This topic is probably one of the most interesting and also hard to do in our lives. We all have woken up one day, and for some of us, especially women, wake up every day and feel uncomfortable about their bodies. For me, this would bring me so many insecurities. I can’t even count the amount of times that I cried or got so mad at myself because my body wasn’t perfect. Even now after working out, I still have my downs and technically my body weight is perfect with my height. However, in my eyes is not perfect. It is really easy to say “if you are not happy with your weight or your body, do something about it” however, this is also a mental game, and if you are not emotionally stable and have the commitment and discipline needed, you will not achieve your goals.
The first thing that caught my eye in this chapter was obesity since it is such a huge problem in the United States. The major are because it is more accessible to get unhealthy food and also because it is cheaper. We have so many fast food everywhere and it would take us a second to order while we are sitting in our cars and spend 5 dollars for a “savers menu” from McDonald. However, if we want something healthier, 1- it is much more expensive than McDonald or any other fast food and they are also more scarce than fast food. This is why poor people are often the ones who suffer from obesity because unfortunately, when you do not have money and have kids to feed, you can’t really worry about how many calories they are eating, your major concern is that they do not go to bed starving.
Another topic that brought my attention that actually worked for me really well was working out with a partner. At the beginning when I moved here I didn’t really have much motivation to work out, but then I met a friend and we started working out together. I think like the chapter mentions, it is very important to stay motivated and focus, as well as being around people who are also as committed and motivated as you. For me, having someone who cared as much as me about her image and was committed to maintain her body weight and exercise frequently was definitely the right push for me when I needed it.
Anorexia was definitely something really shocking and sad to know more about. The fact that someone could go through starvation and malnutrition is just so unfortunately. Also the fact that the full recovery is only from 44 to 76 percent in a long term is really disappointing. Anorexia comes from multiple different reasons, but it all concludes with not accepting yourself and having a low self-esteem. This is really unfortunate because it is all because all the things that we hear since we are kids about the perfect body, the perfect imagine and what is considered hot or not hot. When we are kids, we are innocent, we find all skin colors, body weights and shapes good. Until we see social media, we hear our parents, friends, famous people, and we see a partner of what is social acceptable and what is simply not “attractive” and this is when we start doubting ourselves and questioning if we are pretty enough or skinny enough. It is obviously not what it is the healthiest but what is the best looking.
This week I worked out at home, I totally forgot to take a decent picture for the class, so the picture is not the best but I got a good workout and I was sweating a lot!.
Environmental Health 