, not someone who had a French fry! And why “shouldn’t and can’t”? Why don’t we deserve to eat, and enjoy?

Blaming society is an easy cop-out, but media is not entirely at fault. Yes, sex sells, but why wouldn’t it? Being attractive in an advertisement or for entertainment purposes such as music and movies is almost a fantasy.

Society if filled with expectations of what the so-called desired person should look like, encouraging people to set unrealistic standards for themselves. The model of a perfect body is a very narrow minded way of thinking, and can lead to self-esteem issues, eating disorders, and disappointment.

How cool would it be if it was fashionable to be….normal? Like, you were considered undesirable if you didn’t eat a lot, or dieted. We could sit around stuffing our faces, admiring our flabby gut in the mirror, and bragging about who wears a bigger size.

I’m a total advocate of going to the gym and eating healthy, but there’s a line between being cautious and being obsessive. Health should always be considered just as a way of life, but when a meal becomes an anxiety attack, that’s where the problems begin.

As a whole, we are a never ending work in progress, but there comes a time when self-acceptance must dominate. This includes the mind and attitude in addition to the body. Sure, there is always room for improvement, but there’s also room for dessert. Bon Appetit!