Are Americans Obsessed with Losing Weight?

The new American pastime is losing weight. Obsessed with being thin, some Americans are throwing caution to the wind and investing their dollars into an easy, quick way to lose weight (33 billion dollars spent in 2004 on weight loss).

Gym memberships, personal weight machines, diet books and tapes, cookbooks, pills and personal trainers are all some of the ways Americans focus on losing weight.  Hypnosis, gastric bypass, resorting to fad diets and crazy eating plans, America has quickly become a culture that is expected to stay thin. This expectation is enforced daily by the media, both in print and on the television or wide screen.

If you can’t lose weight naturally; than there is always liposuction, botox injections or breast reductions. Quick, easy and painless…right?

Instead of eating sensibly, some people feel that America has taken leave of their senses when it comes to weight loss. Is the 30 minute lunch break at fault? How in the world can you eat sensibly in 30 minutes unless you resort to fast food? Would you like fries with your meal?

Most people keep an unrealistic weight loss program. Melanie Griffith, famed movie actress recently said in an interview when the reporter commented on how great she looked- that she hated to exercise and she “ate M& M’s and drank coffee to stay in shape!” Although she is undoubtedly a role model for many a young girl; one would hope she will keep her diet tips to herself in the future.

Learning to eat to live, instead of living to eat can be the defining factor of weight loss. Balancing a healthy diet and an active lifestyle can be tricky for today’s busy man or woman, but it can be done.

Setting up eating rituals within your own home; such as dining at the dinner table and not in front of the television set. Making it a family tradition to go the grocery store, read labels, debate about food, instead of blindly tossing junk food into your cart can make planning meals an enjoyable time.

Cooking from scratch ahead of time, and then freezing the meals for later is much better for you than grabbing something out of the frozen foods department.

According to The Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly one-fifth of the children in the United States is overweight, and over one-half of the adults are overweight as well.  Children learn from their parents, so set a good example for your children. They will live longer, happier, and healthier lives and so will you!