I Am @ Youth.SG

Slimming Culture in Singapore? THROW IT AWAY!

I was reading the papers this morning, and this thought suddenly flashed across my mind, "What IF I were an American/in America right now?" (Not that I love America or anything.) Would I be viewing such newspaper articles? All this GST rise/ budget thingys. I feel that Singapore is just scared of the government. Oh well. Who am I to complain?
We, students of Singapore, do not have minds of our own.
Constantly trying to stuff all the textbook information into our heads.

On the flip side, I love being in Singapore. The culture here is so mixed, you just do what you like, you can definitely find your own clique of people.
You speak English profeciently, you can find defintely find your gang.
You speak Singlish, you can 100% confirm find your type one ahhh!
You dress ah-lian, you just roam orchard and ta-dah! The ah-bengs just fall right in front of you just to have a peek up your super short skirt.
You dress aunty, you'd definitely find another aunty walking down the streets.

As for me, I love to eat. I can find a gang who loves to eat. All the sinful yet tasty delights in Singapore!
Talking about eating, there's a newspaper article in The Straits Times today about Singaporeans being among the most weight-conscious. We rank FIFTH in per capita usage of appetite-suppressants called anorectics. Ranking first is Brazil, followed by Argentina, South Korea and the US. Yet, our obesity rates are VERY LOW when compared with the others in the top five. Brazil has an obesity rate of 13.5%, Argentina at 31.2%, South Korea at 7.1% and the US at a scary figure of 39.2%.
How about Singapore? 5%??? Guess again.
We, in contrast, barely tip the scales at 1.6%.The slimming culture is SO ALIVE in Singapore. Just throw it away! Because, more often than not, once the slim-a-holics stop their slimming programme, they end up eating more, and they get fatter than they were before.

I'm taking a bold step here, and I've got a little secret to share. I was once one of those slim-a-holics. I even resorted to starvation. I was miserable, even though I was really happy about receiving all those compliments "Hey Nat, you've slimmed down a lot. Looking a lot sexier now." Even a whole pool of compliments could never compensate that misery I went through. The deprivation of food nearly drove me to my grave.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, we live in a world that has seen an upheaval in consciousness concerning the position of women. Yet, despite dramatically changed views and expanded lifestyles, many women still place dieting and body shaping ahead of life shaping and world shaping on their lists of New Year's resolutions. Once again, we are planning to spend billions of our dollars trying to transform our natural shapes.

Yet, here we are again. The idealized image is meaner and leaner and younger than ever. The tabloids scrutinize our Hollywood icons to see who has lost and who has gained. The doctors hawk their programs, vying for space on bestseller lists. And many of us are ready to die for all those new pills and surgeries.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if women simply stopped having these bad body thoughts. What would happen if each time you made a self-abusive remark about how you look, you let the reproach go, challenged your thinking – "Who says there is such a thing as a perfect thigh?" – and instead focused on whatever you were thinking about before you made the thought-detour to your body.

Just imagine the $60 billion diet industry crumbling, taking several others along with it! What would we do with all that time on our hands? Imagine how we would use all the energy! The possibilities dazzle!!!! REALLY! :D :D :D

As a start, let's scratch all references to achieving an unreal body shape from our list of resolutions. This year, let's resolve to stop the dieting that has become such a life-long, life-draining preoccupation and instead embrace and enjoy our bodies in all their diversity. Let's happily reclaim our appetites, our bodies and our lives!! WHEEE! I want the eating culture to prevail. There was never a time in my entire teenage life where anyone has told me "Being a little fat is all right."
And I'm telling all you reading this out there, "BEING A LITTLE FAT IS ALL RIGHT." Stay healthy, stay happy.
Imagine hugging the 'model' on the right. Image hugging the 'model' on the left. Which would you prefer? I'd prefer the latter. I won't be hugging bones.

So why not... We eat. We exercise. And we become the fittest nation in the world??
Let's try to work towards that. But what are the chances of the Nation reading this.

Let's all say YES TO ANTI-DIETING! Join me in my never ending campaign to ANTI-DIETING!

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